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16 Annual Juried Exhibition EXHIBITION CATALOGUE
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Artlink, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to linking artists, business and the public to better understand, appreciate and support a thriving arts community in downtown Phoenix. Artlink supports a variety of community-based art events including the First Fridays Art Walk, the country’s largest self-guided gallery tour; guided Art Tours; an annual Juried Exhibition; and the annual Art Detour self-guided tour, featuring open studios, pop-up galleries, family-friendly art experiences and more. Our monthly newsletter can be subscribed to online and keeps readers up-to-date on our efforts, community activities, and opportunities and information for and about artists. Visit artlinkphoenix.com
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Artlink’s 16th Annual Juried Exhibition Artlink Phoenix’s 16th Annual Juried Exhibition presents the work of 26 exceptional Arizonan artists. A panel of three jurors from the Phoenix art community convened at the Phoenix Art Museum to review the submissions and select the pieces for the exhibition. This year the panel included Phoenix Art Museum Director, James Ballinger; Phoenix artist, Randy Slack; and avid art supporter, former gallery director, and downtown community advocate, Louise Roman. The twenty-six artists featured in this show are AztecSmurf, Malena Barnhart, Chris Boyd, Ryan Carey, Samuel Dahl, Mary Helsaple, Jeff Jones, Maggie Keane, Peter Brian Klein, Lindsay Kraemer, Constance McBride, William Mullins, Lisa O’Riley, Sandra Caldwell Ortega, Rockford Orvin, Amanda Phipps, Alicia Robles, Julio Rodarte, Jill Roig, Patricia Sannit, Stacie Schimke, Ingrid Shults, Edward Taylor, Lucretia Torva, A O Tucker, and Joan Waters. Artlink is pleased to see that each year the number of submissions to this exhibition has grown. The Annual Artlink Juried Exhibition provides an important showcase for local artists and contributes to the ongoing conversation between emerging and established artists. We are very thankful to the jurors and all of the impressive artists who applied. Enjoy the show!
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AztecSmurf with Lucretia Torva "The nature of my work varies, but it always reflects the bright colors and beauty of the many things that inspire me to create. I love Acrylic paint, I love the texture, the look, the way it reflects light. I am always looking forward to opening up a new tube; like a birthday gift, I can't wait to get my hands on it and begin creating with my brush." AztecSmurf Born in Sonora, Mexico, AztecSmurf now 34, has been creating art in the valley of the sun since the early 90's. Learning to work with many mediums, has AztecSmurf recently gained notoriety for the many styles he can accomplish when working with Acrylic. He is known for his bright color schemes, and a surreal feel to his large murals around the valley, while also conveying culture, beauty, mystery and heartache. AztecSmurf is an active member of the community, working with schools and different organizations to better educate kids on the arts and culture. He also participates in many charitable events. He is a resident artist at "Arizona Latino Arts and Cultural Center" ALAC in downtown Phoenix. His work is currently displayed at The Herberger Theater. aztecsmurf@gmail.com see Lucretia Torva’s bio on page 49
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Ranfla Acrylic on Canvas 60” x 48” $1,700
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Malena Barnhart Malena Barnhart’s videos address gender politics within Internet culture. Hauls are a type of YouTube video featuring a person displaying and describing new purchases. Hauls are often made by the same women and girls who create YouTube makeup tutorials. A Christmas haul is exactly what it sound like: instead of showing everything purchased during a shopping trip, women display all of the gifts they received for Christmas. Over a period of time, Barnhart collected a great number of Christmas haul videos and re�edited them together, emphasizing conventions of the haul video form. www.malenabarnhart.com
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Christmas Hauls Video duration: 5:50
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Chris Boyd The incessant desire to acquire more and more material goods, along with our willingness to place technological advances over humanistic ones, are two aspects of white America that have influenced Chris Boyd’s work. For the past few years Boyd has been working to find more substance and meaning to incorporate into his work through the application of ethnoautobiography. Exploring white culture and society juxtaposed with an indigenous perspective Boyd has been inclined to create distorted urban landscapes full of empty architectural structures. Recently he has begun contemplating the state of the socially constructed reality that we have come to know and accept as being fixed, or permanent. Chris Boyd’s interest in transformative social change emerged out of his desire to create artwork that is driven more by concepts than