Ink and Clay 32

About Ink & Clay
Ink & Clay is an annual competition, established in 1971, of prints and drawings; ceramic
ware and clay sculpture sponsored by the W. Keith and Janet Kellogg University Art Gallery of
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. The primary underwriting is through the
generosity of Col. Jim Jones. Ink and Clay is an exhibition open to all of the Western States
including Alaska and Hawaii.
Peter Held
Juror Statement
Peter Held is currently Curator of Ceramics at the Ceramic Research Center, part of the ASU Art
Museum at Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ. Held also serves as a trustee for the American
Craft Council.Peter Held received his B.S. degree in studio art from the State University of New
York at Brockport, where he studied ceramics with Bill Stewart. Upon graduation, he moved to
Helena, MT to become a resident artist at the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts. He later
completed a Masters degree in Museum Administration at Oregon State University and interned at
the Portland Art Museum. He returned to Helena in 1994 to serve as Executive Director and
Curator of the Holter Museum of Art.
Peter has curated over fifty exhibitions since 1989 including five traveling ceramic shows: Ashen
Beauty: Woodfired Ceramics, David Shaner: A Potter's Work, 1963-1993, Sisters of the Earth:
Native American Ceramics, A Ceramic Continuum: Fifty Years of the Archie Bray Influence and
the upcoming exhibition Between Clouds of Memory: Akio Takamori, A Mid-Career Survey. Held
has authored numerous articles on contemporary art and crafts, and is the editor of the books A
Ceramic Continuum: Fifty Years of the Archie Bray Influence and the forthcoming publication
Between Clouds of Memory: Akio Takamori, A Mid-Career Survey.
The following is Peter's response when asked what his philosophy, as a juror, would be:
Regardless of media, art engages me on many levels - pure aesthetics, skill of execution,
conceptual strength, and emotional fortitude. I favor work that expresses the joys and dilemmas of
everyday life, transcending the ordinary and predictable. Good art captivates your and is capable of
touching the viewer in profound ways; enough to want a return visit.
Peter Held
Marilyn A. Zeitlin
Juror Statement
Marilyn A. Zeitlin, Director and Chief Curator of the Arizona State University Art Museum
conceptualize the overall institutional direction. Zeitlin has over twenty years of museum experience
as a curator and director. The focus of her curatorial work is the relationship of art to social issues
and the interface between art and science. She received her A.B. and M.A.T. from Harvard University.
She has taught art history in Asian and Pre-Columbian art and contemporary art at Cornell
University, Bucknell University, and Virginia Commonwealth University.. Her recent exhibitions
include Contemporary Art from Cuba and Art Under Duress: El Salvador 1980- Present. Zeitlin
served as the U.S. Commissioner to the 100th anniversary Biennale in 1995, curating Bill Viola:
Buried Secrets, which toured nationally and internationally.
The following is Marilyn's response when asked what her philosophy, as a juror, would be: What
does this object tell me in terms of ideas, technique, history, and personal expression? I don't
expect every object to break new ground, but one that does, by defining parameters in a new way or
suggesting a new approach to an enduring question, will engage me. In the end, I try to find work
that conveys conceptual and narrative content in a language of form and through technical prowess
to carry something of meaning from the artist to us out here, or even to draw us into the thinking and
feeling of the artist.
Marilyn A. Zeitlin
Ink Artists' Statements
SRBOOHIE ABAJIAN
IRENE ABRAHAM
KEN ALDRIDGE
RICHARD ASH III
JESUS BARRAZA
BETTY BASTAI
SANDRA BEARD
WANDA BECKER
ANN BINGHAM FREEMAN
PAMELA BLOTNER
TONIA BONNELL
JOY BROOM
JANE BURGUNDER
KIM CHESELKA
MARK COLLOP
STACY ELKO
KEVIN EVANS
BETTY FIELD HALEY
KATHI FLOOD
SUZANNE FONTAINE
STEVE GIBSON
CAROLE GREER
GAIL GWINN
DIRK HAGNER
ART HAZELWOOD
NICOLE HENDERSON
RICHARD HUTTER
EUNICE KIM
MACHIKO KONDO
PAMELA LANZAZ
ANTHONY LAZORKO
JOHN OLIVER LEWIS
ANN LINDBECK
JUSTIN LORENZEN
ENRICA MARSHALL
KATHERINE MC GUINNESS
DIANE MC LEOD
J C MUHS
KAREN NEUBERT
JAMES PACE
RIE PALKOVIC
SARAH PAVSNER
ROD REPLOGLE
WAYNE RICE
FAVIANNA RODRIGUEZ
THOMAS SCHLOTTERBACK
KATHERINE SHEEHAN
MIKE STEPHENS
THOMAS STUBBS
D SWAN SULLIVAN
ZOLITA SVERDLOVE
ANNETTE TOSTI
YIDA WANG
RICKY WEISBROTH
MIKE YOUNGMAN
Clay Artists' Statements
LAUREN AVI
MARGOT BAKER
JAMES BENN
JOE BOVA
SKUJA BRADEN
HEATHER BRADLEY
SUSAN BUDGE
GARY CARLOS
CORIE COLE
JAMES COQUIA
PATSY COX
LYNN DORAN
CATHY FEISS
ANTHONY FOO
JERE FRUTCHEY
OVIDIO GIBERGA
HEIDI PREUSS GREW
BARRY & ROSAIJND HAGE
WES HARVEY
INGRID HENDRIX
STEVE HILTON
JUDY HIRAMOTO
RYAN HORVATH
DAVID KIDDE
ALEX KRAFT
MICHAEL KRAPES
DANA KROOS
FORREST LESCH MIDDELTON
JOHN OLIVER LEWIS
CONNIE MAJORTRICIA MC GUIGAN
UNA MJURKA
AMIK0 MATSUO
LISA NEIMETH
JEFFREY NETZER
FARRADAY NEWSOME
RICHARD NICKEL
LINDSAY OESTERRITTER
JENNA PERSTLINGER
SASHA REIBSTEIN
JEFF REICH
JIM ROMBERG
DONNA ROZMAN
PORNTIP SANGVANICH
RUTH SANTEE
STEVEN SCHAEFFER
KEITH SCHNEIDER
MARTY SHUTER
JINSOO SONG
CHRIS THEISS
KEVIN WALIER
JENCHI WU
Special Awards
Ink & Clay 32 extends its congratulations to the
outstanding artists featured here as this year's
winners of the Juror's Award, Patrons Award and
Presidents Award, as well as Honorable Mentions.
Jurors Award
Yida Wang
Wes Harvey
Birthmark I & II
Dunce Boy
Charcoal, hand print
Slip cast porcelain
Patrons Award
Kim Cheselka
Clear Affection
India ink
Patsy Cox
Parodia Growth
Clay, Engobe
President's Award
Enrica Marshall
At the River
Screenprint
Keith Schneider
Mr Congeniality
Ceramic
Honorable Mentions
Ann
Bingham
Freeman
Magnesium
Steve Hilton
Etching
32,312…32,313…
Stoneware
Heidi
Preus
Grew
The Ego
Stoneware,
stick
Faraday
Newsome
Persephone’s
Pitcher
Terra Cotta
Wayne Rice
Shorakusai’s
Dream
Monoprint,
w/
handcoloring
Richard
Ash III
Stockbroker
Screenprin
Contact Ink and Clay 32
Your contact for information is
Patrick Merrill, Gallery Curator. He
can be reached at (909) 869-4301,
or email at
[email protected]
Gallery Layout and Panoramas
The above diagram shows the Gallery Layout.
Lauren Avi
From a normal, respectful viewing distance, imagery that's
compelling on an archetypal level is already apparent in the
dictionary pages of Lauren Avi. The subconscious mind
recognizes the round indentations on the page edges and the
justified columnar text as a dictionary even before the conscious
mind grasps the realization. The conscious mind is likely to be
attracted first by the brightness and variation of colors from piece
to piece, and second by the strange scenes depicted in the
confident lines of the artist.It also becomes clear that the
dictionary is very old, a ninety-year-old Funk and Wagnell,s, and
that the bible-paper pages are placed together in fours. Lauren
Ari paints a field of color over the pages, but allows specific words
and images to jump to the foreground. These are interwoven with
overpainting to create whimsical, strange, engrossing studies of
language, learning, and the definitions of this reality. An
interesting aspect of the work is that its mode of being
contemporary includes in a concrete way the beginning of the
twentieth century in its reflections on the beginning of the twentyfirst.You may view images of the work at
www.Klaudiamarrgallery.com and Laurenari.com.
Peace
Dictionary , Paint
Margot Baker
Margot is currently working with the human gesture as well as with
the gesture of the clay itself. She feels that her work demonstrates a
successful blending of these two aspects. When I was working
larger, I would often be startled when I passed one of my pieces,
thinking there was another person in the room. I was intrigued with
this quality of realism - and the figures weren't even realistically
rendered! I feel I have translated this surprise impact into my smaller
pieces as well, and am enjoying the results immensely. Another
aspect of surprise in many of Margot's sculptures is the way her
figures resolve as the viewer moves around them, not always in the
predicted manner. On several levels, Margot's work offers us a new
way of seeing.
Some of the other themes Margot has been working with include a
grids and pieces motif which she says is autobiographical. Some of
her ceramic tile-work reflects her earlier interest in printmaking and
also continues her grids and pieces theme. Margot Baker received
her B.A. degree from Calif. State U. Long Beach, and her M.F.A. from
Otis Art Institute with a major in sculpture and a minor in printmaking.
A native Californian, Margot currently lives on her 4 acres in Pinon
Hills.
Woman Moving Forward
Clay
Betty Bastai
My artwork is primarily mixed media drawings on paper and site
specific installation art. It deals with the theme of nature and how
we perceive it through our senses, culture and knowledge.
Sale is a mixed media installation composed of text on a square
made of rock salt, 12 stones, steel wire, four drawings on acetate
sheets, one drawing on a white shirt and one drawing on a pair of
white pants. I created these drawings at Oak Harbor Beach Park,
WA, in the summer 2005. They are a part of a series of over 500
drawings called maps, an ongoing art project that began in 1998.
The installation is a three dimensional bio-lingual poem that has
a self-contained yet fragmented structure where written language
and pictorial visual elements mingles ambiguously in a rather
'dislocated' manner. Its meaning is multi-layered and relies on
the viewer's personal response to 'catch' all its loose ends and
'knit' them into a personal cohesive whole. On one hand it
resembles a riddle that plays with the meaning of words
according to their phonetic sounds (Sale it is both the Italian word
for salt and the English word for the act of selling depending on
how you pronounce it). On the other it is a drawing that represents
both an abstract-conceptual seascape and a figurative and
familiar one populated with sea creatures and field observations.
Water 2
installation ( mixed media)
James Benn
My work is inspired by nature. Succulents, pods, kelp and other
earthly elements provide a language of form, of texture, of suspended
orientations and translucent skins. In each being, each object, I see
sculpture, lighting or furniture, art and design joined, beauty and
powerful simplicity.
I strive to create pieces that are vital and that have a strong presence.
They are sensual, encouraging one to experience not only on a visual
level but, as well, through touch. My work is infused with qualities
familiar to the beholder and attempts to seduce on an emotional level.
In my creative process, I employ sculpting and casting techniques.
They satisfy my need to work with my hands and to solve design
problems. I sculpt in clay and in wood, building according to my own
specifications and idiosyncrasies. I am enabled to make solid forms
out of liquid with almost immediate results casting in porcelain,
silicone and glass . These media afford translucency, strength and
limitless surface textures. As light, often an important element in my
work, passes through each piece, hidden qualities are revealed in
both the material and in the form. They seem to come alive.
Expectations
Porcelain, Glass
Joe Bova
The human figure is central to my work even when the image is
animal. The animal image is symbolically surrogate. Social content
and commentary is central. Animals have always enthralled me.
Among artists in my own time I have admired the work of Robert
Arneson and Giacomo Manzú the most. Arneson for content and
bravado and Manzu for his handling clay as an expressive material.
Sometimes I have tried in my work to exploit the plastic quality of clay
in such a way that if a word analogous to "painterly" existed then
"clayerly" would describe my work. My work since 2003 has been
responsive to the misguided policies of my government. As the 19th
Century Republican senator from Missouri, Charles Schurz said in
1861, "Our country, right or wrong. When right, to be kept right, when
wrong to be put right." I am trying in my small way.
Tank
Ceramic
Prosthetic Warrior
Ceramic
Skuja Braden
Bodhisattva
Porcelain
The first and most frequent question
asked of us is, “Who does what?” I
think that most collaborative teams do
indeed divide up the work according to
individual talents. Usually in ceramics,
the husband and wife is the ultimate
team, with one person concentrating on
the creation of the form and the other
person concentrating on the surface
decoration. This is not how we work at
all and we are not a husband and wife
team. Most of the teams I have looked
into also tend to come from the same
culture. We work on everything
together. We talk about our ideas and
then we draw pictures for each other
and then we alter each other’s
drawings to see if we cannot make the
idea more perfect. Once we have both
decided that the idea is good, the form
good, and the design is a good
concept, we begin to build the forms.
