Tag Archives: Helen Day Art Center

Who’s Manipulating Whom?

There’s no point in debating whether cell phones are a wonder or a necessary evil; they’re just a fact of life that isn’t going to change. But I will say I admire those who manage to walk the line between taking full advantage of their mobile’s assets while still maintaining the upper hand over it. And I’m even more intrigued when someone figures out how to use the pervasiveness of our phones, and our behavior with them, to artistic benefit.

No question, I count on my phone’s camera when visiting museums and galleries. With the sound and flash off, I can unobtrusively snap a quick photo of a piece and its accompanying ID/info card, allowing me to revisit the work and read more about it later (and of course to have shots to include in this blog).

Photo by Phil Roeder, via Flickr, via artsy.net

But there is definitely a dark side to allowing cell phones and cameras in public art spaces. As you have no doubt experienced, it’s no joy to navigate an obstacle course of selfie-takers, or to thread one’s way through a sea of upraised, photo-taking arms, hoping to enjoy an unobstructed view of an artwork you may well have traveled some distance to experience in person.

It’s the very clever artist who acknowledges our penchant for constant documentation, while simultaneously manipulating that tendency in such a way that it enhances not just his art, but the experience of viewing of it. Robert Buck’s iPainting and iPrints at the Helen Day Art Center’s current exhibition Love Letters, are a stunning example. Buck pairs his work with viewer-provided technology (camera flash), intentionally weaving both the art and the picture-snapping viewer together symbiotically. In fact, it is only when the two are integrated that he considers the work fully realized.

iPainting (186230889), Robert Buck ©2016 Alert paint and acrylic on canvas As noted on the gallery card beside the painting: “Buck’s iPaintings are made using a combination of acrylic and Alert paint, an oil-based industrial coating, which, due to an additive of minuscule glass beads, is highly reflective. Consequently, when the painting is illuminated by the flash of a camera, the Alert paint fluoresces and a fallow image appears…the completion of the piece comes in the moment the viewer is photographed in front of the work, thus haloed by the reflective light, becoming universally connected and filled with light.”

Not the greatest fan of cell phones and their interruptions, I find the idea of Buck’s work brilliant. Is it a gimmick? Maybe. But I am reminded of visiting the Uffizi Gallery in 2018. Anxious to get close enough to see and follow Botticelli’s brushstrokes in his monumental Primavera and Birth of Venus, I hung back while group after group took pictures of themselves with the work as their backdrop. I soon realized that it wasn’t so much the work itself that fascinated them, it was the idea of a picture of themselves next to it. With no break in sight, I finally decided to edge my way to the front so I wouldn’t miss an opportunity to see Botticelli’s genius up close. And truthfully, I don’t think my presence made the slightest difference to those whose attention was primarily trained on images of themselves. Imagine, however, if those paintings had somehow been affected as they snapped their pictures. Would such a effect have incurred a fuller sort of engagement? And how would that affect the experience of other nearby viewers?

Buck’s work makes me wonder how other artists will circumvent and/or incorporate technology in such a way that it will no longer be regarded as intrusive in an environment often reserved for meditative contemplation. Never discount the ability of the artistic mind to finding a way to mold reality, for better or for worse, to a higher – or should I say different – purpose.

See more of Robert Buck’s iPaintings.

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Food for thought: This article considers how cell phones impact cognition and, more specifically, whether and how they affect one’s appreciation of art. It has some surprising revelations.

“Composing Form”

This seems to be an unusually good summer for local exhibitions. So many, in fact, that I’ve had to schedule them into my calendar to be sure I don’t miss out. Last week I went up to the Helen Day Art Center in Stowe to see Composing Form (June 22 – Aug 24), an inspirational group show of contemporary, mostly figurative, ceramics.