imagery. The more Boyd explored his work, the more he began to realize the significance and potential of creativity and imagination in terms of restructuring the world around us. In the Western world, we are constantly constructing new buildings for homes or businesses. Our obsession with covering the land with concrete symbolizes power and achievement for several corporations and individuals. However, deep-seated feelings of alienation and dissatisfaction may begin to fill the interior spaces of those buildings as we simultaneously build the foundation for our own separation from the natural world around us. Chris Boyd received a BFA in Painting from Arizona State University, an MFA in Sculpture from CSU Long Beach, and is currently completing his dissertation for a PhD in Psychology and Interdisciplinary Inquiry, with a specialization in Transformative Social Change at Saybrook University in San Francisco, CA. overmanarts.org cboyd@overmanarts.org
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Thinking Things Through #3 Acrylic on Canvas 36” x 26” $300
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Ryan Carey Manipulation and movement comprise Ryan Carey’s work. Beginning with no preconceived forms, the organic movement of thinned oils throughout the canvas carve a clear and distinct composition. Manipulating the paint helps to create effects of a visceral intensity that adds to this composition. These elements, combined with a lively color palette, define Carey’s visual vocabulary. www.ryanjcarey.net ryan@ryanjcarey.net
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Broken Circle Oil on Canvas 40” x 30” $800
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Samuel Dahl Samuel Dahl lets the image, and the shape and surface of the wood panel inform one another in an organic manner. He may begin with a scribble, or the bare bones of a recognizable space, and then let that dictate which parts of the board should be sacrificed to the band saw. The half-formed image on the newly-shaped surface cannot help but change in response. Pencils, charcoal erasers, sanders, drill bits, and landscape imagery all contribute to a more flexible back-and-forth conversation between shaped wood and image, flat surface and illusionistic light and space. What emerges from that conversation is a unity between image and support free of the rigid dictates of a rectangular format. Samuel Dahl is a working artist in Phoenix and a member of Five15 Arts gallery. He has been painting and drawing since he was six, has an MFA in painting from the University of Texas at Austin, and teaches painting, drawing, and printmaking at a local charter school. His art can be viewed in person by appointment at his studio in Northern Phoenix. www.samueldahl.com samuel.a.dahl@gmail.com
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Contraption Charcoal and Ink on Shaped Wood Panel 36” X 48” $5,000
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Mary Helsaple The style of 'Raven Mad' is called Narrative Art. This artist looks for a connection or a convergent point of humans and Nature. Something has just happened or is about to happen. The viewer is left slightly off center until the story is revealed. This work was done in 3D - Sculptural Watercolor and is an expansion of multiple surfaces in traditional watercolor techniques. By layering cutout plates of paper and integrating them into the surface, movement, and shadow-shifting occurs when the work is viewed from different angles. The rocks, the rope, the carabiner, the flower are all painted cutouts, embossed and applied to the surface of the watercolor to create this effect. Life is full of risks. Some put us on a precarious edge when we seek new vistas and adventure. Prepare to meet the unexpected. Whether the symbolism is for going up or down in this work, it inspires us to think about how we are driven to test our limits and endurance, regardless if we are a human or a lizard. The challenge is before us. www.helsaple.com mary@helsaple.com
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Raven Mad Watercolor 50” x 36” $2,800
Discovering the Edge Watercolor 22” x 26” $1,450
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Jeff Jones Jeff Jones has been exploring his passion for art as long as he can remember. After obtaining a B.F.A., he quickly established himself first as a designer and art director, then as an illustrator. He has spent a number of years creating an extensive body of work aimed at selling products or telling someone else’s story through pictures. While the sum of these experiences provide the opportunity to conceptualize, solve problems visually and hone the skills of a draftsman, it often leaves little room for personal expression. Subsequently, Jeff accepted a position as an adjunct Life Drawing instructor and for this period of time benefitted greatly from sharing his passion for art with others. In return, he was rewarded with the enthusiasm of students and soon found himself immersed in making art for art’s sake once again. Working in a variety of mediums, Jeff finds the search equal to the outcome. Although his intention for a piece generally begins with a preconceived idea, the final result is