We draw patterns from our drawings,
and then hand build all of our pieces. If
we really like the form we make a mold
from it and slip cast or press mold in
porcelain. Usually we make two pieces
at a time and continuously switch
places to work on each other’s forms.
When people ask us who did what, we
usually cannot easily say because the
boundaries of our individual marks
have become blurred by the time each
piece is actually completed. The ideas
come out of conversations between
Inguna and myself and often times are
actually based on the breakdown
between our collective understandings.
In other words, we are fascinated by the
difficulty in truly understanding
another’s ideas and the point where we
witness the vast distances created
through miscommunication. Some of
our most successful pieces are actually
rooted in the space between
understanding and misunderstanding.
Heather Bradley
I am an artist who works with clay. I am also a
painter. I am a painter who has found that clay
is, for me, the best canvas. My work is soulful
and obsessive. It is also decorative and
ornamental. I imbue the surface of the clay
with a frenzy of line indicative of my restless
energy and need for expression. My process
allows me to escape to a meditative, intuitive
state in which I am free to explore and discover.
The pattern is created with imagination,
allowing myself the freedom to let my brush or
carving tool roam. The designs relate to plant
and floral imagery that I have absorbed from
various sources, but are ultimately my own
visual wanderings, drawings that flow naturally
when I clear my mind of that which is not my
own. My vessels and paintings contain my
abundant creative, mental and physical energy.
They are a celebration of my privilege and
freedom to make art.
Crescendo
Wheel Thrown Vessels
Acrylic on Board
Susan Budge
Eye Spy Nude
Clay
Gary Carlos
New images of our world are becoming more
common everyday: footage from a traffic
helicopter at rush hour, the view from a budget
airline window seat, or satellite images from
recent military campaigns. I overlay these
perspectives of the landscape with images that
connect the everyday with nature, history,
mythology, popular culture, and social politics.
These landscapes look back at us trying to
reveal some message for today. It is this view
from above that best illustrates our world, not
as a series of boundary lines, but as a
complex, fragile living entity.
Shielded
Ceramic
Corie Cole
Clay is such a seductively direct medium—it is so
inherently plastic and malleable and can be used
comparatively rapidly to make a palpable, intransient
statement. (as intransient as any object vulnerable to a
hammer.) Other media like type journalism, television
and film seem to have an aspect of impermanence,
perhaps due only to their ubiquity and hyper-saturation,
and their dependence on advanced technology. I’ve tried
over the past three years to filter through this morass of
media to condense and render my understanding of
politics and power into a series of sculptures. I want the
work to transcend the role of the OP-ED political
cartoon. I think of them as permanent political cartoons
or commemorative statues of ideas, psychologies and
situations I’d rather folks not forget too hastily.
Iraqi Horrror
Ceramic
The working title of this series of political cartoons
is “Show Business,” referring to the series’ allusions to
film and television, and to my perception that the political
arena is like an over-budget made-for-TV movie. Many
characters in politics seem increasingly slickly
engineered to fit an expected archetype of the American
consciousness. Political camps are judged by the
effectiveness of their manufactured image, because
image is what consumers have been accustomed to
valuing, and image is often all they have time to pay
attention to. Sadly, the political players all too often are
unable to live up to the archetype created for them. I
intend my sculptures to examine and critique some of
the roles our icons play on the world stage.
James Coquia
James was born in Oakland, CA, November 14, 1972.
After serving four years in the United States Marine
Corps (1992- 1996), he returned to the bay area and
enrolled at the local community college. He had
aspirations of expressing his creativity through painting,
but decided that to more well round himself as an artist,
he would take every studio art class that was offered
there. Near simultaneously he tried his hand at
everything from photography to multi-media sculpture,
printmaking to digital imaging. Most struck a meaningful
chord with him but none so much as when he first
touched his hands to clay. By his own admission the
introduction sounds a little cliché, but something
magical happened that day, a kind of sympathetic
symbiosis. The material was alive and in its way spoke
to him, so tenderly that it cemented an indelible
relationship between the two. There seemed to be a
mutual understanding that together each made the other
one better.
His introduction to ceramics took the form of back
to back classes, one emphasizing the wheel, the other
on hand built sculpture. For the next several years he
remained singularly focused on the cultivation of that
relationship. As he explored deeper into the multifaceted medium, opportunities would present
themselves, opportunities that could neither be ignored
nor denied. True to his adventurous spirit, James
followed the opportunities regardless of where they took
him physically. They eventually lead to numerous
positions at prominent public and private institutions. As
a studio assistant and apprentice, he was fortunate
enough to assist and learn first hand from a number of
ceramics most eminent artists. As lab technician he had
the opportunity to hone his skills at glaze calculation and
kiln firing.
Dicephalapod
Stoneware
James continues to divide his creative energies
between what he now refers to as the utilitarian object
and the humanistic object. Having spent a significant
amount of time in Japan and Asia, eastern sensibilities
have manifested in his art. The masterworks of the
Japanese Momoyama period, the quiet aesthetics of
shibui, the philosophy of wabi and sabi, Chanoyu (the
Japanese tea ceremony), all have greatly influenced
every aspect of his ceramic work. Equally, coming from a
painting background, some of his earliest heroes
included: Odd Nerdrum, Egon Schiele, Lucian Freud,
Frida Kahlo and Pablo Picasso. It seemed a natural
transition to include the human figure into his ceramic
repertoire. The organic is his fundamental teacher.
James finds much of his inspiration from elements of
the natural world: the subtle nuances of a seed pod, the
dendritic patterning in leaves, the supple quality of
eucalyptus bark, the way flesh folds. These are but a few
of nature's gifts that drive his creative spirit.
James believes that everything on this planet
shares a commonality, that everything is connected to
everything else, and his work is simply an exploration of
that belief.
Patsy Cox
My inspiration is derived from science, culture,
the natural world and urban sprawl. I am
concerned with ideas of influence and
assimilation.
Parodia Growth Interaction
Clay, Engobe
My most current work embodies mutations,
hybrids, growth, and cross-pollination. Multiple
forms can stand as individual pieces and also
parts of a cohesive whole. When the pieces are
grouped together, it's not clear where one
begins and the next one ends, which is the
original and which is the mutation. While most
of my work does not refer to a particular
geographical location, my most recent projects
have grown out of my own relationship to Los
Angeles-its communities; its sheer mass; its
blending of boundaries; its mixtures of
language and culture. I focus on capturing the
overwhelming nature of a sprawling city and
often use the primary colors of blue, yellow and
red to emphasize the possibility of its
transformation-all colors are possible from the
mixture.
Lynn Doran
The creative process of working with clay is what I really
enjoy. The initial concept or idea that I start with changes
as I work with the clay. The clay has something to say and
each time it is different. I don't try to control the clay - I
listen to it. Life's experiences always surface in subtle
ways - that last trip to Africa or Papua New Guinea makes
its mark. Applied objects, after the clay is fired, create the
personality or bring the piece to life. In "From The Depths"
the porcelain eyeballs create that
personality. Some find my work scarey, others find the
humor.....pretty is usually not and adjective used. Evoking
an emotion is the final reward to the creative process.
From the Depths
Raku, Porcelain Eyes
Multi-Group (Grass) and (Sand), grew out of
the desire to convey the sense of
something being born or emerging from
something protective. In this series, a
smaller element gradually emerges from a
larger form, protruding out of a womb-like
or protective surrounding. These pieces
could also represent a kind of regeneration
or growth from one form to another, or
something sprouting in nature.
Growth Tiles
Ceramic, Wood
Cathy Feiss
In my artwork, I am interested in
expressing what I can't express easily
in words. When I was younger, I was
very interested in poetry and I feel that
my interest in the visual arts comes
from the same source, involving the
construction of a kind of visual poem.
Much of my work process is intuitive,
or possesses intuitive elements
within a rational framework. I am
most interested in conveying a sense
of energy, emotion, or an idea,
through a form that may also have a
planned and methodical basis.
Recently, I finished a series inspired
by real and imaginary pods and plants.
These works show the intricate morphology
of organic forms. The pieces in the series
are based on a fuzzy Australian plant with
external fin-like seed pods (Banksia
Grandiflora II), flower-like or leaf-filled
basins (Collectors, Radial (Tan), and
Radial (Brown), a pod with emergent fins
(Lamellate (White) and Lamellate Pair),
and Growth Boxes Trio, from which sproutlike organisms emerge and germinate.
Overall, my recent bodies of work are
about birth and growth, variation among
similar elements, the structure of natural
forms, and a sense of communication and
mystery in life. The works together convey a
sense of interior versus exterior, support
versus covering, and structure versus
sensuousness.
Anthony Foo
I enjoy the abstract side of sculpture. Japanese culture
and philosophy deeply influence my work. I‚m drawn to
the aesthetic of form, shape, color, and yes, even
thought. Giving shape and substance to something
as abstract as an idea is difficult and challenging at
the same time.
How do I represent a mind thinking, focusing on this
thing and that thing? What form does it take if its
awareness is complete? What about when it‚s
incomplete, imperfect? What shape does it have
then? I chose the imperfect model, representing
human frailty. The final shape took on a very
mechanical and industrial feel, almost looking like the
sea mines of World War II. The idea later came to
make more of these, group them at different heights
into a collection, and name them Mindfield- a play on
the word minefield.
I chose the color red for its strength, energy and spirit.
Mind Field
Paper, Clay
Jere Frutchey
My work is all about themes and variations. A constant
altering statement of a basic idea, whether it be in
form, color or surface design. Coming from an intense
career in graphic design on the East Coast, my subtle
work with handmade paper changed radically to bright
colors and strong forms when I moved to the dynamic
Southwest.
Here I started my love affair with clay when exposed to
several intense years of classes at the University of
New Mexico. My heightened interest in texture and
abstract forms became more evident after seeing
numerous volcanic flows, weathered sand stone
formations and experiencing the decidely different
nature, culture and strong artistic energy of this area.
All of these things I have tried to reflect in my present
body of work. I am in constant search for new ways of
joyful expression in whatever I do.
.
Infinity
Clay, Glass, Mixed
Ovidio Giberga
Born into a Cuban family (in America), there had
always been a sense of displacement or of living in
exile. Home was wherever I happened to be, and my
culture, reconciliation between past experience and
my immediate environment. Each culture presents a
unique set of challenges and choices. In this way
acculturation became a personal process, instigating
change within myself and my work. This body of work
incorporates the male form as a freestanding
sculptural vessel. I use symbolism and metaphor to
convey autobiographical experiences concerning
identity and acculturation. The gestures contain
implied meaning, referencing specific cultural
sources. The images and patterns glazed onto the
surface serve as cultural symbols, derived from my
immediate environment. Cylindrical stirrup spouts,
through which the forms can be filled or emptied,
suggest potential and purpose
.
Seated Male Stirrup Vessel With Organic Binding
Ceramic
Heidi Preuss Grew
What I encounter in a given day provides potential
inspiration for my work: fleeting moments of
conversation, a given hand gesture used by a
close friend, a proverb, a character in a novel, or a
unique detail in a painting. I desire to capture,
transform, and then share these observations. I
usually respond sympathetically to a given
moment while on rare occasion I desire to return
an eye for an eye. The result consists largely of
sketches, drawings, and figurative ceramic
sculptures that are loose portraits of friends,
community members, legendary people in history,
or fictional characters inspired by literature and art.
Transformation
Porcelanous Stoneware,
glaze, acrylic
I seek to reveal the vulnerable and pathetic side of
the human condition as well as the heroic and
beautiful. My studio practice involves serious and
playful endeavors as I meld animal and human
features together to develop specific meaning,
symbolism, and psychological impact. This
combination allows greater freedom in the creative
process as it straddles real and fictional worlds.
Most of my work is sourced completely from my
imagination, yet I at times I need to blatantly return
to the human figure.
Chuck's Advisor
Stoneware
The Ego
Stoneware, Stick
Creating my work is a very personal and intuitive
process, but I can say specific materials
consciously chosen do impact the outcome of a
final work. For example, porcelain’s delicacy and
sensual responsiveness facilitates the feminine
ideal, the slick maneuverings of a crafty villain, or
subtle gestures between divine figure groupings.
On the other hand, rough stoneware results in
more immediate and gritty surfaces ideal for
characters that display a bohemian lifestyle or
deep-set fatigue of unrelenting domestic labor.
Beyond a title and comments at an exhibition
opening, I tend to withhold the deeper intention
behind most work and enjoy—rather selfindulgently—the speculative comments from
viewers.
.
Barry & Rosalind
Hage
Our lifestyles had a direct influence upon our work. We both
grew up on the beaches of southern California and have
spent 36 years travelling extensively and enjoying various
tropical landscapes and sea life surroundings.
