{Ron Fundingsland}

More artists from the CAO!  Ron Fundingsland from Bayfield, Colorado...

1.) Why did you choose this type of flower for the piece?

2.) What was the feeling you were trying to evoke when creating this piece?  What do you hope the viewer will take from it?

3.) Is there significance in your color choice of blue?

After completing a series of political prints, my daughter suggested that I get away from that for a while and work on some flower images.  I thought it was a good idea and Blue Zinnia was the first of three flower prints.  Initially, I wasn't sure how the print would develop and it took much longer to complete that I had anticipated.  I was surprised to see it become a rather pensive, serious looking image.

The color was chosen because of the relative rarity of blue zinnias.  Zinnias have always been one of my favorite flowers and their texture happens to be well-suited to printmaking.

{Ellen Yeiser}

Ellen Yeiser from Castle Rock, Colorado...

1.) Why did you decide to focus on one part of the photo and blur the rest?

I wanted to keep the focus on the main subject, and it added to the perspective I was trying to achieve.

2.) What is the significance of the title, Aloft?

The perspective of the shot that makes the moss look so "aloft" is one of the key elements of the picture.

3.) Was there a feeling you were trying to evoke? If so, what was it?

The feeling i was trying to evoke is that something as simple as moss is incredibly powerful and beautiful.  What we see on a daily basis can be interrupted so many ways. The simple can be the most complex

(Paul Flippen}

Paul Flippen from Fort Collins, Colorado:

1.) Since the main subject in your pieces is a camera and a video camera, do you have any connection with these types of media? 

No, I don’t use cameras such as these in my own studio practice.  The two pieces from the show are from a series of works that feature antiquated optical instruments.  The works are mostly about the act of looking and the subjectivity of art.  

Culturally, we tend to equate photo-based media as being more objectively truthful than other art forms (which anyone who has worked in darkroom can tell you isn’t entirely accurate).  Why would we accept photography as evidence in a courtroom, but not painting?  Why are some media assumed to be more expressive of emotional truths?  In thinking about how art actually works, how the viewer and the artist collaborate with the imagery to construct meaning, I’ve been creating drawings that investigate the act of looking as well as notions of ideal beauty. 

2.) Why did you decide to use old versions of the cameras? 

I was interested in the camera and movie camera as they are both examples of dominant media that are being quickly replaced by emerging digital technology.  We seem to empathize with certain objects more than others, and the camera that could have belonged to your father (or grandfather) is more likely to spur you into thinking of the ramifications of the image.  

3.) What is the significance of the little details, like the rose, the mathematical equations and the way the purple in the background is rendered? 

The math in the background of both images is part of a larger algorithm that a team of computer scientists developed to determine if an image has been digitally manipulated (they essential map the vectors of light in an image and look for anomalies).  It is the formula for the fallacy of images.  

In this series, I’ve been layering references to the act of looking - both artistic (the camera) and scientific observation (the math) - with citations of cultural markers for ideal beauty – in this case floral imagery.  What could be more pretty than a painting of a flower, right?  But beauty is elusive and ephemeral – seen in glimpses and unaccommodating of scrutiny.  So, I’ve included the floral elements as either delicate watercolors, or as hidden potentials that are easily missed.  If you look very closely, there is a drawing of a pansy seed in the upper left hand corner of Exposure.  This reference to potential beauty is easily lost in the breakdown of the pattern, but it is there waiting to be cultivated.  

The purple fields are a continuation of this investigation of elusive beauty.  The dots are actually derived from photographs of floral lace patterns enlarged to such a degree that they break down.  By hand painting the half-tone dot pattern of a compromised source, I’m engaged in an attempt for beauty that is bound to fail.  The watercolor will pool and bleed into itself if the pattern gets too dense, so a meticulous and delicate attempt duplicates the unattainable ideal of true beauty. 

As a painter, I am aware that there are more efficient means of creating an image.  It has been interesting to see the speed with which developments in technology are changing the way art is both created and interpreted.  With advances in digital image making, notions of the “reality” of even straight forwardly documentary photographs are called into question.  We are then left to trust our own experience, and perhaps find that the subjective way we navigate through life is more emotionally honest.