rarely predictable. It is the process that dictates the flow. Control versus chance. A script interrupted. Through this approach, when lucky, he taps into life’s experiences, creates visual correlations between objects and events while often exploring repeatable patterns found in nature. As an Artist, he has had work accepted into juried shows through the Arizona Artists Guild, the Sedona Art Center, the Phoenix Center for the Arts and the Herberger Theater, having received commendations including Best of Show as well as local media recognition. As a result, he has had the opportunity to exhibit a large body of work at the Phoenix Center for the Arts as well as other one-man and shared exhibitions. Jeff’s work can be found in various private collections throughout the United States. www.jeffjonesfineart.com
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Wood 2 Oil 48” x 30” $1000
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Maggie Keane So here goes. Maggie Keane’s world is pictorial. She prefers to portray it on a grand scale. Medium of choice: oil paint, usually on canvas, but she enjoys the use of some nice Medium Density Overlay, which was the primary substrate in billboard painting. Brushes, primarily, but proficient in airbrushing and other spray systems. Subject matter: anything that screams "PAINT ME!" and, to which her huge pile of photographs can attest, lots of things want to be painted and they're all jockeying for position. She likes surprising people, getting reactions, maybe a little confusion over whether it's actually painted or a blown up photograph. Part of her needs to prove something and she’s still trying to figure out what it is. Keane likes to challenge herself to make things look exactly as they are, then add something else that's not there or couldn't possibly be there ever. Or, just leave it the way it is, she never know what she'll ultimately decide as the piece progresses. Then she likes to surround it with an outline in the form of a frame that possesses some quality linking it to the image. It's either like a continuation of what's going on visually, or like wrapping a gift with paper, ribbon and bows that all match or relate to the gift exclusively. This she’s been doing to her latest paintings and will continue as a tradition. In other words, there are some earlier works without personalized frames. When Maggie Keane finishes a painting she really wants it to look as finished as she feels with it. Maggie Keane likes people to look at what she paints with an open mind. She loves to hear the personal meanings people assign to what they are viewing. So far, her least favorite was "We don't get it." from a Scottsdale gallery and her favorite: "Oh, now this person is obviously disturbed." overheard at another Scottsdale gallery. How she love art. maggie1one@gmail.com
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Daddy’s Home Oil on Canvas 20” x 24” $1,200
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Peter Brian Klein The aesthetic vision of Peter Brian Klein is primarily expressed through the use of 35mm black and white film. His attempt to create surreal traditionally printed photographic montages is inspired by master print makers like Jerry Uelsman and Scott Mutter. The subject matter used by Klein often varies as his perspective may shift from natural to architectural and even avant-garde imagery. Finding solace in the confines of a darkroom, Klein has used many types of black and white film over the past two decades, though he prefers the look and feel of Kodak’s infrared film to convey the essence and beauty of the black and white imagery he is attempting to capture. Taking particular care to avoid being labeled a purist however, Klein feels that whether the process uses digital or traditional means, focus on the image itself must not be lost. He feels that art is a communicative device that should convey, and even at times, create emotion. www.kleinphotographic.com
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Eco-Take Traditionally Printed Photographic Montage from 35mm Black and White Film 9” x 6” print mounted to ½ polished acrylic floated in a 12” x 15” white shadowbox $400
Asylum Traditionally Printed Photographic Montage from 35mm Black and White Film 6” x 9” print mounted to ½ polished acrylic floated in a 15” x 12” white shadowbox $400
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Lindsay Kraemer “There is nothing either good, or bad, but thinking makes it so,” is one of Lindsay Kraemer’s favorite quotes. She often finds herself at war with the meaning this statement implies and as a result her art seems to be the manifestation of her journey exploring it. It forces Kraemer to take contradictory themes and put them side by side in the same piece, asking questions like, “is it black, or is it white,” “good, or bad,” “innocent, or evil,” “comedic, or tragic?” To play on this idea artistically, she takes adult themes like religion, sex, greed, & politics and focuses them through the lens of a child. Lindsay Kraemer uses bright, childlike colors and frequently depict animals, oftentimes personifying them, but with aggressive, hardened strokes. Kraemer places tape over parts of her paintings