We have recently created a series of non-functional teapots,
baskets, platters and jars. The varied vessel forms are
decorated with color and surface designs reminiscent of our
favorite locales. The process originates with low-fire clay,
glazes and stains. Each piece combines wheel-throwing,
hand-building and slab-construction. Metallic lusters
enhance the design or lend an "attitude" to each piece.
Some sculptures are embellished with cast clay objectseither hand-carved or collected from our adventures.
Each completed clay sculpture is unique unto itself and
entirely made by Barry and Rosalind. We foresee and
embrace the evolution of our work.
Education:
Parrot in a Boat to Maui Teapot
Ceramic
Barry Hage:
Bachelor of Arts, California State University, Long Beach,
CA, 1969
Master of Fine Arts, UCLA, Los Angeles, VA 1973
Rosalind Hage:
Bachelor of Arts, California State University, Long Beach,
CA, 1970
Master of Science, Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA, 1975
2005/2006: Featured in Teapots, Makers and Collectors,
Dona Z. Meilach
.
I create forms that are suggestive yet
provocative at the same time.
Sometimes I want there to be a clear
definition as to what gender I am
referencing, and at other times, I want the
gender of the form to be somewhat
ambiguous. In studying what the
definition of gender is, I have come to
realize that gender and sexuality are not a
binary function, as most would believe.
Gender and sexuality cannot be lumped
into only two categories: male or female.
These are just two of the many divisions
of what gender is to me. It goes beyond
only being male or female.
P Pony
Stoneware
Wes Harvey
Dunce Boy
Slip Cast Porcelain
The search for my self-identity through the
investigation of gender and sexuality are the
driving forces throughout my artwork. I use
myself as a starting point and also a reference
while constructing my forms. Coming from a
divorced childhood, gender roles associated
with the family have become blurred, and I am
not always sure who is supposed to be what. I
take this blurring of gender into my artwork and
produce sculptures that create a dialogue with
one another, asking the question: who is what?
Color also plays a very important role in
my artwork. I use color to emphasize the
form and draw attention to certain
aspects or elements of the form. Bright
primary and secondary colors are what
wait in my palette for me to use. Color,
similar to gender, has many definitions
associated within each hue. There is no
wrong or right answer when looking at
color, just the same as when looking at
gender. What red means to me, may not
be the same as the viewer’s
interpretation. The gender question is
something of infinite answers and I am
only skimming the surface.
.
Ingrid Hendrix
“There are more things in heaven and earth ... than are dreamt of in your
philosophy.” Shakespeare, Hamlet
I find that there is much more to each individual than what is seen on the
surface. While in fact, the extraordinary lies within every human being.
We are complex creatures containing many opposing elements, which
make us complete. For instance, we contain both good and evil, male
and female, and spiritual and material. We are not one or the other, we
are both; we are a dichotomy. We are not stereotypes.
In my work I use the human figure, along with religious and animal
imagery to explore the depths of human consciousness and its
unconscious roots. These pieces transform from human to animal and
from conscious to unconscious. I try to reveal what lies underneath the
surface of every human being by examining archetypal themes that can
be seen in every culture and within every human being. These
archetypes show up as recurring themes and images in myth, religion,
and art from around the world. For example, I frequently concentrate on
the Great Mother Archetype. I use her as a representation of all women.
She is good and evil, nurturing and destructive, chaste and titillating. She
contains many such dualities, as does every woman and every human
being
Preservation
Ceramic
Steve Hilton
As a geologist and a clay artist, I have
developed an appreciation for the anomalies in
the many forms of life, clay, rock, and soil
covering the Earth’s landscape. I am intrigued
by the way plants, animals and weather
influence the Earth’s surface, by both erosional
and depositional means. This fascination has
become an integral part of my art.
32,312...32,313...32,314
Stoneware
I am currently thinking about these
iterations (fractals), as I make my work. A
fractal is a fragmented or geometric shape that
is repeatedly subdivided into parts, each a
smaller copy of the whole. The use of selfsimilarity or fractals in art allows me to interpret
nature for the viewer and myself: with both of us
seeing nature differently after spending time
with my work. Fractals, according to the “math
of today”, are an “explanation” of all objects
and/or occurrences. In essence, a question I
pose to myself, and to my audience is, “does
math ‘explain’ beauty?”
Is Odd Better
Stoneware, Sand Cast Glaze
Ryan Horvath
My work involves paying attention to the common
environment, collecting simple information and
transforming it. I am receptive of and responsive to
my surroundings. With my own curiosities and
natural tendencies to experiment, I investigate the
relationship of impulse and idea as physical and
mental activities.
Step
Ceramic
David Kidde
My recent ceramic sculpture is not that of specific subject
matter. Rather than copy a preconceived design, I much more
enjoy the creative process when a work evolves as I am
working, making decisions and discoveries as forms interact
and dictate a final composition that is balanced, yet animated.
I prefer to allow the ambiguity of my forms to incite a variety of
interpretations. These sculptures utilize the assemblage of
various organic orb shapes into clustered compositions. I
have chosen the orb shape as a foundational element
because its simplicity facilitates a plethora of readings. The
orb is the building block that is the basis for many forms
found in clusters in the micro world at the atomic, molecular
and cellular level. The rotund orb shape is also the
foundational element of figurative and biomorphic works that
provides the voluptuous quality I strive for. Glazed surface
textures and linear compositions are chosen as
enhancements for the sculptural form.
Orb Cluster 3
Stoneware
Alex
Kraft
Manuch Di Quo Vitrium
Ceramic, Mixed
I see the internal structure of the body as being
comprised of two main aspects. These are the
physical internal and the sacred internal. The first is
that which is material. This is the viscera. Included
within are the organs, tissue, cells and so forth, from
macro to micro. The second is that which is the
intangible essence within. This includes the spirit.
Emotion, intellect, intuition, and instinct are a part of
this realm.
The sacred internal and the physical internal are
interconnected and consist of the same energy. This
energy is that which makes up the being. It is as
possible to feel emotion physically as it is to feel
physical emotion because this energy comprises both
the material and the immaterial. The sacred internal
and the physical internal are made of the same life
essence.
In my work, the layers of the internal are the grounds
for the external tangible forms I create. They are
external in that they exist outside the internal body in
their own space. My work expands upon my notions of
the internal. The physicality of form, color, and surface
correspond to the energy within: the physical and the
sacred.
Farnufin Ke
Ceramic
I look to further expand upon these concepts. I am
interested in creating forms that become individuals
unto themselves, exuding their own life force, while
relating to my notions of the layers of the internal body.
Michael Krapes
My recent work with ceramics is primarily figurative. It is
autobiographical. The series of “heads” I have been doing are
self-portraits. I don’t plan my work, I allow it to unfold and evolve,
that way it feels more genuine, honest, and connected to me. The
recent works like this one “nine lives”, are about the layers of
thought and feeling existing in any moment. The mix of faces,
overlapping, and intertwining of reactions, emotions, and
thoughts are present in me.
.
Nine Lives
Ceramics
Dana Kroos
I am concerned with the relationship between
architecture, landscape and the human form. My
work explores the way that cultures attempt to build,
alter and sculpt the body with the same methods that
they use to erect and design buildings or landscape
the earth in order to change their environments;
constantly varying and affecting upon structures
exterior, but encompassing, human beings.
.
Look Good: Be Tall
Ceramics, Wire
John Oliver Lewis
This series of sculptures and plates are based on
fantasy and play. What starts out as an idiosyncratic
escape from this world via a self constructed rocket
ship or the thought of a futuristic clubhouse, begins
to transform into a peculiar sculpture about my
vision. These flights of imagination are supported by
the inspection of architecture, natural land
formations, caricature, vehicles of travel, as well as
cartoons, contemporary fashion, knick-knacks, boy’s
and girl’s toys, fishing lures, and candy.
I use recognizable forms combined with abstract
patchwork to create sculptures that generate an
erratic sense of purpose. The combinations of
architectural, figurative, and abstract slab elements
produce an allusion of an animated clubhouse or
rocket ship. The placement and overlapping of slabs
is integral to the formation of my work, and shows
evidence of the construction process. This relaxed
and sometimes-uncomfortable development of
patches increases the clumsy characteristics of the
sculpture. Matte and glossy colors are used to soften
and promote the irregularities, without losing the
innate qualities of the clay. The resulting sculpture is
a comical union of my manifestations that has the
appearance of candy.
.
No Room For Gloom
Ceramic, Acrylic
Connie Major
As a continual student of life, I have learned that for me ceramics
is all consuming; clay is clean dirt and I love to play in it. In
contrast to years of precise and controlled work in gold, silver,
and precious stones I needed to have an outlet of freedom and
that has been clay. I love to throw on the potter’s wheel; I love the
power, control, fluidity, and feel. I love to throw big, not worry about
the cost, and have instant results. The classic Greek urn shape
flows from my fingers without thought; it is a comfort zone. The
Asian Sward uses a bone as the shape inspiration and is
embellished with an Asian motif. The bone in this case was a
turkey wing bone.
Engineering a complex clay piece comes naturally. I spent much
time on construction sites; my father was a contractor back when
homes were built one at a time. There has been a life long
emphasis on engineering from figuring out how to change a
swing set into a fort, or re-using parts from a run-over flashlight, to
re-furbishing the original front door lock on my 91 year old home,
and of course in jewelry. The Asian Sward is made entirely with
hand-building techniques and is constructed of four precise
pieces that require interlocking assembly to create the single
sculpture.
The Asian Sward, required a smooth surface with limited carving
and became an excellent surface for the hands-on low-fire
glazing technique using floras chloride and the burning of
horsehair creating the appropriate fine black carbon lines; a most
enjoyable piece to make
Asian Sward
Amiko
Matsuo
space filler
clay
My exploration in ceramics has become
several investigations about identity and the
notion of invented traditions and heritage.
These have increasingly become elements I
express in my work. Through research, my
personal understanding of ceramics has
shifted into something existing in a variety of
frameworks. Therefore, it becomes versatile
and comprehensible, something forever
changing and developing. Through
disclosure of my personal identity within a
body of work, it might begin to carry multiple
reading as a reflection of collective identities.
I strive and desire to acknowledge the context
of the work in an increasingly global society.
I created a mold from a chocolate Santa with
the intent of producing an undetermined
number of variant pieces; each piece
individualized differently. I was fascinated by
the idea that the project would have infinite
possibilities with an undetermined goal and
by the dualities of work and play, public and
private, exposure and concealment that
began to form through my process.
The schismatic body of work while committed
to the idea of recontextualization of the Santa
form reflects my desire to synthesize various
aspects of my personal identity. Migratory
experiences at an early age has influenced
the manner in which I consider different
aspects of ‘Japaneseness’ and ‘tradition’,
and this ‘self-consciousness’ has
manifested itself within my body of work. The
complex relationship that I have with my work
is one that formed through the commitment
to the medium of clay and involvement with
the ceramics field. I hope to continue
contemplating my pursuit to locate my work
within a broader framework.
Tricia Mc Guigan
One of my primary interests is change, particularly,
transformative change. Change is sometimes
planned, fought for, and welcomed. It can also be
spontaneous, inevitable, or resisted. In any change,
new possibilities are created while others are
precluded.
I am interested in exploring the place of change or
transformation in my artwork. In ceramics, this can
be explored conceptually, structurally, or by
attempting to harness the physical changes clay and
glazes endure through the firing process.
All That is Unseen Remains
Porcelain, Stoneware
I utilize edges in my work. Change is often
associated with an edge: We speak of “turning a
corner” or “being on the cutting edge.” In ceramics,
the edge is fragile and often sharp. The edge may
cause a glaze to thin, triggering a radical change of
color. It is a place difficult to control, where the
unexpected often occurs.
In this series, I explore the notion of change and
permanence existing together, in the way that we, as
people are able to change, and yet remain distinctly
ourselves. Similarly, a river’s path is changed by the
rocks; the rocks are slowly changed by the river. Yet
they both still remain: river and rocks.
.
Forrest Lesch
Middelton
My forms are functional and familiar. Details in the
work can be suggestive of elements rarely regarded
within the context of today’s complex pace, such as;
patterns beneath a pond’s reflection, or grass
covering an unturned stone. Subtlety speaks
volumes, although it is not what initially draws ones
attention, it soon becomes what holds ones focus.
My hope is that through using my pots, people are
reminded of the value of simpler times.
Poppy Printed Cups With Saucers
Reduct Cooled Stoneware
Clay has always been my greatest teacher. It speaks
with many voices; it can be subtle or loud, soft or
abrasive, brittle or strong. There is an honesty found
rooted within the material. Clay changes and reacts
to each circumstance as if it were holding a
conversation with its handler about touch. This
conversation is what drives me to create works that
are held, used, and admired daily. Once completed
the work leaves my hands and a new conversation
begins in the hands of the user. If one holds a cup
that I have made my work is complete; if one’s
attention is held by the cup, my work is understood.
.