{Gallery Talks}

The Gallery Visit pictures can be viewed on the facebook page!

Picture of Exhibiting Artist Reed Weimer

{Gretchen Schaefer}

Gretchen Schaefer from Thornton, Colorado

1.) What was the inspiration for the line work and shapes you formed in the piece?

I'm inspired largely by anatomy (human and animal), biology, entomology, botany, and other scientific illustrations. I love images of organs and anything organic that seems like it would make squish and squash sounds. I love tiny, repetitive shapes and lines that grow to make larger, graceful structures because they are both beautiful and really fun to draw. All of this helps me create images that are intriguing from across the room and up close as well as images that have both an uneasy familiarity of strange internal parts and an organic gracefulness.

2.) Is there significance in your choice of color?

These drawings started with a very limited palate of reds, pinks, and browns. These sensual colors really let me explore the references to physiology. Then, I wanted to expand my palate and explore making the same references but with more color. Nathaniel Vance is actually the first experiment of this expanded palate. I only added yellow and a tiny bit of green to the reds I was using but I feel that it was successful. My most recent drawings have additional blue, green, and purple. I like using color right out of the tube and don't do much mixing. I like the raw, brilliant pigment as is and then like to watch them intermingle and mix on the paper as I work.

3.) Why did you decide to cover the entire piece with the clear medium? Any significance with the little bubbles that are there?

Finishing the surface of the drawing with epoxy resin made sense from the start for me. It was a great reference to the entomological collection of bugs in resin which fascinates me. Also, it totally changes the intensity of the color and clarity of the line and can make the wood shine at different angles like mother-of-pearl. It's like putting the whole drawing under water and seeing how the water saturates and magnifies everything.Also, the epoxy is a total rush to work with. There is a lot of ways to go wrong and very little working time. Once you start to mix and pour, there's no turning back. There is always this point when I think, "every tiny meticulous part of putting this image together over the last weeks could all be ruined in this 5 minute window." It's a lot of careful preparation and thinking trough the whole process and then just one big jump into the moment. It's all really intense and then, after the epoxy is poured, it is what it is. Stepping off that edge into a not-totally-known outcome is a great rush and seeing the image under the epoxy for the first time is always really exciting.And, things don't always go as planned either. With Nathaniel Vance, a group of little bubbles emerged in the epoxy and they were not going to go away. I was super worried that that was it and the whole image was ruined. Saddened, I let the epoxy dry completely and let my emotion of expectation vs. actual outcome settle too. Quickly I came to love the placement of the bubbles. They gather around and emerge from a fleshy blob of watercolor and create a further depth and multiple layers. The bubbles are like little micro organisms and their accidental placement couldn't be better. Sometimes unplanned things don't work with the image and it's heartbreaking, but in this case, I'm lucky that the bubbles work so well and that I'm happy with the total image.

{Peter Illig}

More artists from the Colorado Art Open!

Peter Illig from Denver, Colorado...

1.) Why did you decide to use arbitrary color for the woman?

I use a lot of warm and cool color contrasts in my paintings. The woman at the bottom is mainly blues which heightens effect against the hot colors above. She looks anguished, the colors suggest moonlight and also hint at emotions within.

2.) What is the significance of the silloutte in the background?

The silhouetted female figure is a thought in the lower woman's mind. I choose and place images in the the paintings intuitively. Many of my paintings suggest dream images.

3.) How does the writing on the canvas relate to the woman?

The title "Theory and Practice" refers to a thought in our minds (theory) as opposed to reality (practice.) I place writing in my paintings to suggest journal writing, and to remind viewers that art is a langauge, that images in art communicate like language. The hand inscribes writing as thought, possibly an outpouring of personal anguish.

{Mike Howard}

Mike Howard from Golden, Colorado:

1.) Why did you decide to take the photograph at night instead of during the day?

We were driving along route 128 and I had the camera in the car. I took several other pictures at the same time - I really like night and low light photography - as well as bright light and etc. Anyway, the cement plant looked really nice, so I shot it. Came out nice.

2.) Since most landscape pictures do not inlcude industry, why did you decide to photograph a cement plant?

I didn't think about photographing the cement plant. I was photographing the image.

