It's Back! - Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition
It's Back! - Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition It's Back! - Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition
6 profile Out of Their Element Out in the Elements By Randy Marks My studio partner and well-known provocateur Larry Pickering suggested that we should have an outdoor sculpture show at Studio 31 Deuce on NE 37th in Oklahoma City. When I agreed that would be a good idea, he told me that I was in charge of it. This was apparently cosmic payback for my goading him into doing a show of nonfunctional sculpture as opposed to the functional art for which he is known. Fair enough. The first item of business was to put the show off as long as possible. Finally the Friday following Thanksgiving was chosen. The next item was theme. I kicked around several ideas then decided that this could be an opportunity for some fresh thinking. The question was posed “What would happen if you asked artists who had never done outdoor sculpture to do outdoor sculpture?” Item number three was recruitment. In order to make the proposition attractive it seemed smart to insure more exposure for the show than a one night stand at our studio. Joy Reed Belt stepped forward to host the show after the initial opening at JRB Art at the Elms. Recruitment came easily after that Audrey Schmitz Aphrodite’s Charms Stoneware clay, found iron elements and then a bonus was added. Audrey Schmitz, who had accepted an invitation to participate as a sculptor, said she would like the show to travel to the Eleanor Hays Gallery on the Northern Oklahoma College campus, Tonkawa. Fourteen artists accepted the challenge to get out of their normal element and try their hands at outdoor sculpture. The diverse group included a high school student, a blues guitarist, fiber artists, painters, architects and more. Following are comments from some of the participants:
Morgan Robinson seed pod/picked up/taken home/all alone thick & thins/once again/coffee shop/did not stop pushed the top/ink drops/sketched a bit/ quite intense pleasant trip/sang a song/devils claw felt the need/I let it bleed in letting go/I trapped some time/I called it mine/I stared in space/never erased my hand just sketched/I stretched/my window home/all alone I thought of Japan/sensitive land/seems to know/ thoughts that allow SEEDS to grow I gave it light/that dimly glows/my nudging spirit/lets me know/which way we should go I try to say/concentrate/don’t stay up late/ you took the bait watch the leaves/watch the trees/that let you in/allowing grins show me grass/sing me songs/quietly sway/ & sing along take a coffee/take a tea/don’t think too much/let it be simple sophisticated/ exchanged & traded/ blessed but frustrated walk around/ take a seat/suspended shapes encase me/in the minute’s moon & sun/ one in all and all in one Nathan Lee Most of my sculptures have the look of something that would more than likely live on the outside. I use parts of trees and other things that occur in nature. I try to make figures that are quite unnatural in appearance but seem some how familiar. If I can make people take a second look then I have accomplished my goal. I am glad that I participated in this exhibition because it gave me the opportunity to show my art in a different environment and it gave me a new direction for my art both in technique and execution. I made a few missteps when creating my piece but I also learned so much from a technical standpoint. This has opened a new door of possibilities with my work and I am looking forward to gaining more experience in showing in an outdoor environment. Brian Fitzsimmons When Randy invited me to be part of the exhibit, I was afraid. It had been some time since I’ve created an object with no physical purpose or as art in a pure sense. Although my work in architecture and furniture design attempts to be beautiful or intriguing as a piece of art in it’s own Brian Fitzsimmons stolen concrete right, the function/physical purpose of the piece always significantly impacts the design direction. With art, one should have something to say, or at least create something worth looking at more than once. Art has to stimulate the mind. So I started with trying to make something worth looking at. Along the way, the piece started to say something. Issues with religion and the hypocrisy that often stems from it began to find metaphor in stolen. The flightless wing strapped on as a religious guise, or an angel stripped of its wing and left powerless, the conflict between perception and reality. The use of material and form attempt to strengthen this notion. Concrete is used as both something heavy, rigid and solid, and something apparently fluid and delicate. That said, I chose to use concrete from the start. I have done a few concrete sculptures in the past, though none as large as stolen. The traditional use of concrete is unforgiving. A negative form is created to fill with concrete, making a positive. There are no second tries, short of starting over. Similar to architecture and furniture, plan it first, then make it. The base was created this way. In contrast, the wing explores the novel approach of pouring concrete over a wire armature. This approach allows some manipulation of the form to happen during the creative process. The form is slowly built up, … extending the time