Una Mjurka
Empty...Full
Ceramic
My work is based upon a wide range of
emotions, doubts and fears. I find it
interesting to explore my own limitations,
both mental as well as physical. In continuing
to examine my own boundaries I’m
continually reminded of the contrast between
my wishful thinking and an existing reality.
During my years of studies in what was once
USSR controlled Latvia, I developed an
abstract art vocabulary in reaction to the
much preferred, Social Realist style of the
period. Living in America has triggered a new
appreciation of my own background and
willingness to capture personal experiences
in my artwork. My current imagery has shifted
a great deal from the pure abstraction I have
employed in the past to a stylized realism. In
a formal manner, I have once again focused
my attention on the search for visual
lightness in the use of physically heavy
materials. It has been a wonderful challenge
to my craftsmanship. I have developed the
ability to articulate details and surfaces in
order to unify form and color and take
advantage of their potential as significant
expressive visual elements.
For the last five years I have worked on a
series of elaborate still lives. Initially, my
compositions were heavily influenced by
Dutch still life paintings of 17th century. As the
series evolved, the focus has shifted several
times finally settling on my interpretation of
the interactive processes between an
individual and his or her surroundings.
I’ve always been curious about the
components creating the psychological
make-up of an individual. The Maslow
pyramid associated with the hierarchy of
need theory has informed some of my most
current work. According to Maslow’s theory
there are four levels of deficit needs
(physiological, safety, belonging and
esteem), which are essentially survival
needs. When referring to a last fifth level of
the pyramid, he used a variety of terms:
growth motivation (in contrast to deficit
motivation), being needs (or B-needs, in
contrast to D-needs), and self-actualization.
In the environment where socio-economic
circumstances or behavioral conditioning
forces an individual to focus their attention on
the basic survival needs, a great deal of
psychological discomfort and distortion can
take place. Even though one could assume
that in the developed countries all deficit
needs can be met and easily fulfilled, thus
providing a fertile environment for the growth
motivation, it is surprising how few actually
are reaching their creative potential.
Food is one of our most basic deficit needs.
Though, these days it is no longer used just
for sustenance. More and more often food
serves as a substitute to compensate for the
lack of satisfaction in the other areas of our
psychological needs. We use food as a
communication device. We gain a sense of
security through it. We fill emotional voids
with physical nutrients and obtain a sense of
belonging through food. It has become a
friend, a symbol, an identity and even an
obsession. As a society, we have a very
peculiar relationship with our daily bread…
My still lives are bountiful and rich, but
somehow they remain distant. There is a
false luring smell of an imprisonment of time
and doom floating in the air. As if we are
witnessing the last moments before decay
sets in and gnaws away everything in sight.
My intent is to create a situation where the
viewer is forced to remain a passive voyeur
while processes, triggered by passage of
time, take place regardless of ones wishes
or feelings.
.
Lisa Neimeth
Altars, cemeteries, flocks of birds,
waves—repetitive images organized around
a theme or a symbol. The natural form of
wood and clay and the shapes they take on
after lying on a beach, baking in the sun or a
kiln, breaking on the floor. Forces beyond our
control, yet we attempt to organize them,
study them scientifically to know and
understand their mystique. Death, renewal,
reviving and offering new life to objects long
passed on. The elements of nature as
depicted in scientific classifications—the
bugs, birds and bones. Seeing specimens
consecutively laid out in preparation for study
encourage not just a clinical examination, but
an aesthetic one as well.
My work has evolved from these images and
observations. What started out as an interest
and education in ceramics, moved to a quest
to travel and learn about ancient and modern
lands and the symbols that represent them. I
started collecting objects from my travels and
searched for ways to properly display them. I
found that my ceramics, early on, often
depicted the color and form of walls of sacred
structures that I was visiting. It only made
sense to combine the two. From that was
born the relationship of found and collected
objects in a sculptural setting. My interest in
the found symbols of other cultures led me to
the discovery or rediscovery of the icons of my
own culture. I continued my search and
attraction to these objects- in flea markets,
small junk shops and even dumpsters and
street corners throughout the USA. Some
objects are humorous, some spiritual, some
sobering, some just beautiful and when
combined, evoke varying thoughts and visual
memories.
Organic, collected, reused, found—restored.
Raku Drift
Ceramic, Wood
Jeffrey Netzer
Blunani
Clay
Farraday Newsome
Several years ago, after working for fifteen years using
glossy, colorful glazes on my pottery, I wanted a break
from color and high gloss. I began using black and
white glazes with a low sheen. These new glazes
allowed me to incorporate fine sgraffito (scratched
drawing) into my brushwork. This allowed the
development of further shadows and texture. I also
found that working with black and white imagery
helped me to more directly enter the place of metaphor
and contemplation; to more introspection and greater
emotional clarity.
After using the black and white palette exclusively for a
few years, I started wanting to use some color again,
but in a way that was more meaningful for me. I have
recently been involved in a series of work that reflect
upon the psychologically compelling stories of the
Greek characters Persephone and Icarus.
Persephone's Pitcher
Terra Cotta
Persephone’s fate was to spend half the year above
ground in the light (and thus spring and summer) and
the other half below in darkness (yielding fall and
winter), a duality of experience that is perennially
compelling.
Persephone’s Pitcher considers Persephone’s dark
season with images of fertility and the garden on a
black glaze underpainting. The form is a full, generous
pitcher. Pomegranate imagery is featured. The
pomegranate is often associated with Persephone as
a fruit that evokes the egg-laden ovaries as well as the
bloody, mortal danger of childbirth. The various flowers
are references to fertility. Conversely, the images of
shells refer to death and remains. This piece reflects
on the dualities of life and death as presented by the
Persephone story.
Richard
Nickel
Kiang It
earthenware, coloured slips
Lindsay
Oesterritter
The discoloration of rooftops, rusting abandoned
trucks, wildflowers gathered at the bottom of fence
posts, the wrinkles and stride of our elderly, trees after
a rain. I am interested in the interaction within our
daily environment that is so routine we stop noticing
the slow and constant change surrounding us. In
particular I am focusing on structures we build and
use for outside, like roof shingles, automobiles, and
man whole covers, and people or objects we hold
dear, like loved ones and memorabilia ; exploring the
depth that is created through erosion and wear.
In my current work, these are the images and ideas
that punctuate my forms and graphics. I primarily work
in high fire stoneware and porcelain, firing in
atmospheric kilns, using slips, under-glazes, and
glazes, layering and counter posing these elements,
referencing the patterns and organic subtlety within
those patterns that surrounds me
I am a potter because I want to participate within these
distinctive and fascinating details contributing to the
routine subtle progression of the day.
The Dorthy Vase
Stoneware
Jenna
Perstlinger
I am interested in tradition, nature, architecture,
innovation, road trips, literature, and everything else (in
no particular order). I worry about the environment,
whether the dessert I made looks exactly like the
picture in the cookbook, and people who think they
have the one right answer.
Staircase #21
Clay
A combination of geology and architecture, my forms
are constructed using thin slabs of leather-hard clay.
Each slab is cut into strips, which are then cut to fit and
attached with slip to the layer below, slightly offset from
the previous strip. The repetitive crystalline structure
that emerges is formally interesting, but some primal
shadow of ruins, of approaches, of striving, may also
be present. Some of the forms create a slight spiral
as they move upwards, others echo square or
rectangular shapes, and yet others follow gentle
curves. Some are built to withstand the heat work of
the kiln, others are encouraged to slump during firing.
Art is a language. It cannot be translated into English.
Art is a primary experience, and its function is to
express concepts that are not in the dictionary. So
don’t believe everything you read.
Sasha Reibstein
These sculptures are reflections of life, filled with
emotion, passion, disappointment and failure. They
reflect the individual in very personal ways - relating to
both our biological and psychological natures and the
conflicts and commingling of the two. Through the
microcosm of the individual, society is reflected. For
instance, how people relate to one another - what is
kept hidden and what is boldly flaunted. The works
extend to still larger issues such as human versus
nature, specifically architecture versus biology.
I work primarily in clay because of its unique ability to
retain traces of its experiences through building and
firing. Fissures and fractures weave their way through
the work and scars draw elusive maps across its
surface. Weight and balance are often deceiving, as
some pieces appear to be extremely precarious while
others rest heavily on the ground or float weightlessly
in the air. These sometimes extend into large
sculptural landscapes, which one can physically enter
and feel consumed by.
A Fluctuating State
Stoneware, Bronze,
Aluminum
I am hyper-aware that everything I make has the
potential for failure. It is this vulnerability that makes
me work so hard to make the works survive. Like in
our lives, the struggle of mere existence leaves
wounds, both internal and external. Growth either
erases or extends these scars and the results are
both disturbing and beautiful. Sometimes internal
wounds become the most visible, as growth is either
stunted or forced to make room, creating a knot that
the body wraps around. This physically manifests itself
through the clay reacting to pressure from within,
forming around odd shaped bones, altering its growth
pattern dramatically. My work is often about making
these internal flaws and irregularities visible. We try to
hide these imperfections in our lives, feeling
embarrassment or shame for their existence and our
lack of control. I am interested in showing that the
unusual ways that biology and psychology have of
manifesting themselves can be quite attractive,
enhancing already complicated entities. Beauty is
sometimes found in the most obscure places and I
want my sculptures to serve as reminders that it still
surrounds us in the most unexpected ways.
Jeff Reich
My newest work relates in vessel form the challenges of balancing
relationships, career and family. My thrown, angled, sectioned and
recombined forms of teapots , jars and sculptural vessels also reflect
the growth and drought patterns found in desert plants. I am intrigued
with native natural desertscapes and their relationship to my life.
Natural elements I find around me are a big influence in my work. I
grew up in Michigan, surrounded by water. Later, when I moved to
southern Arizona, I was surrounded by mountains. I try to capture that
sense of place in my work with my choices of color. Abstract
expressionist color field painting of mid-20th century artists Milton Avery
and Arthur Dove also inform my work. I work at my home studio, Indigo
Street Pottery, and the Mesa Arts Center with fellow artist and wife
Farraday Newsome. We live in the low Sonoran desert in East Mesa,
Arizona with my three children, Lauren, Deanna, and Joshua and our
excitable golden retriever, Penny.
Leaning Jar Series
Stoneware
Jim Romberg
My work is about the stretching of clay around volume, around
experience, that contain activities of the heart, mind, soul, and
body, directed towards a sense of time, movement and
atmosphere:
Abstract relations intended to provoke.
A vocabulary of clay, color, movement and juxtaposition is
assembled first, becoming a set of abstract relations brought
into focus and enhanced with the raku process. Elemental
elements of geology, texture and the mark of the hand are
engaged to present an obviously manipulated object grounded
in age old concerns of place, identity and aspiration, situated in
a contemporary context. The hope is to create physical and
psychological spaces which invite contemplation about the
human spirit that go beyond the obvious identifying traits of
geography and culture.
Temple Jar
Raku
Donna Rozman
After working in clay and making utilitarian, wheel-thrown
work for many years, the opportunity for a change in
direction has been delightful. My recent work is more
about content and expression than about form and
function. After my recent travels to Faenza, Italy and San
Miguel de Allende, Mexico, I have embraced a different way
of working. There is a sensuality that exudes from these
cultures rich in spirituality. The thought that spirituality and
sensuality are closely connected is the basis for my
current work.
As I work on wheel-thrown and altered container forms, I
add spiritual as well as erotic symbols. The controlled
glaze patterns have a Faentine reference but also
represent structure and control. Selecting to leave some
exposed terra cotta gives the piece a raw, earthy look. The
arch form makes reference to architecture as well as the
symbol of spirit or religion. I also use floral references
which have a very sensuous aspect to them.
Working in a more expressive manner is exciting to me. I
am interested in the dynamics of opposites that coexist in
the world - one depending on the other, pulling and
pushing in an effort to find a balance. From the
construction of the form to the decorative surface, the idea
of opposing forces is clearly a part of my work. As I
continue my work, I look forward to the road ahead and am
excited about the journey.
?T
Hidden Treasure of Knowledge & Truth
Terra Cotta, Majolica
Porntip Sangvanich
Construction and the graphic arts are my main focus. I have
been using geometric shapes and patterns to integrate
techniques and ideas, while focusing on the simplicity of curved
and straight lines, designs and colors.
I believe that the pursuit of impeccable craftsmanship lends
integrity and honesty to my work.
Bellhop Teapot
Clay
Flash Poupee
Porcelain, Ink
Tojo Baby
Porcelain, Ink
Ruth Santee
Diffusion of the Individual
A consistent underlying presence in the process of my work has
been the creation of a larger whole from small intricate
parts/drawings; like building a structure brick by brick. The entity
or piece is made up of interrelated parts.
The process and the content are united in that both address
individuality. The process stands as a monument to
individuality; a testimonial to an obsession with the completion
of a task that offers potentially intangible results. The content
resonates the loss of identity in society.