3.) What do you hope the viewer will take away from the photo?

If they like looking at it, then that's just fine. My goal is to create images which point out things which are beautify and harmonious. Nobody needs to take anything away, but if I succeed, then they will enjoy seeing them.

(Denis Roussel}

Denis Roussel from Broomfield Colorado:

1.) Why did you decide to photograph a dying or dead flower?

The first thing I had decided when starting the series from which this photograph is extracted, is that I would be showcasing common plants and flowers. I found all the subjects from the series either in my backyard or on walks in the local prairie. I have also always been interesting in the aesthetic of decaying life, hence the depiction of the flower in its withered state.

2.) Is there any significance to your color choices in the background?

The colors in the background are not a conscious choice per se, they come from the process I use to manipulate the negatives. Through chemical and physical alterations of the negatives, patterns are formed in the emulsion and colors shift.

3.) What was the feeling that you wanted viewers to take away from the piece?

My attempt in this photographs is to make the viewer aware of the beauty of mundane things, such as common flowers. I also wanted people to appreciate the dramatic visual appeal of decaying plants.

{Trine Bumiller}

Trine is a Denver artist currently showing her piece, Harlequin, in the Colorado Art Center at the Foothills Art Center.  I interviewed her about the piece:

1.) What is the significance of the title, Harlequin?

The title comes from the diamond shaped patterns on one of the canvases, but ironically the painting is not about harlequin colors

2.) Why did you choose to use the same colors for each canvas?  What feeling were you trying to create with all the layers of paint?

This painting is from a series of paintings, Tending my Fathers Garden. They were painted in response to my father’s death, using images from his garden and his home. Most of the paintings were very brightly colored, like his house and yard, but this one was antithetical- kind of a text to the rest of the paintings.  

I paint in layers to achieve a depth of color, yet they also serve a conceptual purpose- each layer is a point in time and each image is made up of many different points in time, like memories, each slightly different, but gradually building to form a whole story. If there were a feeling I was trying to create it would be timelessness, history, a sense of loss.

3.) How are each of the images/patterns on the different canvases tied together?

As I mentioned above, this painting is part of the series commemorating my father, who made a living by making travelogues from around the world. His house was full of art and objects from these travels, and his garden full of flowers at the time of his passing. Tending the garden is a metaphor for continuing his legacy of color, art and life. With the exception of the harlequin, black and white canvases, each panel represents the garden: hydrangea, crabapple tree, magnolia tree, and lattice. They are tied together through this theme and through repetitions of color, and pattern.

{Richard Rodriquez}

Richard Rodriquez is a Golden, Colorado Artist whose work is also displayed in the Colorado Art Open show.  His interview responses to his piece, Santa Rita, are below:

1.) What is the significance of the title, Santa Rita? 

Santa Rita is the Patron Saint of the Impossible Causes.  She is the Patron of damaged wives and children, abused by men in “authority”.  In my piece she is the Prickly Pear and represents Nature, considered in a metaphorical sense as both mother and child, both of which are currently in a vulnerable position through our abuse. 

2.) Why did you decide to use the arbitrary color for the cactus? 

My work is characterized by large areas of solid colors.  I wanted to emphasize Santa Rita as bruised, beaten, but still beautiful, full of life. I’ve used colors that we would normally associate with bruising, grayish blues and deep reddish tones, along with areas of disfigurement in browns and blacks to describe her current condition. 

3.) Is there certain meaning behind the cropped view of the object? 

We normally would be looking down, visually, on a Prickly Pear. I have used this point of view in a literal sense to relate current position of “dominance over nature”.  I positioned the viewer at same level, a new point of view or paradigm shift, in which we must address nature as our equal, an integral part of our existence.

{Jill Soukup}

Jill Soukup is from Denver and is another artist who I chose to interview about her piece, Green Door:

1.) What is the feeling or emotion that you wanted to evoke with this painting? What do you hope the viewer feels? 

Doors, to me, represent the mystery of what and who lies beyond. What kind of person presently lives there? What are the belongings of the inhabitants, what is their lifestyle? What is the history of what lies beyond this door, and so on. Ultimately, however, I hope that it evokes unique and individual emotions from each viewer drawing upon their own experiences and memories.