Vernal ©Sergei Isupov, 2016, Porcelain, slip, glaze, 17.5 x 9 x 8 inches Isupov’s portfolio is quite impressive. Be sure to read about his Fire Sculpture

Cabeza IV ©Christina Córdova, 2018, Ceramic, 17 x 11 x 5.5 inches

I have a soft spot for clay. My first real 9-5 job was as a potter’s apprentice one summer. I had great dreams of the pots I would make and of how my knowledge of ceramics would grow. While I can’t say I didn’t learn from the job, my take-aways weren’t at all what I had expected. The reality was my biceps grew more than my throwing skills — from wedging a tremendous amount of clay for others to throw, and from lugging 40-pound bags of it to those other potters’ cars.

Question of Honor / Lucretia (After Lucas Cranach the Elder) Teapot ©Kadri Pärnamets, 2015, Porcelain, slip, glaze, 11 x 10.5 x 5 inches

Linea ©Tara Thacker, 2019, Porcelain on canvas, 56 x 14 inches

I stopped working with clay mid-way through college, but my romance with the medium still lingers. A hand-building class was my refuge almost a decade ago while our builders completed the protracted process of finishing our house after we had moved in. I have two clay dog sculptures purchased to mark the times between the loss of one family pooch and the welcoming of another, a not-so-subconscious effort to find canine comfort during those lonely days. And one of my favorite ‘always close at hand in the studio’ books to flip through when I hit a wall or need a break while working is 500 Animals in Clay: Contemporary Expressions of the Animal Form.

The Knight of the Lions ©Robin Best, 2016, Porcelain, on-glaze Xin Cai, 14.1 x 7.9 x 10.25 inches

Horsepower, detail ©Sergei Isupov, 2009, Stoneware, 32 x 19 x 17 inches

The varied pieces in Composing Forms create an imposing sense of presence in the gallery. If you go, be sure to pay attention to how shadows contribute to that force. The work is exquisitely detailed with underlying nuances of mystery, paired with acute observations. Perhaps more than any other quality, it will come as no surprise that I was particularly attracted to the incorporation of drawing/painting into the pieces by Sergei Isupov, Kari Pärnamets, Sin Ying Ho, and Robin Best.

Background, L: Horsepower ©Sergei Isupov, 2009, Stoneware R: Bullseye ©Sergei Isupov, 2009, Stoneware, Front: Shift ©Jerilyn Virden, 2019, Handbuilt earthenware, Hollow construction, Glazed and sanded, 8 x 22 x 12 inches

We are so fortunate to have these artists’ work to enjoy for the summer. Don’t miss out.

Indomitable Self

Reclamation, the spectacular exhibit of portraits at the Helen Day Art Center in Stowe this summer, closed last weekend. As a parting shot, Margaret Bowland, one of the exhibiting artists, gave a wonderful talk — easily one of the most engaging I’ve ever attended.

Bowland’s piece in the show, a young African-American girl covered in white paint, spurs difficult questions, especially as our country continues to struggle with its racial history and its ongoing disparities — open sores that show little sign of permanent healing. Could she really be depicting this youngster in white face?

But as is often the case, there is a greater narrative that lies below the surface. This quote from the Helen Day’s Gallery Guide of the exhibition clarifies Bowman’s self-imposed directive.

Margaret Bowland’s large-scale portraits attempt to untangle power. As the artist explains, “when making works I have often covered my subject in paint to make this point. I feel that I am doing what the world does to my subjects, tries to obliterate them or turn them into people they are not. For me, the victory is that my people stare back at you completely themselves. No matter the costume or the make up you are looking at an individuated and very real, human being. They have, or are learning to survive through what the world has thrown at them.”

The depth of Bowland’s art, careful layers of insight portraying questions of identity and ‘self’ through the lens of social and political mores, encompasses both her personal history growing up in North Carolina and her deep understanding of art history. She is a dynamic teacher, and her talk last week shed light on her brilliant ability to synthesize difficult and diverse questions of what it is like to be “other” through a portal of empathy, all the while rooting her work within the realities of history, both the history of art and history in general. I am envious of her students’ access to her theoretical and practical knowledge.