for decision-making. Michael Hoffner “Reluctant” might be a good word to describe the attitude with which I agreed to participate in this show - I had never done a sculpture large enough or permanent enough to stay outdoors. But having agreed, I was determined to do a good job. Layers of crumpled paper had figured in my work lately, and I thought a similar effect could be made with sheet metal. My first piece of outdoor sculpture would address the viewer at eye level, meaning there would probably be some kind of armature to position the sheet metal at viewing height. With a list of possibilities and constraints, I began my usual way of working. Sketches are done, usually three-dimensional views - I always try several ideas. When I hit on something I really like, I draw several views, details of how materials will come together and how connections will be made. After my pencil sketches had me convinced that the design for Sunflowers was worthy, I modeled it on my computer. Adjustments were made until the proportions looked right. Most of what remained at this point was to focus on the craft in executing the design. With the computer model, I was able to make a scale drawing to give the steel supplier. As a result of planning, every piece the steel supplier provided was exactly the right size, and every piece I needed was there. No material was wasted and there really wasn’t anything left to figure out. It was almost like assembling a kit—except that I didn’t know how to weld. Before Randy and Larry taught me to weld, I didn’t know there was anything missing from my life. Zoomed in on the finite world of creating a weld, there was a place where the sense of time and space was lost, except for a 3/16” pool of molten metal I was coaxing down the joint of two steel plates. The act of fabricating Sunflowers was a more visceral experience than my drawing or painting. The physical demands of working with large, heavy pieces contributed to the elevated focus that made this experience so enjoyable. Compared to two-dimensional work, the results are so much more tangible. If a painting is a diagram of an idea or an artifact, a sculpture is truly an artifact. I am no longer reluctant. Alyson Atchison I enjoyed this experience tremendously. Everyone should force themselves at least once to expand their usual way of thinking into a new dimension. I literally felt my brain stretching as I tried to picture how I would “draw” in the third dimension. In my drawings, the lines are the most important part of the image. I didn’t want to lose the sketchiness and expression that I get with my lines. So, it was important for me to be able to see my “style” in what I made. The steel rods I had available to work with lent well to this idea. continued page 8 7
- Page 1 and 2: Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition ArtF
- Page 3 and 4: Explore Behind the scenes with cera
- Page 5: dressing my dolls in scarves as a y
- Page 9 and 10: 24 Works on Paper Traveling Exhibit
- Page 11 and 12: Bradley Jessop Blue Yodel #2 Monoty
- Page 13 and 14: Back to Basics Photography In an ag
- Page 15 and 16: Audrey Schmitz Icon Photo-assemblag
- Page 17 and 18: Viewer’s Choice winner Matt Wiens
- Page 19 and 20: Kirkpatrick Galleries at the Omnipl
6<br />
profile<br />
Out of Their Element<br />
Out in the Elements<br />
By Randy Marks<br />
My studio partner and well-known<br />
provocateur Larry Pickering suggested<br />
that we should have an outdoor<br />
sculpture show at Studio 31 Deuce on<br />
NE 37th in <strong>Oklahoma</strong> City. When<br />
I agreed that would be a good idea,<br />
he told me that I was in charge of it.<br />
This was apparently cosmic payback<br />
for my goading him into doing a show<br />
of nonfunctional sculpture as opposed<br />
to the functional art for which he is<br />
known. Fair enough.<br />
The first item of business was to put<br />
the show off as long as possible. Finally<br />
the Friday following Thanksgiving was<br />
chosen. The next item was theme. I<br />
kicked around several ideas then decided<br />
that this could be an opportunity for<br />
some fresh thinking. The question was<br />
posed “What would happen if you asked<br />
artists who had never done outdoor<br />
sculpture to do outdoor sculpture?”<br />
Item number three was recruitment. In<br />
order to make the proposition attractive<br />
it seemed smart to insure more exposure<br />
for the show than a one night stand<br />
at our studio. Joy Reed Belt stepped<br />
forward to host the show after the<br />
initial opening at JRB Art at the Elms.<br />
Recruitment came easily after that<br />
Audrey Schmitz<br />
Aphrodite’s Charms<br />
Stoneware clay, found<br />
iron elements<br />
and then a bonus was added. Audrey<br />
Schmitz, who had accepted an invitation<br />
to participate as a sculptor, said she<br />
would like the show to travel to the<br />
Eleanor Hays Gallery on the Northern<br />
<strong>Oklahoma</strong> College campus, Tonkawa.<br />
Fourteen artists accepted the challenge<br />
to get out of their normal element and<br />
try their hands at outdoor sculpture.<br />
The diverse group included a high<br />
school student, a blues guitarist, fiber<br />
artists, painters, architects and more.<br />
Following are comments from some of<br />
the participants:
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