2.) Is there significance to the color choice of the door? or the type of cat that you painted? 

Yes. The door in life is green and therefore was part of my inspiration. I wanted to do an exercise in green. I pushed green in terms of various levels of brightness/dullness and pushing the number of different green hues. The door itself containing the most vivid of the greens whiles subtle and “grayer” greens in the foreground. The stones just beneath the door are warmer greens. The rectangle to the left of the door, the arched and barred window above the door and the double door behind the green door all have a greenness to them, being a green’ish blue. There are also some very subtle and dull “reds” in the white walls acting as the compliment to the greens. The cat was intentional in that I wanted to incorporate a living and organic element to balance the more rigid architectural elements. Also, this door is on the island of Malta (between Italy & Africa). There were many cats in Malta, so I thought it was an important element to include.

3.) I noticed your brush strokes are very painterly with thick paint application.  Does this tie into the meaning of the piece? 

The thick paint is generally part of my style, but yes in this piece I was particularly conscientious of the thick paint to add to a 3-dimensional feel as well as to push texture. The expression in my paint is also the counter part to the more linear and mechanical subject matter that I often paint.

{opening night!}

Pictures from the opening night are posted on flickr!

{Colorado Art Open Awards}

First Place- Martha Russo

Second Place- Malinda Bray

Third Place- Sean O'Meallie
Juror Honorable Mention: Michael- John Davenport

Juror Honorable Mention: Christoph- Nathan Abels

{Colorado Art Open Artists}

The selections have been made for the CAO. The curators are FAC curator Michael Chavez and Christoph Heinrich. In the upcoming show, there are 96 artists with 104 pieces of art ranging from painting to photographs to scuplture.

Here are the list of the artists who will be in the show:

Nathan Abels, Denver; Jan Archuleta, Arvada; Nikolo Balkanski, Lakewood; Angela Beloian, Longmont; Roland Bernier, Denver; Jannifer Blair-Cockrum, Arvada; Tonia Bonnell, Denver; Malinda Bray, Denver; Sharon Brown, Denver; Trine Bumiller, Denver; Maureen Burkhart, Longmont; Andi Burnum, Golden; Lisa Calzavara, Littleton; Evan Colbert, Longmont; Marco and Gonzago Corvo, Nederland; Monique Crine, Denver; Sterling Crispin, Denver; John Davenport, Denver; Dorothy DePaulo, Lakewood; Vivienne Douglas, Golden; Diane Edwards, Fort Collins; Sharon Feder, Denver; Ted Fish, Salida; Paul Flippen, Fort Collins; Ron Fundingsland, Bayfield; Margareta Gilboy, Englewood; John Grimberg, Golden; Jean Gumpper, Chipita Park; Theresa Haberkorn, Boulder; Diane Halley, Arvada; Sheigla Hartman, Trinidad; Adam Holloway, Denver; Lora Howard, Golden; Mike Howard, Golden; Peter Illig, Denver; Deborah Jang, Denver; Erick Johnson, Fort Collins; David Kammerzell, Denver; Alan Kitchen, Denver; Larry Kledzik, Manitou Springs; Dede LaRue, Edgewater; Scott Lary, Denver; Melina Laz, Denver; Stephen Legg, Denver; Mark Lunning, Denver; Irene Delka McCray, Longmont; Ken McGowan, Canon City; Julie McNair, Telluride; Norma Meeks, Fort Collins; Susan Meyer, Denver; Susanne Mitchell, Boulder; Elizabeth Morisette, Fort Collins; Amy Mundinger, Boulder; Valerie and Jonathan Nicklow, Evergreen; Sean O'Meallie, Colorado Springs; Joni Parker, Boulder; Reed Philip Weimer, Denver; Karen Poulsen, Broomfield; Don Quade, Denver; Garnet Quick, Englewood; Jyotsna Raj, Boulder; Steven Read, Denver; Louis Recchia, Berthoud; Doug Rhinehart, Woody Creek; Jerry Rhodes, Colorado Springs; Elaine Ricklin, Denver; Craig Robb, Englewood; Richard Rodriquez, Golden; Lyle Rosbothan, Boulder; Denis Roussel, Broomfield; Martha Russo, Ward; JonathanSaiz, Denver; Gretchen Schaefer, Thornton; Mai Wyn Schantz, Denver; Ira Sherman, Denver; Heidi Snyder, Lakewood; Jill Soukup, Denver; Paul Stafford, Littleton; Jeff Starr, Denver; Peggy Stenmark, Golden; Sally Stockhold, Aurora; Brenda Stumpf, Denver; Riva Sweetrocket, Denver; Taylor Talmage, Boulder; Sarah Timberlake, Denver; Bill Vielehr, Boulder; Floy Walberg, Denver; Rob Watt, Denver; David Wicks, Morrison; J. Bruce Wilcox, Denver; Tina Will, Littleton; Danny Williams, Denver; Ellen Woodbury, Loveland; Nancy Wylie, Arvada; Ellen Yeiser, Castle Rock