as they are in progress, but how she ignores the confines of the tape begs the question as to whether she does it with childlike innocence, or with teenlike rejection of conforming to otherwise accepted ideas. In 'Honey Dipper,' Kraemer has created her own modern day conceptualization of the controversy surrounding people who will do anything to achieve material gain. The title itself is derived from an old mining term used for miners who consumed the gold they were digging as a means of smuggling the gold out of the mines without being caught. Once out of the mine, they would then have to fish the gold they consumed out of their own excrement. To modernize this, I decided to draw on sexual acts. People perform these acts for very different reasons, either out of love, or for monetary gain. In this depiction, the focus falls on someone who has performed an act for monetary gain, becoming a modern day ‘honey dipper.’ kraemerlindsay@gmail.com (505) 234-4929
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Honey Dipper Acrylic on Canvas 60” x 36” $600
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Constance McBride Constance McBride draws her inspiration from nature, family and personal experiences. McBride, a native of Philadelphia, PA, relocated from the East Coast to the Southwest in 2002 and currently resides in Phoenix, Arizona. Her work can be found in private collections around the country. McBride received a Bachelor of Arts from Arcadia University in Glenside, Pennsylvania. Constance McBride’s focus has been on aging and the human body and her work with this subject matter has been evolving for some time. She has recently come to realize that the Southwest desert has also been a heavy influence; it seems to have tied things together for her. McBride is not always happy with what she sees in the mirror and she sometimes spends more time than she'd like trying to camouflage what she sees as flaws in her appearance; perhaps behavior of the burden of growing up with a beautiful mother. The effects time has on our bodies and McBride’s evolving emotions concerning them are what drive the direction of her work. The arrow of time cannot be disputed. Permanent change is a fundamental part of nature. Her figures are created to punctuate the complexity of the human drama as we age. By investigating concrete representations and creating situations that the viewer will identify with, she hopes to break the viewer's passivity. McBride works primarily with clay because she enjoys the tactility of it and the fact that it is the earth's most primal element. It's as old as humankind. She likes that it will be around forever and she can manipulate it to illustrate her feelings while maintaining its nature. It is from the earth and it's molded into a form with the hand. McBride works with slabs that she rolls out by hand because she needs to feel the connection between her hands and the clay throughout the building process. By primarily working with this medium, She is reinforcing a direct connection to earth and the universe, to time and its passage and to our place in all of it. constance.mcbride.artist@gmail.com cmcbride.fineartstudioonline.com
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Timescape II Paper Clay, Under Glaze, Pastel 28" x 15" x 8" $900
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William Mullins William Mullins has a background in photography and graphic design, and enjoys the graphic nature of charcoal. The ease of charcoal's ability to create strong contrasts between light and dark feels like painting to him. With deep blacks and unlimited tones available, charcoal is the perfect medium for the chiaroscuro interplay of light and shadow needed to create mood and emotion. Using charcoals as his medium Mullins can work large and add as much detail as he desires. Since his high school days, William Mullins had a fascination with Mayan origin stories from the Popol Vuh and the imageries of the Mayan codices, and in recent years he has been working on a series combining Mayan stories with classic fairy tales. Little Red Riding Hood becomes one of the Hero Twins. The Little Mermaid now lives in the Sacred Cenote near Chichen Itza. Although the fairy tale references may be vague in the final drawings, Mullins likes to give the classics and traditional themes a slight twist. wmullins@ix.netcom.com
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IxBalanque y Vu Cub Caquis – Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf Charcoal 24” x 30” Framed 17” x 23” $500