Please take some time to study the paintings on her website and to read her artist’s statement, which is an abridged version of the talk she gave. You too will be impressed.

“Reclamation”

It’s been a while since I’ve been to an exhibit that really moved me. If you will be anywhere near central Vermont between now and September 8th, make a beeline to the Helen Day Art Center in Stowe to see the the current show Reclamation. I think you too will be mightily impressed.

Jenny Dubnau, “MK Pale Ground”, 2010, Oil on Canvas

Sylvia Maier, “Hawa Bah, mother of Mohamed Bah”, 2017, Oil on copper

Curated by three women, comprised solely of the work of women painters depicting only female subjects, Reclamation brings a sorely needed measure of recognition, not just to the historical lack of acknowledgment afforded to women artists and their valuable contributions over time, but also to the raw power of the work created by the all-female artists included in this show. Co-curator August Burn’s essay in the show’s gallery guide crystallizes and clarifies the strength behind the exhibition’s genesis, and in turn its success.

Daryl Zang, “Wonder”, 2007, Oil on canvas

Daryl Zang, “Roots”, 2008, Oil on Canvas

Most of the paintings are strikingly large, at times even enormous, yet they still manage to maintain a level of emotional intimacy that leaves one with a sense of connection. Despite the disparity between artists and styles, the work imparts an engaging commonality which speaks to viewers across age, life condition, and nationality.

Carol Offutt, “The Strength Within”, 2018, Oil on board

Aleah Chapin, “And We Were Birds”, 2013, Oil on Canvas

I can’t help but wonder if in this particular instance size might be interpreted as a device equated with the need to raise one’s voice to be heard, as women artists have so long sought to be recognized in an art world dominated by men. There are a multitude of perspectives from which one might absorb the work in this show but, without a doubt, accessibility is a crucial part of its charm.

Hung Liu, “Xinshi: Messenger”, 2016, Mixed Media

Kyrin Hobson, “Innocent”, 2016, Charcoal with Wolf’s Carbon on paper

I hope you will have a chance to see Reclamation in person to judge for yourself.

The Necessary Element

I may be simplistically stating the obvious, but I truly feel that the subjective component an audience provides any work of art is one of its foremost strengths, contributing immeasurably to the work’s endurance across demographics and through time. And while the multi-layered backstory of any artist is deeply embedded within everything they make, it is our personal histories and perspectives as viewers that fortify and move the work forward, in much the same way that each added voice in a musical round deepens and enriches a tune.

Last Friday I caught the tail-end of the Pat Steir exhibit at the Helen Day Art Center in Stowe and it was exactly what I needed at that point in time. Kudos to the HDAC website for supplying visitors with links to videos of the artist at work and an eye-opening interview, all of which enhanced my experience before I even walked into the gallery. What has stayed with me after-the-fact is that, despite my dismal outlook at the end of a weary and unsettling week, Steir’s paintings provided a 30 minute reprieve by offering a much-needed sense of solid ground; her visual language seemingly echoing the weight of what I was feeling, while simultaneously bolstering my spirits with strength, determination, and certainty.

I have come to discover, when exhibiting my own work, that the unsolicited responses and stories viewers relate (which may or may not have anything to do with my intentions in making the piece) are often the most rewarding. A formal artist statement may lift the veil between maker and viewer, but we are not beholden to that vision. Subjectivity is the necessary element that reminds one there is equal compensation in just letting the experience of a work of art wash over you as you are in that moment.

On Another Note…

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If your travels take you near Rutland, Vt in the next month, I have 4 pieces included in the exhibit Surface Expressions at the Chaffee Art Center, November 9 – December 9.

16 South Main St., Rutland, VT 05701 802.775.0356 info@chaffeeartcenter.org

Elizabeth Fram

Eye of the Needle