{American Print Show Awards}

First Place – Curtis Readel

Second Place – Lynn Brofsky

Third Place – Jonathan Nicklow

{upcoming events}

-Colorado Art Open:

Opening Night Celebration- Friday, April 3, 5:30-8:00pm
6:45pm- Awards Presentation

SCFD Family Free Day- Saturday April 18
11:00am-2:00pm Youth Art Activities
11:00am Gallery Talks with Exhibiting Artists

Putting Your Best Foot Forward- Saturday April 25, 11:00am
with FAC Curator Michael Chavez
A seminar on entering juried exhibitions

Divergent Perspectives- Thursday, April 30, 6:00pm reception, 6:30pm discussion
A discussion with CAO curators Michael Chavez and Christoph Heinrich

Gallery Talks with Exhibiting Artists- Satuday, April 18, 11:00am (free to public)
Saturday, May 2, 11:00am
Saturday, May 9, 11:00am

In FAC II:

Enduring Commitment- March 30-April 24: Foothills Art Center is proud to present the
work of Steve Tracy and his students during this four week exhibit.

Golden Celbrates Art- May 4- June 14: To commemorate Golden's 150th Anniversary,
one artwork from this exhibit will be used in a banner
displayed in downtown Golden.

{Chunwoo Nam}

Chunwoo is an artist currently in the American Print Show at FAC. I emailed him with some questions about his piece and he, thankfully, responded...

1.) Who is the person in the "story?" Are they all the same person? Why did you decide to use this person for the subject?

The person is me basically but it also could be everyone. In order to talk about our social & cultural environment, I am drawing people who have difficult social situations such as estrangement, discrimination, losing identities by the cultural clash, bias and social pressures through my experiences. I tried to depict the transparent person as someone who lost an identity.

2.) There are religious implications in this piece (cross, chapel, etc.), so how does this relate to the subject?

There is no religious implication in the print but there are cultural and political implications using metaphoric images such as chairs, pews, grass, church, cross and a person who is surrounded by them. The church which is actually bankrupt has opened a coffee shop at the first floor and stopped any religious events. So I drew my body like a strange, unidentified tourist who has a balloon in the church, see an old prosperity and surrounded by old wooden pews in little dark empty atmosphere. From this, I want to talk about American’s conservative, self-centered attitudes and self-complacent and its falling like the American capitalism. Therefore the church is a symbolic place that is the Christianity(= Americanism) .I started this idea on purpose to talk about cultural and political issues and finished this print in 2008, the last year of Bush . And I also got some discrimination at the working place in the same year. That’s why the transparent body on the grass represents a being in unusual, uncertain, and uncomfortable situations. My ideas and images come from all my memories, experiences and struggling through investigations and contemplations.

3.) What is the significance of the subtle details? ie. the red balloon, the outlines of the figures, the painting in the church, the ground that looks like grass.
The red balloon is a symbolic image, tourist (but real meaning is a stranger who doesn’t belong to its society and can’t settle down or adapt its environments.

The transparent body is same as above meaning. And the body lost its own identity because by various people(old wooden pews or chair I‘ve been drawing ) who sit and simply judged with their own ideas in the church(Christianity- Americanism). For example, we can see now that many Islam people are treated like future terrorists in the US Airports (I took a plane on 9/11 in 2008 and I saw many real happenings I has been guessing), even though they have been living here in long time. It is very dangerous that people simply think whatever they want, simply say whatever they think, and simply judge whatever they know.