Li'l Hitlers
Gourds, Acrylic
The surface skin of my 3D forms is made up of hundreds of
micro-drawn images of infants, rats and dictators tightly
squeezed together. Rendered in a cartoon style, the faces lure
the viewer into a sense of levity while engaging them with
expressions of fear and disbelief. The figures can no longer be
seen as individuals, but are diffused and their distinctive
idiosyncrasy is scattered, replaced by a distribution of line and
pattern. Like the surface of some miniature ocean……
Philosophically the loss of identity of an individual is often
deemed for the “Greater Good”; the value of the whole is greater
than the sum of its parts.
Steven
Schaeffer
Balance
Stoneware, Porcelain, Sodafired
My work is evidence of my experiences in the natural world. From walks in the woods, to river
expeditions, these physical encounters have led me to a greater level of personal consciousness.
Understanding my environment is an essential motivation for my creative process. Nature is the
didactic arena that I seek. Through my studio work I have realized what these experiences are
consciously revealing to me.
River trips by boat have led me to many places. These vessels have been the carriers for my
integration into the wild, which has allowed me to foster my personal connection with nature. As a
result the form of “boat” or “vessel” is the inspiration core of my ideas. I’m intent on creating work that
offers the notion of hope and the embodiment of strength. This is a direct response to nature itself
and the risks that are inherent within it. Nature is a collection of many of the formal qualities that
interest me and in turn influence my work.
My work is simple in its method, yet transfers a generosity of scale to the viewer. The forms define
space, and their weight is connected to the landscape they are inspired by. Within these works an
entire canyon can be created with one line slicing through its surface. My work is about the spatial
relationships I’ve experienced in nature and, in turn, the work has become a voice for those
landscapes.
Keith Schneider
The lidded vessel I have included in this exhibition is a figurative
teapot entitled "Mr. Congeniality". The ceramic figure, with its rich
and varied history, has been a great source of inspiration for me.
By taking liberties with abstracting, exaggerating, synthesizing and
stylizing as I see necessary for each of my pieces, I attempt to
create individual “characters” that, through gesture, facial
expression, color, and texture, possess their own unusual
personalities and evoke their own particular emotions. I like using
the idea of the figure as a thematic point of departure because it
allows for such a broad range of interpretation and can be
approached from so many different directions.
This piece is constructed from low-fire clay and fired to cone 03.
Surface color is developed with underglazes, glazes, and stains. I
begin my pieces with a wide variety of wheel thrown forms and
begin putting them together in combination with other elements,
sometimes extruded pieces, sometimes press-molded or
handbuilt. During this process, I try not to be too cerebral, but
instead, attempt to react directly to what is visually in front of me and
trust my instincts.
Often, as I am working, these pieces take on a life of their own and
it is interesting to me that some of my characters seem anxious
and overwhelmed, some worried and perplexed, some quizzical
and amused. As I live with these characters, I believe that they
speak to me about myself.
Mr. Congeniality
Ceramic
Marty Shuter
Sideways Head
Ceramick, Wood
Jinsoo Song
My work is born amidst the struggle between the bodily drives
and my attempt to transcend the body. Ordinary domestic items
are transformed into symbolic objects in my work. With my
touch, the mundane becomes the manifestation of lust, fear,
disgust, pain, and death. The ritualistic act of creating has
become a way of overcoming my desire and fear. These
objects serve to evoke a sense of disillusionment, a second
look at the reality as we know it.
Purging
Porcelain, Epoxy
Chris Theiss
Someone recently asked me what I thought my greatest
strength was as an artist. My immediate answer was my
drawing, but after thinking it over for a while I realized that
technical virtuosity in general is my greatest asset, but is also is
the biggest detriment to my work. The seduction of skill can
easily overwhelm an otherwise interesting idea. Well-honed
skills however impressive are not by themselves very
interesting. From the time I was small child I was able to draw
or make things that could elicit oos and ahs from friends and
family. Encouraging, as that was for myself as a little aspiring
artist it offered me little constructive input as an adult with
serious artistic ambitions.
My ceramic sculpture is complicated. It combines my need to
construct three-dimensional forms with my love of two
dimensional mark making. The morphing of drawing and
sculpture has been an objective of mine since becoming a
ceramicist. I slab construct primarily but branch out into other
methods of hand building when necessary. By using a bright
white clay body and a black vitreous slip I maintain a
monochromatic pallet and can achieve a wide range of value
using the sgraffito technique. All my clay objects are once fired
at the mid temperature range. By imposing these few
limitations on my work I am able to focus my thoughts on the
paradoxical nature of three-dimensional drawing. My recent
ceramics are diminutive in scale and posses more immediacy
than works I have made in the past. As a result I often refer to
these pieces as sketches.
A Little Askew
Ceramic, Vitreous Slip
Personal places are my subject matter. These familiar spaces
that surround me in the present and resonate in my memory
are deconstructed and then reconstructed into new forms. If I
had to describe my objects using one word it would be
“reconstructions”. This term may seem clinical but it is well
suited to my general concept. Within these spaces I also
include the utilitarian and decorative objects that I intimately
connect with on a daily basis. Chairs, lamps, bowls, etc., are
the details that bring the viewer up close to the work. By
controlling this physical distance I establish an intimate
connection between the viewer and the object. Creating
representational space in a form that is meant to be
experienced in the round poses great challenges. There
always seem to be vantage points where the perspective may
be exaggerated but still makes a certain amount of sense. The
transitions between these points are the more difficult areas but
are essential to whether or not the piece has a visual flow.
Kevin Waller
Grain silos, storage tanks and water towers have always
interested me. The way they jut from their surroundings catches
my attention. I incorporate the atmosphere that surrounds these
industrial monuments into my work.
My pieces are slipcast using various shapes that I either make
or find; then they are altered and assembled. Some of my
pieces are made from up to ten different molds. The forms
themselves are the most important aspects of the pieces. The
“pipe” spouts and handles suggest a close-up look at an
industrial object, but the body begs a more distant perspective.
After the pieces are bisque fired, I apply underglazes and then
an engobe or glaze wash, and fire them to cone 10. The
surfaces are purposely mottled to give the pieces a weathered
appearance. The colors and patterns are chosen to reinforce
the form.
The completed work is an interpretation of the industrial
environment and it’s surrounding landscape.
Red and Green Tower
Stoneware
Jenchi Wu
The overall perception of ceramics outside of the art
environment is one of craft, function and utility. This is, of
course, due largely in part to the medium’s functional and
utilitarian roots. Artists like Peter Voulkos made great
progress in dispelling this preconception but I believe a
continued focus and emphasis must continue in order for
the medium to be fully recognized as a true artistic
medium.
Ceramics is a medium like any other whether it’s pencil,
paint, or stone. It is no more or no less an artistic medium
than any other. Ultimately it is the individual artist whose
vision dictates how a medium is used.
Thrust
Stoneware
Central to the role of ceramics as a contemporary art form
is the thought process one must instill in their work –
whether it is a functional vessel or a conceptual art
installation. As an example, my art challenges and
provokes people to look at ceramics in a different way. I
present the medium in a way that challenges their notions
and preconceptions. In my current work I focus on the
physical properties of clay; how gravity as well as my own
force on it affect the medium. I create massive cubes
constructed with over 200 wheel thrown vessels that were
then deconstructed and assembled to create the cube. I
am able to tie the traditional with the contemporary by
combining the traditionally thrown vessel with the purest of
minimalist forms, the cube. It is through this type of
thought process that I believe artists can continue to
present ceramics as not only a medium that dispels
preconceptions but also excels as a contemporary artistic
medium.
Set #1
Stoneware
Srboohie Abajian
Art is not a matter of painting something to the last detail. It is a
matter of expressing the state, emotions, and thoughts of one's
subject. True art expresses life as a whole, and it is more alive and
moving than life itself.
Being an artist means seeing the world in a new way and expressing
one’s own philosophy of life. A wealth of technique is worthless in
itself. Technique must serve one's intended meaning. And meaning
must originate from life.
My goal is to make simple and emotional art. In my work I endeavor
to capture the mood and character of my subjects primarily through
the element of Line. I prefer the medium of monotype for its uniquely
expressive and emotional quality of Line.
I custom-texture my papers using a unique oil-in-water technique.
Onto these papers, I draw the primary subjects of my work, using a
monotype method. I then may add lights and shadows to the
monotypes, using a similar oil-in-water technique, and finally,
assemble these monotypes into a collage on the canvas.
Rainy Mood of February
Mixed
Irene Abraham
Chromic Shadow
Acrylic on Duralene
Invasion
Acrylic on Duralene
My drawings explore the interactions and possibilities when inks and
acrylic paints hit Dura-lene. The images are a collaboration of my intent
with the physical properties of gravity, diffusion, viscosity and
sedimentation. This creates somewhat unpredictable and irregular
effects that become the basis for the final image. The drawings are
further manipulated to accentuate an interface between abstraction and
representation. This combination of uncontrolled and controlled
processes opens a discourse on the intersection of the relentless
biological and scientific forces that shape our environment.
Ken Aldridge
I create contemporary paintings and drawings in oil, acrylic, and
pen/ink that draw the viewer in and rewards them for their perception.
The paintings and drawings are generally of a medium size, being
from 16x20 up to 30x40.
I have realist pieces as well as work that mixes elements from
Realism, Surreal, Impressionistic, Abstract, and Figurative. I seek to
find the greatest expression of humanity in each of my pieces. My
work is a tribute to the people and places that have inspired me over
the years.
I see drawing and painting as entertainment for the viewer. If the
viewer can be briefly taken away from their thoughts by looking into
one of my works, then I have done my job. In addition, my musician
portraits are intended to give the viewer an insight into who these
great musicians are, as well as give them a glimpse into the elation
and occasional struggle involved when creating music.
My drawings and paintings are collected by and intended for a
discriminating audience. They are for those who like to be on the
inside track when something new and exciting is emerging. From
previous showings, I've seen anyone from 8 to 80 years old enjoying
my work.
Coltrane
Pen & Ink
Richard Ash III
American Icon
S/S
The Stock Broker
S/S
These prints represent a renewed interest in the collaging
and layering of imagery. They are the direct result of a body
of work begun as monotypes and expanded upon through
Solar Plate Etchings, and finally as screenprints.
The three prints are based on numerous themes including
newspaper comic characters, Spuds McKenzie, the
Budweiser dog, things that explode, correspondence, the
stock market, and an overly active imagination.
I see the prints as being about memory, both personal and
cultural.
Leapin Lizard
S/S
Lauren Avi
From a normal, respectful viewing distance, imagery that's
compelling on an archetypal level is already apparent in the
dictionary pages of Lauren Ari. The subconscious mind
recognizes the round indentations on the page edges and the
justified columnar text as a dictionary even before the
conscious mind grasps the realization. The conscious mind
is likely to be attracted first by the brightness and variation of
colors from piece to piece, and second by the strange scenes
depicted in the confident lines of the artist.It also becomes
clear that the dictionary is very old, a ninety-year-old Funk and
Wagnell's, and that the bible-paper pages are placed together
in fours. Lauren Ari paints a field of color over the pages, but
allows specific words and images to jump to the foreground.
These are interwoven with overpainting to create whimsical,
strange, engrossing studies of language, learning, and the
definitions of this reality. An interesting aspect of the work is
that its mode of being contemporary includes in a concrete
way the beginning of the twentieth century in its reflections on
the beginning of the twenty-first.You may view images of the
work at www.Klaudiamarrgallery.com and Laurenari.com.
Go To Clay Object
Jesus Barraza
Our medium is the political poster, pieces that reflect national and
international grassroots struggles, and tell a history of social justice
through graphics. There has never been a movement for social
change without the arts – posters in particular – being central to that
movement. We are inspired and informed by the stylistic and radical
impact of Chicano painters and printmakers of the 1960’s. Like these
old-school artistas, our work reflects a growing national
consciousness that speaks to the contemporary urban barrios,
rebelling against racism, classism, sexism and corporate
irresponsibility. We employ the silkscreen format because it is a
medium that is inexpensive and accessible, a medium that has been
used by various movements in history to make radical posters.
Dia de Los Muertos
S/S
We believe that it is our role as community
artists is to define and create a revolutionary
culture. To undermine the deeply-embedded
sickness of this country that has a terrible
history of crushing communities of color. With
our art and our voice, we can build something
transformative. We are in a time when our
country, the strongest empire on the planet,
is acting completely against the interests of
the global community. Now more than ever,
our protest culture is being co-opted by the
mainstream corporate media. Counterculture is in style! But the requirement of
study, political debate and community
empowerment is absent. Power has never
been conceded to communities of color, it
has been fought for. As artists of the people,
we have a responsibility to expose our
community’s reality and to tell the history of
our people.
Sobrevniendo
S/S
Sandra Beard
Music, poetry, the daily news, the spiritual
elements of life, all come into play at some point to
influence my selection of materials. A painting or
print may begin with a color but at some point an
undercurrent of memory and emotion take over
and direct the choice. I feel that the resulting
image is a link to understanding a unique
language, one that conveys meaning through
layers of lines and colors. I have learned to trust
the process and let the image grow. There is often
an underlying structure - an ongoing search for
order. In printing, monotype images often lead to
sequence. The metamorphosis appeals to me
and the variables are often a catalyst to explore
other directions.