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Lisa O’Riley Lisa O’Riley is a classically trained artist and an avid student of old master’s techniques and traditions. She admires the longevity and permanence of these disciplines. In contrast, she is intrigued by street art with its fleeting messages to a non-participatory audience. She was born in Monterey, California and spent her early childhood in Honolulu, Hawaii. She earned a BA degree in art at Arizona State University and has studied oil painting at Colorado Art Academy and Scottsdale Artists’ School. Lisa’s current work is a series of narratives that juxtaposes urban street graffiti with classical still life. She creates unique pieces that combine the quiet stillness of atmospheric realism with the quick, gestural lines of modern art. “In this series I play the role of storyteller, recreating a scenario where a graffiti artist and a still life artist unknowingly share outdoor wall space in an urban environment. So as never to meet, the two artists alternate nights—each anonymously tagging and painting in the dark of night. It is purely a visual communication they share, each artist contributing to the final piece. Eventually, both artists realize they speak the same artistic language. They paint as one.” Lisa currently resides in Phoenix, Arizona and enjoys occasional weekend drives to Southern California for artistic inspiration. lisaorileyart.com lisaoriley.art@cox.net
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La Poire Acrylic and Mixed Media on Gallery Wrapped Canvas 36” x 30” $350
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Sandra Caldwell Ortega Sandra Ortega is moved to paint in soft pastel because of the vibrancy and immediacy of the pigment. The greatest enjoyment Ortega gets from her work is when she is able to capture the image of that “wow� moment, as she witnesses the beauty in the world, waiting to be discovered. sandraortegaart.com
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Baristas Soft Pastel 30” x 25” $450
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Rockford Orvin ‘General O’ is one of forty-six paintings Rockford Orvin created for a solo show titled “Follow the Leader,” which hung in the Sears Museum Gallery at Dixie State University in Southern Utah. The stylization, humor and graphic quality of this piece became a breakthrough for Orvin in his acrylic work. Rockford Orvin uses powerful color schemes and sharp line to provide an ambiance in which the onlooker can rest to enjoy a medley of intentional emotion. Like thought, each color is unique and demands personal attention that is only experienced by the individuality of the observer. To Orvin, a bold yellow can give a quick jab, dull grays make him feel quiet and slow, and a black and white painting can soothe his mind from everyday commotion. There is a deep and satisfying bond that comes when he creates each piece, and the emotional release he feels is paramount. Orvin makes art with sincerity and gratitude and hopes that others can become part of this complex, yet simple partnership. Rockford Orvin studied various forms of art at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and received his Bachelors of Fine Arts in Painting. He has had the privilege of meeting and working with artists Ross Bleckner, Michael Robinson, Carey Thompson and Android Jones at intimate art retreats hosted by EVOLVER in Southern Utah. Orvin is looking forward to his upcoming solo show in Shanghai China this October, and his second group show at 111 Minna in San Francisco early next year. facebook.com/RockfordOrvin rockfordorvin@gmail.com
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General O Acrylic on Board 72”x 48” x 3.5” $3,500
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Amanda Phipps Amanda Phipps has worked over the years to develop a style of art that she feels is her signature. She does acknowledge that her work is a product of her environment, emotional state, and artists that have inspired her. Some artists who have had an influence on her work are Leonardo DaVinci, Clyfford Still, and J.M.W. Turner. She consistently observes the work of other artists and seeks unique personal experiences in order to continue to expand her work. Amanda’s artistic philosophy is to make work based on her personal experience in order to make work that is truly hers. She believes that you should make art that is individual to you, and that you should avoid focusing on satisfying others or making a profit if you want your work to develop into anything meaningful. Amanda also values formal education and training in the arts. Although she has not been degree seeking, she has taken classes at both PVCC and ASU in order to become more technically proficient and provide more archivally friendly work. A lot of her focus is on using techniques, which she finds visually exciting, including depth, texture, movement, and contrast. These are all characteristics that each of her pieces has in common. Her work has been described as modern, colorful, expressive, and abstract. Amanda has shown her work numerous shows and galleries in both Phoenix and Seattle. Currently, she is a resident artist at Minx Gallery in Phoenix. Amanda’s artistic philosophy is to make work based on her personal experience in order to make work that is truly hers. She believes that you should make art that is individual to you, and that you should avoid focusing on satisfying others or making a profit if you want your work to develop into anything meaningful. amandaphippsart.com
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Resting Place Oil on Canvas 28” x 48” $750