And my triptychs comes from 3 movie posters in the subways stations shows all different human stories at the same time. So using triptych, I try to depict intellectual and emotional stories, metaphoric and symbolic images and colors from my memory.

More artists from the American Print Show to come...

{Christopher Clark}

Christopher Clark is also an artist in the AMerican Print show. I emailed him as well, to find out more about his piece, "A Split Decision."

1.) It looks like a detail of a five dollar bill. Any reason why it is not the face of Franklin or Washington instead of Lincoln?

As a rationalist and skeptic I think a lot about ideas that are widely accepted as truth, despite lack of supporting or even contradictory evidence. In the case of “A Split Decision,” I’m using the image of Lincoln as a metaphor for this kind of thinking. While there are a lot of myths surrounding George Washington (cherry trees and wooden teeth), the mythology of Lincoln is much more complete. Beginning with his impoverished childhood, running through his time as the “Illinois Rail Splitter,” and ending with the Civil War and his ascension to the role of Great Emancipator. Nothing about the popular conception of Lincoln stands up completely to historical investigation. As Lincoln himself said, “If the end [of the war] brings me out all right, what’s said against me won’t amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.”

2.) What is the meaning of VS.? President vs. People, President vs. himself, People vs. economy? or again left up to the viewer?

In a perfect world, everything would be left up to the viewer. While I have ideas and specific viewpoints in mind when planning a project like “A Split Decision,” it is important to me to let those personal viewpoints remain vague. If the viewer walks away with questions, ultimately, he or she might provide personal answers. However, to answer the question, in my mind I chose “VS” because, as I said earlier, I had been thinking a lot about the notion of myth vs. reality or fact vs. fiction.

3.) What is the significance of the dots coming from the top of Lincoln's head? Do they represent different choices he could make, decisions he didn't make, or his confused scatter brainedness? Or is it left up to the viewer?

Again, ideally, the interpretation is left up to the viewer, but I’ll do my best to clarify my notion of the dots and lines. These elements are suggestive of the labels and pointers used by scientific illustrators and mapmakers to indicate areas of interest, picking out a specific point and then defining it. I chose to have the pointers converge on a single horizontal plane as a suggestion of the ultimate truth of history, but by not meeting at a single point, the lines defy the belief that we could ever really define the reality of that truth.

{Sharon Strasburg}

Sharon Strasburg, from Denver, is another artist currently showing in the American Print Show at FAC.  I emailed her some question about her pieces to find out more about them...

1.) What is the significance of the pictures you used to transfer? Are they from one particular city?

I am very interested in 20th century architecture and love the play of light and pattern in steel and glass skyscrapers. Most of the photos in these pieces were taken in Chicago - home of some of America's most interesting buildings. In my travels I exhibit in lots of cities (New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, Atlanta, D.C., St.Louis) where I take hundreds of photos of the skyline from my hotel windows.

Another fascination are the soybean and methanol plants that pop up in the midwest with their complex construction of pipes and chutes and towers. I find that unexpected juxtaposition of the industrial and rural emptiness intriguing.

2.) Why are the colors of the sky and ground the colors they are?

The dark liquid teals are inspired by the Denver evening skies. I just saw that color above the city this week and those golds and yellows are the foothills in fall. It is clear and rich when accented by the sparkling lights of the city - I have not seen the clarity and depth of color in any other area. "Alien Outpost" was inspired by an evening in Louisville, KY where I was having dinner across the Ohio River from the city. The broad river mirrored a sour looking yellow green sky with the low Louisville skyline stacked in a straight line along the shore.

3.) What were you hoping the viewer would take from these works?

I want to present just enough familiar details that invite the viewer to connect with a place in their memory or imagination then create their own journey. At best the work becomes a place that one wants to revisit again and again stimulating thoughtful reflection. I hope the viewer is curious to know what those structures are and where are the people? What goes on in those buildings and how did they get out there in the open?

{facebook}

New to FAC! We now have a facebook page! It has events, pictures and info posted on upcoming events. There is also a space for comments so feel free to stop by.