Likewise
Mono
Wanda Becker
“Walking Trees” is a dream of the New Mexico forests of the
early twentieth century which were depleted during the
Depression andWorld War II era. It also deals with our
recent struggles with fire and insects. This piece is about a
continuing, quiet and almost unnoticed ecological disaster.
Walking Trees
Ink, Collage
Ann Bingham Freeman
I love drawing and print making. I had the great good fortune to be
able to work with Jim Lorigan at Watermark Press. We were able to
use large plates enabling me to express my love for the body as
metaphor.
Magnesium
Etch
Pamela Blotner
My work has always been concerned with
mythology and belief and where they intersect
with human experience. Having had the
opportunity to travel widely, I’ve been able, first
hand, to study the religions and folklore of
numerous countries and cultures. My
sculptures and drawings explore humanity’s
relationship with the gods, with tradition, with
science and nature through symbolic forms
and functional objects, such as ceremonial
articles, vessels, tools used for cultivation
(spades, trowels, plows), toys and animals.
I am also interested in stories, folk stories,
urban stories and the wisdom that is passed
down from one generation to the next, textured
by landscape, heritage, and belief, that shapes
and maintain a culture and ensures its
continued survival.
Broken Ark 2
Gouache, Mixed
Tonia Bonnell
“There is unquestionable evidence that the formation
of everything we see is governed by that which we now
cannot.” Lawrence Krauss
Absence
Chin, Colle
Drawn to natural occurrences like snow falling, storms
developing, and dust particles floating, I rely on my
surrounding environment (in terms of landscape,
climate, and weather) for initial inspiration in creating
my images. These visually accessible occurrences,
which consist of individual parts forming a mass, act
as a bridge, leading me to consider spaces less
tangible and more overlooked. In our everyday lives we
breathe air and pass through perceived empty spaces,
rarely considering our dependence upon the realm of
the unseen. Spaces that seem empty are overlooked,
not only because human eyes cannot see what fills
them, but also because of their constancy. (Unless we
experience drastic changes as in altitude, we rarely
consider the amount of oxygen we take in with each
breath.) When change is not evident, we allow a veil of
normalcy to prevent us from noticing basic elements of
life. Human range of visibility does not allow us to see
the molecules, atoms, and microscopic particles that
form our perceptible world. Even the vacuum, as
explored in quantum theory, is “neither empty nor
featureless” but contains both residual energy and a
complex structure. Within a fast-paced, “seeing-isbelieving” culture, I attempt to shift the viewer‚s focus
toward the powerful presence of quiet, breathing, real
spaces that allow for our being.
Drawing repetitive marks, I engage in a focused activity
that is reflected in the meditative nature of the finished
pieces. Each “particle” is quiet, yet clearly and
deliberately stated through the graphic characteristic of
the mark. I appreciate the clarity that the lines of early
printmaking techniques (engraving, etching, woodcut)
provide, and I use them, not traditionally (to form an
illusion of a recognizable image), but to achieve the
most basic mark: a short, straight line. By limiting my
means of expression, I‚m able to investigate the
dynamic capabilities of the seemingly simple marks
that, like notes of music, gain complexity when
composed. In terms of movement and stillness, the
visual experiences of my works vary, as fog differs
from a blizzard or hailstorm. The scale of each image
relates to the size of mark that most suits the medium:
etching allows for minute, precise detail; engraving
provides a “characteristic hair-thin line,” and the
nature of wood demands a larger tool and more
aggressive force to cut. Shifts in scale allow for
different experiences, whether intimate or enveloping.
Within each series, the density, sparseness, value,
and directional movement become crucial to the
psychological effect. Essential to all pieces is the shift
that happens when the viewer approaches the work.
While I work from part to whole, the viewer experiences
the work from the whole (an atmospheric image) to the
part (a recognition of individual marks.) A phase
transition, like water forming into ice, occurs within the
viewer‚s perception when approaching the work:
atmospheric fields crystallize.
1 Lawrence Krauss, The Fifth Essence (New York:
Basic Books, 1989), xv.
2 B Alan Wallace, Choosing Reality: A Contemplative
View of Physics and the Mind (Boston: Shambhala
Publications, 1989), 10.
3 Edward R. Tufte, The Visual Display of Quantitative
Information (Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press, 2001),
185.
Joy Broom
I’m interested in layering in terms of both image and concept. Cropped
Italian Renaissance art laser prints form the base over which I’ve added
intuitive ballpoint and white gel pen drawings, each page dictating its own
imagery. Here are layered elements of nature: seeds, trees, cells, body
parts, insects and energy spheres. Individually, these drawing pages are
dipped in purified beeswax to seal, protect, bind and objectify. Their wax
mounting on panel establishes new visual relationships, playing off each
other as small meditations. They refer to history as part of a wider natural
universe.
Virgins
Beeswax, Ball Point Pen on Print
Jane Burgunder
I have been influenced by my experiences teaching children’s
art—the innocence, exuberance (children’s tongues hang out
when they’re working) and primitive qualities. My drawings
explore simple patterns and formal figure/ ground
relationships. The drawing’s process is revealed through
additive and subtractive layers. Meaning is derived through this
process—a collection of physical decisions made whole. The
image’s end is imprecise—striving for unexpected or eccentric
relationships.
Gatepost
Mono
Kim Cheselka
In my daily life I collect, select and then record images, creating
narrative environments for them to live in.
A volcano, a coffee cup, a house… depictions or
representations of familiar icons find their way into paintings,
drawings and three dimensional boxes.
Clear Affection
India Ink, Watercolor
By creating these environments, I invite the viewer to connect to
their own experience.
Mark Collop
Graphite and paper have recently become an important material in my
work. My renewed interest in this media emerged from teaching beginning
drawing at the university. Similarly, the Xerox machine, used daily to make
copies for my students, is now a tool used in my work. It is exactly this type
exchange between life, art and technology that is the catalyst of my
investigation. Visually, I want to re-present the interconnection of the whole
and blur the lines of demarcation.
Biomechanic Noon
Graphite, Oil, Xerox Transfer
Biomechanic Sunrise
Graphite, Oil, Xerox Transfer
Stacy Elko
Living in Morocco there was a way of being that was not noticed in my
mind and body until I left. I began to understand difference and
change. The tidal force of the place was a wave that engulfed me and
changed me in ways I never thought possible. After spending many
years overseas in Morocco, I returned to this country with the
perception that I was the same person who had left. But instead
realized that I had been on an incredible journey both physically and
mentally.
I had been living in Morocco for the 10 years and despite the fact that I
came back to the US, I continued to make art about Morocco as if I
had never left. Later I began to artistically investigate a pervasive
feeling that had been growing since I had come back to the US. I
began searching out places that were in tune with the feeling: Rail
yards to the south and west of town, abandoned places slowly being
reclaimed by nature. A crow image insinuated itself into my work, a
crow that I had stumbled upon, dead on the grass. Taking up many
pages in my workbook, I began to approach the prints as pages in a
very large sketchbook. I continued to work with the crow imagery
concentrating on the claws and a heart image and later manifesting it
in terms of other things related to me in special ways: fragile teacups,
peppers, and acorns. I defined this as displacement /fragmentation.
I began to think of my life before, during and after Morocco as a
journey.
Crow and Heart
Litho, Pastel
There is an ancient sacredness to the journey. The individual turns
his back on that which is known and walks forward. The beginning of
the journey is often unannounced, unrealized until future reflection.
And upon this journey, there are points of stopping--- places of
significance. The purpose to the journey manifested in these places.
This artist statement does not have any final summary since I never
feel that I am at the end of something, that I am constantly falling
down an endless well of exploration and discovery. Thank you.
Kevin Evans
My imagery is a concoction of influence from the natural
concealed world, instinct, and the cavernous depths of
imagination. The process is a provoking push and pull journey
within medium and self, sporadic introductions of chaos to
ensure an unpredictable voyage towards the concluding
outcome. When working, I investigate the interior terrain, favoring
an existence within a silent emblematic space. I deposit symbols,
characters and texture -following an intuitive voice leading to
unanticipated and surprising consequences.
The picture first begins as a sequence of visual ramblings in
sketchbook. Intermittently, unsystematic rudiments and marks of
disorder are introduced. on occasion, regions are destroyed or
erased and act as a reaction trigger. It’s a procedure to briefly
exist within an atmosphere of disorder and unpredictability. When
the illustration has attained a conclusion, it is then transferred to
a photosensitive plate and printed in an intaglio technique.
Debeo
Intaglio
Betty Field Haley
Early in my career as a painter, I discovered the qualities and
aesthetics of Chinese classical painting to be most in line with my own
aspirations as an artist. I have admired ancient Chinese philosophies
of landscape painting, and my aim continues to be to express, "the
circulation of the Spirit (Chi) produces movement of life". I am
fascinated with trying to be an instrument to communicate the power
and majesty of life. Although experienced in a variety of media, I find ink
and watercolor the most rewarding for expression as a painter.
Watercolor and ink are difficult to control and yet I feel that is part of their
glory. I find the unpredictability offers suggestions, stimulates the
imagination, and allows real creation to happen spontaneously. I have
always been a painter who works in the outdoors and I draw great
inspiration from natural forms. I paint what I see but not as a strict
realist, and prefer suggestion to fine detail as I seek to discover
Ultimate Reality found in Nature. One of my favorite themes is of deep
mountain chasms with waterfalls, exploring rocky formations and
pouring water. I admire the treatment of space in Chinese art, and the
concept that sometimes one can say more with less. The mistiness of
atmospheric perspective, empty spaces, and mere suggestion of
natural forms in many of my later works, are testament to this influence.
I enjoy playing with inventive and multiple variations of colors,
enhancing space and form yet always attempting to retain an original
harmony. Over the years, a development that stands out is the increase
in the size of my painting. Although unusual for a watercolorist, I am
most happy painting in very large dimensions. I continue to deepen my
understanding of ancient Chinese painting and blend tradition with
modernity. I feel I have developed a painting style that retains much of
the Chinese aesthetic concerns, yet in a new way, especially in ink
painting.
High Mountains with Figures
Chinese Ink, Watercolor
Kathi Flood
"What Bad Drivers Are Thinking" is a series of 12 washboards
that reflects the universal frustration we all feel on the road. I
have commuted down Ventura Boulevard in the San Fernando
Valley for most of my life, so my guerrilla sociology is well
rehearsed on this issue. I took two hundred photos of cars and
businesses, created drawings from the photos on handmade
papers, and went to a car junkyard for bits of auto findings. My
work often documents urban frustrations in a humorous way
because I can get better attention and reflection with hyperbole
and random goofyness than with bitter rantings. As the years
go by and I observe traffic thickening, I feel compelled to
address the psychological implications of urban population
density.
Bad Drivers
Drawing Collage
Suzanne Fontaine
Boundaries interest me. They imply continuum. I work a single idea
across many media. Both product and process embody continuum. The
creation of space with color and the effects of repetition are two
consistent concerns. I am interested in the relationship between
structure and meaning, the brain’s predisposition to seek, find, and
interpret pattern. My background in poetry, linguistics, and intercultural
communications influences my art.
Cognitively, the brain creates categories to process information. The
category boundaries are arbitrary. Yet, it is to these categories that an
individual assigns meaning. A continuum of information, with its
idiosyncratic map of categories, constitutes an individual’s reality. The
continuum is dynamic, perpetually in flux. Boundaries continually shift
according to perception and conception, as perception and conception
shift according to boundary delineation. My work explores this
dialectic—how structure allows meaning to be manifested, and vice versa
Steve Gibson
The progression of my work has taken many
turns as I have developed as an artist.
Perceptions and thoughts become reality and
develop into nonlinear narratives. Looking at
historical and contemporary events and trying
to respond to them, I am entranced by the
connections. Seemingly unrelated events
and images connect in the Diaspora.
Untitled 100
Aqua, Etch, Chin Colle
I do not try to make too much sense of the
experience but rather respond intuitively to
the nuances I find there. Simplifying, editing
and honing my response become most
helpful in clarifying the work. I try to connect
the concept and craftsmanship in a manner
that is straight forward and poetic.
Untitled 101
Aqua, Etch, Chin Colle
Untitled 102
Aqua, Etch, Chin Colle
Carole Greer
Red Dot and Circle
The catalysts for making my images
Are circumstances in life were control often is taken away,
An experience we all share.
Circles confine.
The Rose and the Star are symbols that have
represented
My personality and character
Dress patterns while not used here are
Hinted at by the use of the red dart on the left.
The spatial field remains ambiguous.
Forms move against one another,
They struggle.