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Alicia Robles Alicia Robles has been drawing since she could pick up a pencil and hasn't stopped since. She has come a long way since dis-proportioned ponies and bright, yellow suns in the top-right corner of a notebook page. She is mostly self-taught but has scarcely taken traditional visual art classes in school. Robles’ main source of inspiration and support in all that she does is her mom. It is always her goal to show a lot of variety in all of her pieces and not to limit herself to strictly one or two mediums. There isn't a continuous theme throughout Alicia Robles’ work, as aforementioned in her Artist Statement, she likes to have variety and prefers not to limit herself to one medium. There is so much to try and immerse your self in the world of visual arts, why not explore it? www.facebook.com/alicia.robles.art
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Jaguar Skin Watercolor, Acrylic, and Sharpie 28.5” x 22.5” $5,900
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Julio Rodarte Julio Rodarte brings aesthetic elements of modern experience into geometric and colorful formalist paintings. It is work that reflects our age of pictorial language, branding and logo design, and navigational signage. His intuitive command of the spectrum makes his canvases hum with a vibrant electricity; each composition is a visual sentence that describes a thread of 21st century zeitgeist. The basic element of Rodarte’s art is geometry. He believes the form and space that surround us are unique. His work emphasizes color as the magnificent element that nature and the universe have given us. By combining these elements of form, space, color, and shapes his paintings relate to imagined forms and real silhouettes of life forms. juliorodarte.com
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Vaca Acrylic on Canvas 48” x 72” $3,200
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Jill Roig The summer of ’89 was when Jill Roig’s love affair began. Roig’s love affair with clay has continued very quietly ever since. It has remained a constant source of inspiration in her life. She has studied, learned, and been humbled by the unique challenge of clay. Studying at Tyler Park Center for the Arts, Sedona Art Center, Mesa Arts Center and Shemer Art Center and Museum have been an important part of her life’s path, and she has been blessed by instructors who saw her raw, vivid, unfiltered creativity and pushed her along. She has long since abandoned the penguins and found her true passion – the abstract! In this crazy world of increasing responsibility, the studio has become her haven where she can play with the earth. She can get dirty. She can create. There is much zen inspiration in the intersection of pottery with meditation and spirituality. What continually strikes her is the literal and figurative transmutation of mud into beautiful pieces of modern art! Over the past five years, Roig has been working on her signature style – glassinfused pottery. As someone who loves the abstract, she is excited by the challenge of merging glass art into ceramic art. That’s her sweet spot. It’s raw exposed clay sitting right next to the melted glass. The clay and glass dance together. To her, that’s what life is all about – the dance of life. Her glass-infused ceramic art is currently on display at Shemer Art Center and Museum for their July-August 2014 juried exhibition. The opening reception was filled with energy, enthusiasm, raw creativity and collaboration. It was there that she felt most at home, with the other artists, sharing space, discussing ideas and building the Phoenix art community. jillroig@gmail.com
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Mushroom Garden Clay with Glass 6.5” x 6.5” x 2” $109
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Patricia Sannit We are all stardust, a part of the creation of the universe and subject to its rules and properties. Patricia Sannit works with clay, a material that is both a significant part of human cultural history and can withstand both time and the harshest natural forces in the universe, because it suits her desire to work with the earth and explore its infinite malleability. She works with ideas and materials that allow her to explore the resonance and randomness of physical forces like pressure, heat, and gravity, and the pressure and influence of history as well. Sannit’s work is an expression of the balance between chaos and control, human history and natural forces. She makes art that exhibits the relationship between aging objects, rocks, people, and cultures. www.patriciasannit.com psclay@q.com
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Between Heaven and Earth Clay, Vermiculite, Glaze 14” x 13” x 12” $1,000 Courtesy of Gebert Contemporary Fine Arts
Growth of Heaven and Earth Clay, Glaze, Copper Wire, Aluminum 34” x 17” x 12” $1,500 Courtesy of Gebert Contemporary Fine Arts
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Stacie Schimke Stacie Schimke is inspired by design: graphic, architectural, object, interior, and the combination of color and texture. Her eye is drawn to the details, the spiderweb in the corner of a door, the numbers on the face of an old pocketwatch. Painting and photography are the devices with which Schimke displays her design sense. www.schimkephoto.com
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Monsoon Dust Storm Acrylic on Canvas 48” x 48” $2,000
