Artist Spotlight - John Pomara

Digital Dating no. 7, 2007

oil enamel on aluminum

36’’ x 48”

John Pomara is an artist and professor of Painting at the University of Texas Dallas.  He recently exhibited part of his “Digital Dating” series at the Cole Art Center in Nacogdoches, Texas in the group exhibit “Silent Transmissions”.   Like the other contributing artists to this exhibit, Pomara’s work has a distinct connection to technology and the impact that technology has on human perception and experience.  On viewing Pomara’s art I grasped the immediately recognizable connection to computer circuitry and digital imagery.  However, I was even more deeply intrigued by the remnants for the artist’s hand seen in the scraped or “pulled” layered surfaces that are characteristic of Pomara’s technique. 

You can watch a full length interview of the artists discussing his work below in the “Art This Week” video posted to Vimeo by Richard Serrano.

Art This Week Interviews-John Pomara from Richard Serrano on Vimeo.

Artist Spotlight – James Marshall

Large Works:
glazed ceramic,
approx. 28" x 26" x 4”

James Marshall is a ceramic artist and college instructor from Santa Fe, NM.   He recently exhibited a group of large ceramic works at the Cole Art Center in Nacogdoches, Texas that he calls “Liminal Objects”.  In his artist statement Marshall explains:

“If subliminal means that which is below the threshold of ordinary consciousness and perception, then the liminal is the point of emergence, the threshold itself, the turning point between one realm and another. The liminal state is characterized by ambiguity, openness, and indeterminacy. Liminality is a period of transition, during which usual boundaries of thought, self-understanding, and behavior shift, opening the way to something new.” 

Marshall creates bold monolithic ceramic sculptures coated in bright primary and secondary colored glazes.  From a distance the glazes appear to be a solid gloss of color, but on closer inspection divides into subtle shifts of texture and hue creating added interest to the simple but massive forms.  You can see more of Marshall’s work on his website at http://www.jamesmarshallart.com/index.html .

Artist Spotlight – Vincent Falsetta

191

14" x 14"

oil on panel

2008

Vincent Falsetta is a professor of Drawing and Painting at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas.  He recently exhibited a number of his artworks at the Cole Art Center in Nacogdoches, Texas in a group exhibit titled “Silent Transmissions.”   Falsetta’s large non-objective paintings vibrate with the energy of contrasting color choice and a unique manipulation of the actual physical paint.  Falsetta references nature, technology, and energy as sources of inspiration.  In his artist statement Falsetta notes “There is a feeling of a steady electric flow, somewhat like a visual electro-magnetic field that pulls the eye in every direction simultaneously.  The paintings evoke the natural world while acknowledging the technology that measures or records it.”

My first impressions on viewing Falsetta’s paintings was that they reminded me of beautifully marbled paper; much like the endpapers found in fine old leather bound books.  You can see more of Vincent Falsetta’s work on the REM Gallery website at http://www.remgallery.com/artists/falsetta1.html .

This concerns me.....

The Teaching Tolerance website is a good place to go and assess your own teaching practices and ideologies. This new article really saddened me. I invite you to sign this petition in support of this educator. No matter what your perspective is on this tragic event, teachers should not be fired for dealing with current and contemporary topics in their classrooms.