Red Dot and Circle
Paint Stick
Gail Gwinn
Saint Goldy and In the Woods are included in my
ongoing series, Light Through the Trees. Our
northwest winters are notorious for short, dreary
days when the sun seems barely able to cut
across even a corner of the sky. To keep sane, I try
to focus on what light there is, whether it’s the first
ray of sunrise, midday light filtering through trees
or simply a porch lamp illuminating a long night.
In the Woods
Etch
Saint Goldy
Etch
Dirk Hagner
In my art old and new techniques
and ideas compliment each other.
Working in new directions, I
constantly find myself drawing
historic, geographic, political and
artistic connections to the past.
Written Landscape
Letterpress
Art
Hazelwood
After it became clear that nothing
would stop the US march to war in
Iraq, and my frustration and
powerlessness mounted the only
course that seemed open was to
channel despair into small concise
statements. Engraving is a method of
cutting the copper, brass or zinc plate
with tools to create an image. It is a
laborious process and one I taught
myself during this project. The
minuteness, obsessiveness and
control required were the perfect
match for my mood of focusing anger
at a particular detail of the
monumentally hubristic government
that the US has become under this
administration.
Liberty Brought to Baghdad
Engraving
I did not presume to portray the
photographic reality of the war nor the
horrors of wars. I focused instead on
the metaphorical and satirical nature
of the enterprise. Liberty Brought to
Baghdad portrays a bound and
blindfolded lady liberty, roughly treated
by troops who are dragging her off to
her newly intended.
Nicole Henderson
Of all the different artistic media, I have found printmaking to
be the most versatile and personally rewarding. I prefer to
work in abstract terms, and often layer several images to get
the desired effect. My first love is etching, but other processes
are represented in my work as well. Sometimes I start with a
vague idea, but ultimately my art is determined by the
subconscious.
Deregulation II combines two images from etched plates. On
seeing the finished image, I recognized my own growing
frustration of environmental policies. Chaos and destruction
are the results of deregulation.
Deregulation 2
Intaglio
Judy Hiramoto
Journalists consider the bombing of Hiroshima the
most newsworthy event of the twentieth century.
Ironically, after winning World War II America began
an undeclared war on its own citizens and
relentlessly tested bombs in Nevada spreading
fallout over its own people and exposing soldiers
and laboratory employees to radiation.
I work as an archeologist in this series, excavating
quotes and images from the twentieth century to
exemplify what a bizarre culture we have become.
Imagery and text are placed in other systems such
as science, language, and music notation to create
associations between seemingly disparate systems
to explore how meaning is construed. I began the
nuclear issues series in 1995 to commemorate fifty
years of the nuclear age.
Home On The Range
inkjet
Richard Hutter
Floral still life has been the primary theme in my work since
1993. Instead of a representational approach, however, I
prefer an abstracted, “architectonic” view of my subject. I
paint on constructions made of found wood and panels
made of new wood (usually birch), sometimes using
techniques borrowed from printmaking. I also create works
on paper, including self-published prints.
I create imagery by drawing with architects’ tools (such as a
french curve) and by collaging found elements from old
books, magazines, postcards, and the like. I frequently use
images from early 20th century books on mechanical
drawing and engineering (a personal connection to my late
father, about stories of paths not taken.) Formal concerns
predominate over symbolic or emotional ones, informed by
Minimalism and Pop, with a nod to Dada. Tactility and an
obsession with surface are evident in all my work: encausticlike waxy acrylic paint on found-wood constructions; sticky
and mottled passages on lithographic monotypes; and
matte and almost-porous-looking surfaces on found-paper
collages.
Trine
S/S
This ongoing body of work dealing with the flower form has
evolved slowly over the years. Initially there were gridded,
tiled photo-collages of blurry photos of flowers and
vegetation. Later I began using a 4-lobed shape, which had
emerged in my sketchbook while I was researching
Japanese popular culture for an unrelated project. With this
4-lobed shape I have created varied explorations in
abstraction of the flower form over several years: by
repetition, by enlargement, by fragmentation, by slivering
into a shadow of itself, by tipping patterns back into
perspective space to suggest landscape, among others.
More recently I began using found diagrams and photos of
gears and other mechanical parts to suggest floral still life.
Another recent development is a new form resembling a
beehive—which itself refers to an evolution of a flower’s
essence—but is actually proportioned on the spires of the
shrines at Angkor Wat in Kampuchea, and so re-connects
my work to architectural ideas.
More recent still is my discovery of the wonders of vintage
floral wallpaper, which I have begun incorporating as an
element using collage techniques. Also new is a form
resembling a comma or apostrophe that is actually
informed by the paisley shape, which I found during my hunt
for old wallpaper. In my sketchbook the paisley shape
slowly morphed into this stylized, comma-shape form. A
visitor to my studio remarked that the form adds a reference
to language in my floral abstractions.
A few notable influences on my work are my training as a
printmaker, my love of architecture and the built environment
(which began during my boyhood in Chicago) and my
appreciation of ephemera or anything old and printed.
Artists whose work I respond most strongly to include
Donald Sultan, Andy Warhol, Agnes Martin and Joseph
Cornell.
Eunice Kim
There is in me, a need and desire to counteract extremes of order and
chaos. I consciously and deliberately introduce randomness into order.
Likewise, I find and extract structure from chaos. The result, is balance.
This balance is not static. It is constantly moving, gauging, and readjusting.
Depending on the point of departure, it can be found anywhere within the full
spectrum of order and chaos. Balance for me is achieved not through grand
gestures, but through small, nuanced acts that are alive with awareness.
My recent work, the Porous series, and the processes employed to generate
them, mirror and document this ongoing search for balance.
Porous #18
Collograph,Chin Colle
Porous #18
Collograph,Chin Colle
Machiko Kondo
I am concerned about the quality of being human and human
nature. We may refer to good and bad traits of others. All of
us have both, benevolence and malevolence.
The mental motion swings between the artless and the artful,
the optimistic and the pessimistic, the rational and the
irrational, the straight and the cynical, and the warm and the
cold. All things are in a state of flux. Everything is constantly
changing.
I sometimes like to gaze the continuous exhaustion and the
extinction under individual delusions and passions.
Songs of Amusement
Acrylic, Charcoal, Ink, Pastel, Lino
Japanese word, “mono no aware” means something like
“beauty tinged with sadness”. Life is too uncertain and
transient; however, we feel the pathos of things and
appreciate the beauty of nature. My work often originates from
this sense of “mono no aware”. We have paradoxes.
Pamela Lanza
Each of us learned in his own way
that his imagination had been dwarfed,
looked up and saw the power of which he had
been proud loom over us,
civilization face to face with its own implications:
industrial ruin
gagged outrage
imagination incarceration
magnetically resonant war machines
force-fed televised anesthesia
holy ozone bombardment
morally vaccinated remote-control consciousness
stress-related Buddhism
post-industrial prayer
muzzled prophets unbound
The World Tries Its Weight
Ink, Acrylic, Collage
breaking out of artifice
survival of a joyful noise
particulate angelic net of breathing ones
web of fragile matter
defiant soaring souls
a thousand dancers on the head of a pin
and civilization asks of both spirit and ruin:
“Is you is or is you ain’t my baby?”
(beginning and end quoted from Jacob Bronwoski)
Anthony Lazorko
Technically, this print is an attempt to push wood as far as I
can in defining a visual idea, in plastic terms. The content
side is about defining a facet of American life.
The Eat-Rite diner is located down the street from Busch
Stadium in St. Louis. It is open 24 hours a day, everyday, for
the tired and hungry or anyone who could use a hot cup of
coffee and some conversation. The counter at Eat-Rite barely
holds eight people, huddled around the grill and coffee pots.
This area of St. Louis, near the Mississippi, can get very dark,
damp and cold during the winter months. The "Eat-Rite" sign
is a beacon in the night when everything else is closed. It
glows in the dark with its offering of warmth and camaraderie.
(This is not a Mickey Ds!)
Eat Rite at Nite
Woodcut
John Oliver Lewis
White Feld
Relief, Enamel on Paper
Ann Lindbeck
I think of my work as visual haikus. Haikus are Japanese poems
consisting of 17 syllables arranged in a sequence of 5-7-5 Haiku
poems evoke a sense of place or a time; they are not descriptions. In
my work I strive to suggest, rather than display, a memory, a season, or
a place. I use layers of textures and tones, creating ambiguous
spaces, using ordering forms to maintain a calm, a repose. Haikus
are enigmatic and intimate. The short, strict form makes a full narrative
impossible. My prints, like the poems, are not about storytelling, but
about the memory of a moment, or the fleeting glimpse, or reflections
on a place.
Fusuma 7
Monoprint
Justin Lorenzen
In 1999, music gave birth to one man. Since 2002, I
have devoted myself to transposing the auditory
signal into a visual record of this individual’s
struggle for survival. It may be a story you have
already heard or a story yet to be written. In either
case, it is a fantastic adventure into the purest forms
of black and white and the experimental realm inbetween. It is a mysterious domain of juncture where
we will find not just the tale of one man, but the
legends of many; the chronicles of Dr. Frank
Electrostein.
Electrocution
Linocut
The story of Dr. Frank Electrostein is compiled
into a seventeen-part print book. Each individual print
is a linoleum relief cut and is hand-pressed onto
paper. I have always enjoyed the challenge of
working with only positive and negative space; with
this project, I have created a continuous narrative
through visual format of multiple prints. The images
are all inspired through a process of sequential
listening of compilation music. Each song gives birth
to a new frame in the storyboard of Dr. Electrostein’s
life.
Printmaking is a timeless method of art. It is an
excellent medium of narration and can explain a
message to the masses. So as long as the music
feeds my ears, my hands will feed the world’s eyes
with the story of Dr. Frank Electrostein’s persistent
existence through this print project.
Infiltrate
Linocut
Enrica Marshall
The Printmaking Umbrella is diverse and, with
that, and it's innovativeness and continuous
challenges has made me a 30 year printmaker
of varied mediums. Being from Africa I often
use my growing up experiences in my work.
At the River
Screen Print
Katherine
Mc Guinness
There are no colors like the colors that lithography
inks can make. The brights, the intensives, don't
jump out at the viewer, but draw one in like the
glow from a bed of coals. These colors feed my
very motivation to make art.
Katherine Mc Guinness
Quoting the Artist
Diane Mc Leod
My art is arranged in resonating configurations with a
focus on line and color to maximize expressive
impact. I strive to make my art original and true to
myself. It is an energetic response to my
subconscious, to spiritual and intuitive inspiration
and to the natural world. I express those responses
without premeditation, allowing lines and colors to
emerge freely and repetitiously. High visual impact is
my intention with these abstract expressions of my
imagination.
Dabbled Wave
Monoprint
The materials employed facilitate my spontaneity, as
well as my drive for visual, emotive and interpretative
complexity. Drawing and printmaking are the media
most adaptable to this way of working. Lithography,
monotypes and drawing inks are my preferred
materials. With them I give direct expression to joy,
anguish, humor or outrage. I use layering to create
depth, visual and intellectual. This is particularly true
of the prints, where I often print several different
plates in registration, or add to a monotype image in
many consecutive runs. I seek to satisfy my
enjoyment of problem-solving through art.
Creating art is very freeing, enjoyable and healing.
The length of time it takes to complete each image
allows me to engage with it meditatively and
playfully. Making art allows me to express my
connection with all creation, my respect for it, and my
gratitude to be a part of this eternal, ever-changing
place.
J C Muhs
Except when I draw directly from nature, since I am not an
illustrator, I have no idea where my images come from, I
merely allow them to appear!
Chinese Soldier & Tibetan Snow Lion
Coloured Pencil
Karen
Neubert
Los Angeles is one of a series of
landscapes of the 134 Freeway. An
ordinary driving moment …
sunset…the clouds lift after days of
rain…and, as Jonathan Safran Foer
writes, “Everything is illuminated…”
The monotype was printed on
Somerset black on the etching press
at the Armory Center fo the Arts, and
further developed with pastel.
Los Angeles
Monoprint, Pastel
James Pace
1.Emblems of dissent. Employing mechanisms of physiological response
and culturally contextualized references furthering societal debate.
2.A cultural alarm.Regarding the dangers of mainstream submission, and
the subsequent loss of liberties.
3.Aesthetically, pivoting off of traditions of nationalistic banners, flags and
political posters intended to inspire patriotism.
4.Compilations of propaganda, both positive and negative, which tap into
archetypes and icons provoking our collective memory of history.
5.Complex diversifications juxtaposed with austere singularity, which in turn,
breeds a clearer definition of both. [bureaucracy + individual = social
agreement, mainstream < importance of tolerance].
6.Contextual variables determine the ultimate interpretation.
Mr. Brink
Intaglio
Political Labyrinth
Intaglio
Rie Palkovic
We are more alike than we are different.” As I worked
on this watercolor, I clearly saw how true this
statement was. The familiar is often comforting when
we feel displaced and I returned to the flora and fauna
of the tropics where I was raised. The tropical fruit bat
is as comforting a sight to me as cats and dogs.