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Ingrid Shults The Faultlines of a Saint paintings are part of a series wherein saints are made and found. These fictional characters force their organic nature onto a ruled and rigid system of hierarchy. Combining impressionism and decorative pattern, the collision of styles highlight a negotiation between the ordered and the unbound. flyingabbeystudio.com
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Faultline of a Saint: Saint Simon of the Penny Farthing Oil and Acrylic on Canvas 53” x 42.5” x 2.5” $3,000
Faultline of a Saint: Saint Derrick of the Fixie Acrylic on Canvas 25” x 36” x 2.5” $2,500
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Edward Taylor Art and prayer offer us hope, sometimes that is all we have left. When we reach out, when we search for answers, Then we grow in our hearts and our souls. Language can divide us and bring us together But it is flawed There are things that language cannot describe Edward Taylor has tried in his poem painted across this artwork. Poem by artist: (translated) Profound Reflective Thought Invade my Soul and shatter my dreams With reason and logic revealing new cracks In my lonely mirror of selfish thoughts That I gather together in order to Whisper Eternal questions, that change and yet stay the same Tears of the Sky A future free from the limits language edwardtaylorart@yahoo.com
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Profound Reflective Thought Oil on Canvas Over Handmade Red Oak Frame 77” x 148” Price Upon Request
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Lucretia Torva Lucretia Torva has so much fun with the BAMF (Bad Ass Mother F**ker) series. There are 8 paintings so far, all 36x80 on hollow core door panels. Cars are a great subject for her art. They are evocative for many people, bringing up strong emotions and memories. They are beautiful objects with shine, texture and color. For Torva, they also represent some of the best human qualities of creativity and ingenuity. The BAMF series speaks to our desire to be larger than life, to be free, to be brazen and confident! Lucretia Torva has always been a "realist" artist, yet, there is so much abstraction possible in the interpretation of realistic subject matter! Honestly, within realism as a style, she has a lot of leeway to express abstract concepts through what she chooses to emphasize. The compositional decisions include value, color, shape, directional force, perspective, pattern. She can pick and choose the lighting and point of view. Torva really likes it when a viewer of her art enjoys both the realistic representation and the more abstract elements of the composition and technique. Lucretia Torva is from the Midwest, grew up in Europe and Phoenix has been her home since '96. Torva received her MFA from U of Ill in Champaign, IL. Many jobs have been hers, including teaching college art. Torva has been predominately self-employed as an artist/painter since 2000. "Painting," means anything from faux finishing to murals to portraits to ceiling embellishment! www.torvafineart.com
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BAMF Series #2: Kiddo Acrylic on Panel 36” x 80” Not for Sale
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A O Tucker A O Tucker’s goal is to create Fine Art Photographs that makes you say WOW! Tucker feels a Fine Art Photograph is an image that is both inspiring and technically excellent. Not just one or the other. For Tucker, a work of art is primarily the product of a person, not a machine. For this reason, a photograph printed straight from the original capture is unsatisfying. Such an image represents the output of a machine rather than his expression. A O Tucker is a native Arizonan, growing up on a farm west of Phoenix. His adolescence life was one not for the faint of heart. Fortunately her lived through that and went on to graduate from Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Science degree. Currently his wife and he call Litchfield Park and Esteli Nicaragua home. Tucker’s dream is to photograph whatever excites him, and to be able to do it every day! www.aotucker.com archie@aotucker.com
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Iron Man II Photography 22” x 15” $95
Left the Station Photography 22” x 15” $95
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Joan Waters Drawing has always been important for Joan Waters, because it combines the act of observation with mark making. These welded steel sculptures capture the energy and intensity of drawing brushstrokes in space, yet instead of depicting scenes or objects, these steel cutouts become the objects themselves. The calligraphic gesture drawings are made with patinas on large sheets of heated steel, which are then cut out by hand with the plasma cutter. By welding and layering the material to create volume in space, Waters is able to re-configure the abstract brushstrokes into new three-dimensional forms, which suggest the intrinsic dynamic energy of the original drawings. The duality of nature—its power to destroy as well as create—becomes part of each piece through the extreme amount of deconstruction, cutting up and taking apart, that is necessary before each work can be re-ordered as a unified organic presence. The tension between the sense of exuberance and hidden mystery suggests the true dynamic, energetic qualities of what we know as mundane physical objects, which are transformed through the process of drawing. joanwaters.com joanwaters@earthlink.net