Change.org|Online Petition Template

Here's Lookin' at You Kid: The Use and Meaning of “Gaze” in Art

      The Cole Art Center in Nacogdoches, TX is hosting a thought provoking exhibit titled "Silent Transmissions."  The exhibit includes the current work of contemporary artists Frances Bagley, Vincent Falsetta, James Marshall, John Pomara, and Jay Shinn.  Silent Transmissions will be on view at the Cole through March 31, 2012
     Of particular interest to me is Frances Bagley's video installation titled "Witness." (Follow the hyperlink for an image directly from Bagley's website.)  Bagley took video of a variety of different people's eyes while they were looking straight forward.  She then created a display of 26 video players on metal stands that plays in a continuous loop. The only noticeable movement is the occasional random blink of the eyes.  Bagley's purpose is to psychologically turn the viewer into the one who is being viewed, creating an unexpected tension.  The artist is manipulating a concept known in the worlds of art and psychology as "gaze."
     There are many different specific kinds of "gaze" that get talked about in the art world.  One of the most common is "the male gaze."  It is a hot topic in the world of art history and contemporary feminism, perhaps too hot of a topic for most public school systems.  But perfectly acceptable in a high school setting are the concepts of spectator gaze, intra-diegetic gaze, and extra-diegetic gaze.  ( Intra-what!!!  Don't worry I had to look it up too.)  Spectator gaze is of course the gaze of the actual viewer who is looking at the subject of a painting.  Intra-diegetic gaze is the gaze of a subject within work of art looking at another subject within that same work of art.  Diegetic essentially means "within the story", or "within the work of art."  So logically extra-diegetic means a subject in a work of art looking out to the viewer or out to the fourth wall beyond the visible illusions of the artwork.  
     Even though these concepts have only found their most comprehensive forms in contemporary psychology and art, artist have known about the power of a subject's gaze for hundreds of years.  As human beings we are instinctively interested in what other people (or animals) are looking at.  This tendency is actually a critical part of our own survival instinct.  Artist use their knowledge of the power of gaze to help drive the composition and message of their artwork.  In response to the Silent Transmissions exhibit I have developed a high school art lesson plan around the Francis Bagley video installation and the concept of "gaze" in art work.  If you are interested in a printable copy of the lesson plan drop me an email at edenhound@tannertaylor.com.  I will be happy to forward a copy of it to you either as a pdf or a word document.
     If you are in the vicinity of Nacogdoches, Texas between now and the end of March be sure to check out all of the outstanding artwork included in the "Silent Transmissions" exhibit.
     Below are a few images from art history that would be great discussion starters for the topic of "gaze".  The Bosch and Velasquez paintings are both part of my lesson plan in addition to the Bagley installation. 

Hieronymus Bosch, The Conjurer, 1475 -1505. oil on wood

Gustav Corbet, The Desperate Man, 1844 - 1845, oil on canvas

Caracalla, c. A.D. 215, marble, life size

Diego Velásquez, Las Meninas, 1656. oil on canvas

      

An invitation to visit "Somewhere Off Center"

It is currently spare and bare, but I can now invite everyone to visit my new blog dedicated to fine art and illustration titled "Somewhere Off Center"  The first post and works of art are up. Follow the link or paste http://sallyctaylor.blogspot.com/ into your browser.  Either one will get you there.  I hope my current followers will continue to follow my artistic journey on this new site.  I will be tweaking, organizing and improving it over the next several days.

Cheers!

Illustration Friday - Stay

 

Stay With Me

(while I monkey around with my career)

Collage and graphite

9.25 x 5 inches

Big changes have happened in my life since my last post.  I did something even I couldn't have anticipated.  I resigned my high school art teaching position.  This was one of the hardest decisions I have made in a long time, and I know a lot of people think I must be off my rocker.  Maybe I am...  I absolutely love teaching.  I work very hard to be good at it, and I can only hope that the effort is understood and appreciated by those who retain my services as an educator.  The students always get it, maybe not at first, but eventually and reliably.  I miss them already and we are only half way through the summer.  

But change is good even if it is hard.  As Newton tells us, a body in motion tends to stay in motion, and I am no exception to that rule.  The current plan is:

1. Make art full time -  It is a now or never opportunity to promote myself as a professional artist.  Teaching gave me freedom to make art for personal intellectual pleasure at my leisure.  I have been much more productive in the last couple of years than in the past but now is the time to ramp it up to the next level.

2. Finish up my Masters degree - I am five classes away from completion.  With more free time I should be able to finish up by the end of next spring semester

3. Start a new blog - I will be putting up a new blog that will deal more specifically with my production of fine art and illustration. Illustration Friday submissions will be posted there as well.  I have three recently completed large canvases that are the beginnings of a new body of work.  As soon as I have good photos, I will inaugurate the new blog.

4. Work part time at Micheal's - As a evening/weekend "Customer Experience Manager" and hopefully fine art instructor... I still need to be able to make my car payment and tuition. :(  I worked at Micheal's about six years ago as a framer and event coordinator before I started teaching.  They still like me and have been kind enough to take me back.

I showed my son Todd, the illustration for this week.  He asked me what the word was, when I told him, he looked blankly at me and said "I don't get it."  If you have read to this point I hope it now makes sense.  To those who have been kind enough to follow this blog, I hope you will "stay with me" as I move on in another direction.  I'll post here to let everyone know when the new blog is up and running.

Make art with all your heart, mind, and soul!

Sally