While walking at night I saw them often swoop down in
flight to capture fruit for their meal. They are also a
source of fear to many who are not as familiar with
them. The comforting as a source of fear is a paradox
that I am investigating in my study of nature. To see the
multiple sides of an issue or a person can help us to
see that, “we are more alike than we are different”.
Now Do You See
Watercolour on Layout Paper
Sarah Pavsner
My visual vocabulary derived from textural facades of
factories, and abandoned warehouses in my home town
of Detroit Michigan. A camera and the darkroom were
tools I used to show the juxtaposition between the
humanity that once inhabited these structures and the
force of nature, which despite the absence of people
continues to live and reshape these soon to be ruins.
I continued the exploration of industry and how it relates to
the environment as a college student at the University of
South Carolina by photographing the forgotten cotton mills
and clay factories. Upon my graduation from the
Department of Media Arts I furthered my skills as a
photographer for the South Carolina Department of
Highways and Public Transportation and its Public Affairs
Department. There I focused on the human aspect of
visual expression through photojournalism.
Horse
Monoprint
After obtaining my bachelor’s degree, I moved to
Washington, D.C. There I worked as an administrator at
Arena Stage and Warner Theater. Despite my
employment in the theatrical arts, I continued my work in
photography and worked as a freelancer in both the public
and private sector.
Moving to Los Angeles almost a decade ago, provided
antonyms for my visual language. Both transition and a
landscape that was foreign to my mid west upbringing
made it difficult for me to express myself in an artistic
manner. My primary block dealt with the decay that
appeared to coexist with humanity; both abundant in this
city. This was a complete departure from the starkness of
the Midwest; and this richness could not be aptly served
with traditional photography.
By burnishing a plate or adding a new layer of ink to a
mono plate, I am replacing photography with a more
versatile medium. The versatility inherent in printmaking
allows me to show the diversity of both landscape and
humanity abundant in Los Angeles. Furthermore,
printmaking and its related mediums has empowered me
to unleash subconscious aesthetics. These dormant
memories are now sources for both conceptual and
abstract projects.
Rod Replogle
Ink and handmade paper have filled one of the artistic
needs of artists for thousands of years. Adding colored
pencil to the ink work, and then cutting the paper into
strips and weaving them into new designs is definitely a
newer way of creating images. When two sheets of
drawings are combined, some of the visual relationships
can be planned; however, some are serendipitous.
Remembering a Fast Dance
Sumi Ink, Coloured Pencil
Wayne Rice
Concrete Blonde
Monoprint, Hand Coloured
The inspiration for my work comes out of my life experiences and
personal interests. Some of these interests currently include: color
woodblock prints from the Japanese Edo Period, historic Native
American textile design, brand images in American popular culture,
computerized digital art, symbols in dream psychology, mysticism in
world religious traditions, children’s art, and alternative portraiture. I
see my work as a combination of many influences and many voices. I
do not see myself as a regional artist, although my work is always
influenced by where I live, especially by the natural environment. I enjoy
creating works in a series. My intention is to communicate an
underlying feel of change and evolving relationships. I use metaphors
of film animation, parts of books, phases of the moon, or the life cycle
of a romance. In titles I often use carefully chosen language to create
short narratives, which serve as a passport into my personal visual
territory. These narratives distill, encircle andilluminate a subject’s
inner life—somewhat like carefully considered notes in a short musical
measure. In drawing I use several varied techniques in colored pencil
for their simplicity, versatility, and visual brilliance. I create interplays of
light and color with texture and pattern to define a visual habitat to
combine
shorakusai’s dream
monoprint, hand coloured
Zen Cowgirl
monoprint, hand coloured
representational and abstract imagery. One on-going series, “Flora
and Fauna of the Middle Latitudes,” is a group of works inspired by
objects from nature. Most of the works in this series are purposefully
small and intimate. These works are imagined as parts of a
mysterious collection–possibly hand-colored “book plates” or
illuminations discovered in an ancient herbal or old field-book.
Possibly they are the surviving pages of an encyclopedia or scriptorium
text. The term “middle latitudes” refers to a position in time as well as
in geographic location. In monotype printmaking I use several varied
techniques for their sheer exuberance and painterly spontaneity.
Techniques are often combined to create a base layer of imagery over
which additional layers of color, texture, or pattern are added in a variety
of other drawing or painting techniques. The addition of other media,
such as metallic inks or oil crayon, colored pencil or paint, adds
contrast and depth to particular works. One on-going series, “Faces
from the Edge of the World,” is a related group of portrait works in
monotype printmaking with the addition of hand coloring. These works
are portraits of real or imagined subjects whose lives I document as
independent spirits in the high desert borderlands of the American
southwestern experience.
Favianna Rodriguez
Our medium is the political poster, pieces that reflect national
and international grassroots struggles, and tell a history of
social justice through graphics. There has never been a
movement for social change without the arts – posters in
particular – being central to that movement. We are inspired
and informed by the stylistic and radical impact of Chicano
painters and printmakers of the 1960’s. Like these old-school
artistas, our work reflects a growing national consciousness
that speaks to the contemporary urban barrios, rebelling
against racism, classism, sexism and corporate
irresponsibility. We employ the silkscreen format because it is
a medium that is inexpensive and accessible, a medium that
has been used by various movements in history to make
radical posters.
Stop the Evictions
Screen Print
Thomas
Schlotterback
Suzanna & The Elders: Hot Tub
Honey #1
Charcoal
Art is my vehicle for expressing the world that I see. My
objective is to present that world and what it does using
the disciplined vocabulary, techniques, and materials of
the visual arts learned from art historical ancestors who
expressed the same elements of their world. Each work
I complete is a carefully thought out and studied human
condition, circumstance, involvement and enterprise that
presents my interpretation in a manner readable by
those who may see it. My studies begin with a specific
subject matter and trial sketches of compositions that
present a depiction of my interpretation of that subject
matter. This stage takes time and some of the subjects
I deal with continue on for years. I began the initial
studies for “Hot Tub Honey No 1:Susanna and the
Elders”, some six or seven years ago. The drawing in
this exhibition is what I consider a “finished” drawing
and was done late in 2003 and shown first in 2004. It is
the first of three drawings on the subject. The other two
drawings are “Hot Tub Honey No. 2: David and
Bathsheba” and “Hot Tub Honey No.3: Potiphar’s Wife
and Joseph”. All of my drawings are finished to provide
the form from which finished oil paintings will be done.
“Hot Tub Honeys, 1, 2, 3” Will provide the visual form for
the three oil on canvas panels for a triptych that will be
started in the spring of 2006. In this finished triptych I
hope to combine an ancient old testament topic with
modern manifestations and indicate how while things
change there are aspects that are the result of
continuous human characteristics, foibles and
tendencies. I am flattered and pleased that the jurors for
this exhibition responded so positively to this drawing.
Katherine Sheehan
In a time when the natural world is rapidly shrinking and species
are disappearing daily, our attention is urgently required. Close
observation is a form of reverence. I believe that the infinite
possibilities of nature can be a lens to reveal the spirit. Through
mindfulness, the transformation of the consciousness of the
viewer becomes a possibility. Enlargement of the senses is the
goal of my art. The conceptual and formal qualities of my work
support each other through the use of diverse materials.Trained
as a printmaker, I work in layers. Images of the natural world are
combined with signifiers of the man-made world including
architectural elements, navigational systems, scientific diagrams,
maps, and pattern. These motifs address my concern about
finding a space in which nature and mankind can co-exist. I use
the unique handmade mark and images printed in multiples in
my investigation of the balance between the natural world and the
man-made world. Decorative patterns echo the repetition of forms
in nature. Watercolor, sumi ink, Asian papers, beeswax, and
pastel all add visual and tactile layers in the pieces. Pastel is an
especially appropriate element in my work as it expresses the
vivid color, delicacy and fragility of the endangered animals I draw.
The sheer unbridled abundance of the natural world can be
overwhelming to us, but we are inextricably connected to this
order of things, bound by the same universal laws We are not
separate from nature. We are nature. My art reminds the viewer of
the richness and fragility of the natural world, and the intertwined
fate of man and the environment.
Mano Ponsderosa
Intaglio, S/S, Silver Leaf
Mike Stephens
Through my work I will investigate my own selfidentity and what my place is within the
world.Using an alter-ego figure based upon a
graphic comic book style that developed from
childhood, I explore the chaotic scenarios that
often occur in current society. My art makes a
social commentary by utilizing traditional
technique combined with current cultural images.
Camero
Woodcut
Thomas Stubbs
They don’t Believeth in Evolution:
(The Assault On The Other Towers.)
Look up “Incompetent Design” on
Google.
Mars, The Neocon God.
Is it the “Rapture they
Seeketh, the “Raptorial”
(Predatory Creature like
an American Eagle), Or
Is It Just Plain Old Rape.
A Game Of Cat And Mouseketeer.
The personification of animals for
movies might in a perverse way be a
way of expressing anthropocentric
views, and is a denial of nature on the
level of arrogance of most religious
dogmatic doctrines.
D Swan Sullivan
Purple Tri 1
Sumi Ink, Watercolour, Glitter
Purple Tri 2
Sumi Ink, Watercolour, Glitter
Purple Tri 3
Sumi Ink, Watercolour, Glitter
Creative expression for me is like exercise,
an outlet where I process the joy and stress
of life. My paintings and drawings are journal
entries. They document the residual
emotions and responses that build up from
my experiences. The images are intuitive
and spontaneous where line and color have
equal importance. I strive to create hidden
details, inspired by the beauty and subtleties
I find in nature. The spontaneity and fragility
of watercolor assists me to accomplish this.
Zolita Sverdlove
I have been drawing intensively for 58 years. Most
of my ideas for prints and painting are begun as
drawings. But frequently, the drawing can stand on
its own as a finished artwork without being a
precursor to some other medium.
Hollywood Hills
Ink
In my recent work I have been very involved in
using black. I used graphite and ink and some
white to create the layers of different blacks in
Hollywood Hills. This drawing evolved from some
quick sketches and photos I took at Barnsdall
Municipal Art Gallery. We were having alternating
rain showers and sunlight, one of my favorite
phenomena to paint. I had always wanted to do
this view and the weather conditions were perfect
for my sensiblity. For once you could see
everything and Griffith Park was not covered in
smog. The Observatory and the Hollywood Hills
sign were all very clear in front of the turbulent
skies.
Annette Tosti
Trained as a scientist and an artist, for me, art is a
way of questioning, of testing the world. I view the
world as a system of interdependent parts.
Communication is a process that maintains the
flow of information. Information acts to keep the
system in alignment. So, nodes of information
coordinate the flow of communication that
surround and connect us.
Digital Essence
Ink, Brass on Paper
Yida Wang
My work represents my exploration of self with
subject and images from my cross-culture
existence. The subjects and images of my
work are outgrowth from my personal world,
memory and experience. But they were
assembled in such a way as to endow the
representation with metaphysical significance
and to evoke psychological response.
Birthmark 1
Charcoal, Hand Print on Scroll
Birthmark 2
Charcoal, Hand Print on Scroll
Ricky Weisbroth
When I was a child I lived in a house in a small town, in “the Projects”
in Brooklyn, New York, and on a chicken farm. This assemblage of
locale and the experiences intrinsic to each helps to define who I am
as a person, a writer and an artist, and is what informs my life and my
art. While many people talk about the halcyon days of the 1950s, I grew
up in its dark shadow: it was a time of domestic (U.S.) fear and
political repression and, for me, personal sadness.
I have, of course, carried the foundations laid during my
childhood into adulthood. In 1964, yet another Buddhist monk selfimmolated in the streets of New York. I joined the nascent antiVietnam War movement. My opinions have developed and matured
over the years, some ideas have been discarded and new concepts
embraced, but it is fair to say that I have been active, throughout my life,
in attempting to create my version of a better world.
Fried Eggs
Monoprint
I have come to understand that there never will be an end to
human desecration: people will continue to have babies they can’t
feed, corporations will continue to pillage in the name of consumerism,
religious zealots will continue to slaughter in the name of god, animals
will continue to suffer in laboratories, on farms, and in the wild in the
name of the betterment of mankind. I believe we are on a path of
environmental destruction that will not be averted.
Sometimes it is quite difficult to get out of bed in the morning.
What saves me is creating art. The process is a wellspring of
introspection and balance. It is my respite.
Occasionally, a person looking at my work will ask me what it “means.”
I ask what emotions the work evokes in him/her. It gives me
tremendous satisfaction to be able to share with the viewer a similarly
involving, meditative and thought-provoking experience.
Together, we may not save the world but at least may help each
other out of bed to face another day.
Mike Youngman
Work.
Work in the face of opposition.
Work in the face of indifference.
Work in the face of frustration.
Work in the face of doubt.
Work in the face of the ludicrous.
Work in the face of praise (maybe smile).
Work in the face of politics.
Work in the face of rules.
Work in the face of success (it’s fleeting).
Work in the face of the sublime.
Laugh.
Work.
Cold Lunch with Monkey
Linocut