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Calligraphy in Space: Black Welded Steel with Patinas 40” x 37” x 3” $2,200
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Juror Panel We would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to all of our jurors for providing their invaluable expertise in the selection process for our 16th Annual Juried Exhibition! Randy Slack tends to borrow from his upbringing during the '70s and '80s; he says he's continuously inspired the time's logos, cartoons, paint-by-numbers, hot chicks, religion ... he goes on. Really, he says, "it's a subconscious collage of nostalgia that should make you giggle -- like laughing at a fart." Slack's a Phoenix native and self-taught, full-time artist. He co-owns Legend City Studios in downtown Phoenix, is a co-founder of the artist collective 3CarPileUp and curator of the annual Chaos Theory. Most of his creations are large-scale, surreal pop paintings, which he calls the "explosions in [his] life so far." Louise Roman is a Central Ave Corridor resident and long time supporter of valley arts and culture. She and her husband, architect Will Bruder, regularly make the gallery rounds here, and beyond. They have gathered, over time, a small and beloved personal collection of Arizona artists. Before moving to Central Phoenix from Scottsdale in 2010 Louise was Gallery Director at the Joanne Rapp Gallery/The Hand and the Spirit, Scottsdale and served on the Scottsdale Cultural Council and Scottsdale Public Art Committee. Louise is active in the new emerging urban Phoenix through her work with the Hance Park Conservancy, Downtown Voices Coalition Steering Committee, the Creative Impact Board of the ASU Art Museum and Reinvent Phoenix. Louise holds a BA in cultural anthropology from University of Wisconsin/Madison and a Masters in Social Work from Columbia University, NY, NY.
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James Ballinger, Director of Phoenix Art Museum since 1982, joined the staff as Curator of Collections in 1974. He also served as Curator of American Art from 1974 to 2004, and continues to serve as Chief Curator. Phoenix Art Museum is a general art museum with curatorial departments for American and Western American art, Asian art, European art, Fashion Design, Latin American art, Photography, and Modern and Contemporary art. A major focus for the institution is an internationally recognized special exhibition program. Mr. Ballinger currently sits on the board of directors for the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas, the Phoenix Community Alliance and Papp Investment Trust. In 2011 Ballinger served on the transition team for the newly elected Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton. He was most recently awarded the 2013 Shelley Award at the 33rd annual Governor’s Arts Awards. As curator, Mr. Ballinger organized dozens of exhibitions in Phoenix, many of which traveled nationally. They represent a diverse interest in the visual arts ranging from Americans in Normandy and Brittany to Diego Rivera and Frank Lloyd Wright. He produced solo exhibitions on the art of Peter Hurd, Nicholai Fechin, Thomas Moran and Frederic Remington. An art historian with a focus in American art of the West, Mr. Ballinger is a noted author and lecturer. Published by Abrams in 1989, his book, Frederic Remington, is now out of print.
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The Icehouse, known historically as Constable Ice & Fuel, is located in the historic original townsite of the city of Phoenix, Arizona. It began operations in 1920 as an icehouse, manufacturing 300lb ice blocks for use in the food industry, primarily to keep produce cold as it was shipped by railroad to Eastern U.S. cities. Prior to its current arts use, the building was used by the police as storage for crime evidence. In 1990, Helen Hestenes and David Therrien began transforming the Icehouse into a center for the exhibition and exploration of new art forms, with emphasis on large scale works, installation, experimentation and community education. Known internationally as a showcase for the avant-garde, the historic Icehouse itself is a true work of art, a rich meld of refined elegance and industrial edge. With the new addition of an urban open space, the Icehouse complex is a dynamic environ for cultural events, music and diversified arts. The Icehouse is dedicated to supporting social causes that promote health, compassion and understanding. Visit www.theicehouseaz.com The Icehouse is located at 429 W Jackson Street, Phoenix, AZ
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Acknowledgements Artlink Board Members Catrina Kahler- President Sarah Levi- Vice President Jill Bernstein- Secretary Sally Russell Hugo Medina Phil Jones Cole Reed Kirby Hoyt Lisa Olson Hillary Foose Stephanie Lieb Installation Work Jayme Blue Brooks Werner Tiera Allen