Arts Faculty Displays Talents

Given the hours the Visual Arts Department teachers devote to inspiring and instructing their students, it is a wonder that they have the time and energy to devote to their own artistic pursuits. For some, the summer months afford them the time to explore their own interests; others squeeze the practice of their art into random moments throughout the year. Their productivity is a testament to their commitment to being life-long learners.

 

The artist statements accompanying the exhibit (and excerpted here) give a glimpse into the goals and challenges that went into the creative process.  

 

Department Chair David Saul has been exploring the coastal locales in Down East Maine for many years, and the panoramic silver prints in this exhibit are a visual celebration of the bridges, piers, paths, and vessels that help people interact and live within the tidal shoreline environment.

 

“This area is extraordinarily rich in maritime history of people traversing over and traveling on the ocean waters,” writes Saul. “I utilize the broad panoramic format since it approximates how we see with peripheral vision, embracing the whole view and enhancing our perception. A challenge of panoramic photography is to consider the range of lighting within your potential composition and then to craft a portfolio print, which conveys the desired details and visual emphasis.”

 

Jeremy Harrison also has a long history of drawing upon canoeing and the natural world it makes accessible for his inspiration.

 

“Just before creating this work I canoed through parts of New York, Vermont, Quebec, and New Hampshire,” said Harrison. “Among the many reasons I make these trips are the feelings I get of freedom, which leads to calmness and a more acute sense of awareness. The canoe itself has become a character in some of this work, along with the landscape, and the mercurial nature of water. I hope that with this work I can share my passion for natural places and help stimulate the viewer’s own desire to experience and appreciate nature.”

 

Each of Rindy Garner’s wooden artwork “has its story, like human beings who embody both public and private.”

 

“My art currently explores the relationship between interior/exterior and the spaces that forms create, and how those forms are held together. I also acknowledge the life of the tree’s individuality and try to honor it by using particular knots or wood grain in conscious ways. As an artist I enter a relationship with the materials. Either I have a plan and execute it, or more often I work improvisationally and play with the materials until a form or idea starts to arise. The materials and I are in constant dialogue as I wrestle with form and content, and this is deeply satisfying to me.”

 

Lisa Townley '01’s statement reflects the poetical beauty of her work:

 

Tim Clark’s stoneware pieces were created during a summer workshop he participated in at the Danforth Museum, which was funded by a Rivers’ Faculty Enrichment Grant.

 

“Playing with forms and methods of construction that are new to me has been invigorating,” said Clark. “For the Bottle Series, embracing the asymmetry created by constraining some parts of the form while others are free to expand proved to be ripe with possibilities. In Pathways, riddling the surface with marks that broke up the form and were accentuated with stains prior to glazing, produced some interesting effects. In Open, the soft slab construction using roofing tar paper to support the walls, while protecting the slip designs underneath, also has great potential. Each of these varied works represents a path that may well be further explored in the future.”

 

Chris Love’s mixed media work jumps off the walls with its vivid colors and movement, and his statement lends a glimpse into the complexity behind his work.

 

“I still cannot not communicate. My altered lens on society, life and the millions of variables that propel and constrict us has led me to where I currently am—a reporter and interpreter of the here and now. My old school ways, affinity for both building surface and creating mystery combos me with the exploratory/obligatory need to mix and combine media in order to find the “antidote”.  I am the antidote. Embedded messages and social commentary are essential to my process- nothing is done by mistake, maybe out of order, but never irrelevant. In life, just as in art, you can't correct a blank canvas- take the risk, make a mark and see where it leads you.”

 

Newcomer this year is Julia Bateman ’08 who is teaching sixth and seventh grade art (and Middle School science) this fall. She studied black and white photography with David Saul and painting with Jeremy Harrison, and went on to minor in studio art at the University of Vermont. She was excited to be exhibiting alongside her former teachers, and in the spacious Bell Gallery that replaced the Davenport Gallery. Her artist statement reflects the creative release that art can offer.

 

“Photography and painting are a creative outlet that I rely on to balance the chaotic life of teaching. The oil painting and photographs of my closest friends encapsulate the confusing, exciting, and strange journey of starting a career path. We often feel as though we are all playing dress-up and portraying the roles of our adult selves. Exploring the world through the lens of the camera and translating it onto film allows me to escape and gain a creative perspective on my life.”