Altered

Suk Choo Kim

August 30 – September 24, 2010

Artist Reception during Arts! Arcata:  Friday, September 10,  6 – 8:30 p.m.

Photographer Suk Choo Kim has explored the use of Polaroid SX-70 film since the 1970’s. This self developing, instant film is no longer manufactured but this hasn’t stopped Kim from continuing to experiment and push the limits of this unique photographic medium.

Kim was first attracted to what he calls “the emotional tonal quality” of the original SX-70 and its unique color rendering. The developing compound inside this instant film is pasty and soft when first exposed and while developing, it hardens. Prior to hardening one can apply pressure and manipulate the dyes creating distortion and color blends atypical of most photographic processes. Also, once the SX-70 is fully developed, one can take the film apart and remove the emulsion which contains the image and transfer it to another surface. Kim was at the forefront in experimenting with these techniques and created a large body of work for his Masters in Art exhibit at Humboldt State University in 1978. Many of the original images are in private collection including the Polaroid Corporation.

When the Polaroid Corporation discontinued production of their films in 2009, nostalgia led Kim to revisit his old works. For this exhibit, he has digitally scanned slides of his SX-70 portfolio and digitally reprinted them on paper, however, Kim was not quite satisfied with the mere reproduction of his SX-70 photos; they lacked that special quality associated with original SX-70 film. This short-coming was solved with further experimentation. By using several different techniques he has achieved a similar feeling yet something very different from the originals. Just as with the first Polaroids, each image has become unique and one-of-a-kind.

Everything to Declare

drawings by Laura Corsiglia

August 2 – 27, 2010

Artist Reception during Arts! Arcata:  Friday, August 13,  6 – 8:30 p.m.

In addition to 13 works on display the artist will be premiering a limited edition micro book entitled “How to Handle a Bird.” Come meet Laura, see her book and learn about her most recent experience saving oiled birds from a spill in Michigan. Is this all related somehow? Come and see.

Peer by Laura Corsiglia

Laura Corsiglia works in drawing, painting, words and ephemeral practices. She has a surrealist observation platform. She listens for poetry and draws now in Manila, California.

The drawings presented for this show are made with ink and pencils on paper. They examine kinships and collusions between forms, humans and other animals, simultaneity and transformation, from a position of discovery. As self-organizing systems, giant shapes or tiny figures carry on independent yet interrelated centers of focus… bring your wide eyes and your magnifying glass.

“Drawing is an intimate explosion of wilderness.  I continue to be startled by the scandalous proximity of birds and of lines.  I try to make something… you might cautiously nickname it a spiritual habitat… that I would hope new forms would wish to come and

see, and maybe decide to stay.”    LC

Brancher by Laura Corsiglia

Laura Corsiglia has exhibited in Seattle and Mexico City, Chicago, Vancouver and Kyoto, Amadora and Coimbra Portugal, Santa Fe, St. Petersburg, Paris, and Santiago de Chile; and her work is collected in the De Young Museum in San Francisco, the Diane and Sandy Besser Collection, Casa de Cultura Coimbra Portugal, and The City of Seattle Portable Works Collection. She has an MFA from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts, Paris.

Her work has appeared in obscure publications Surrealist Subversions, The Oystercatcher, the Fulcrum, Revolution in the Service of the Marvelous, Daedalic Isomorphs, the Surrealist Issue of Race Traitor, and with the poems of Ted Joans in Our Thang, Ekstasis Editions 2001. To learn more about the artist visit www.lauracorsiglia.org.

The Gallery is located at 1063 G Street (inside Umpqua Bank) and is open Monday – Thursday from 9:00 to 5:00 and Fridays until 6:00 p.m.

Underwater World

photography by James Quillen

June 29 – July 29, 2010

Our June show, Fellow Travelers, features a collection of artwork from six Humboldt artists who share similar pictorial and conceptual interests. Some of the artists are more surreal than others but all share a common bond of painting imaginative images where  juxtaposition of symbolic imagery often leads to the fanciful.

Please visit www.meridianfineart.net/exhibits for a show preview and while there sign up for the monthly e-mail newsletter. The electronic version is short and sweet but much more dynamic than our postcards. And it’s free!Fellow Travelers

June 3-25

Artist Reception during Arts! Arcata:  June 11,  6 – 8:30 p.m.

Jeff Jordan . Orr Marshall

Junior Deleon . Erik Horvath

Blake Reagan . Lucas Thornton

Artist Reception during Arts! Arcata:  Friday, July 9,  6 – 8:30 p.m.

James Quillen has explored the seas throughout the South Pacific and the Caribbean. He has photographed some of the most beautiful and rare creatures in these regions. The photographs on display are a small sample of the great things that can be seen in this special underwater world.

In fifteen years, Dr. Quillen has taken over 20,000 photos from a variety of 35 mm cameras–some underwater cameras and some land cameras in underwater housings. About 7,000 images have been saved on slides and digitized for print production. The images have no manipulation with the exception of basic color, contrast, and sharpness adjustments.

A public reception for the photographer will be held from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Friday, July 9 during Arts! Arcata.

The Gallery is located at 1063 G Street (inside Umpqua Bank) and is open Monday – Thursday from 9:00 to 5:00, Fridays until 6:00 p.m.

(click on the duck to see 10 preview images )

Fellow Travelers

June 3-25, 2010

Our June show, Fellow Travelers, features a collection of artwork from six Humboldt artists who share similar pictorial and conceptual interests. Some of the artists are more surreal than others but all share a common bond of painting imaginative images where  juxtaposition of symbolic imagery often leads to the fanciful.

Please visit www.meridianfineart.net/exhibits for a show preview and while there sign up for the monthly e-mail newsletter. The electronic version is short and sweet but much more dynamic than our postcards. And it’s free!Fellow Travelers

June 3-25

Artist Reception during Arts! Arcata:  June 11,  6 – 8:30 p.m.

Jeff Jordan . Orr Marshall

Junior Deleon . Erik Horvath

Blake Reagan . Lucas Thornton

Artist Reception during Arts! Arcata:  Friday, June 11,  6 – 8:30 p.m.

Jeff Jordan . Orr Marshall

Junior Deleon . Erik Horvath

Blake Reagan . Lucas Thornton

(preview six paintings – click on image)

Leslie Kenneth Price

Paintings

May 4 – 31, 2010

Artist reception: Arts! Arcata, May 14th, 6-8:30 p.m.

About the Artist

The paintings of Leslie Kenneth Price are made with acrylic paint, water based oils and acrylic medium. He paints flowers and plants from life then improvises with these forms, weaving color, patterns and light to create a dynamic and meditative painting.

Price grew up in the Bronx, New York and attended the High School of Art and Design located in mid-town Manhattan. He later attended Pratt Institute, then graduated from Mills College in Oakland with an MFA. Price recently retired from teaching art at Humboldt State University after 37 years. His work is exhibited nationwide.

Of his work Price states, “My painting has always been in response to some aspect of nature as well as the mystery of the cycle of growth and decay. I paint from flowers in a vase, a view in a garden or a view of the forest or landscape. Besides the beauty of what I am responding to I am also attracted to the uniqueness of how the space, light and color all interact.”

Artist Statement

When I was a child I remember noticing a weed pushing up through the crack of the cement sidewalk and I remember watching my Mom in our apartment tending her houseplants. My mom, when she was alive would say: “give me flowers while I’m alive, don’t wait until I’m dead.” Because of this statement and other experiences, I have chosen to use nature to dialogue with as a metaphor for life. Flowers, bushes and trees are pregnant with historical, religious and social meanings. They are also impermanent.

I paint from some aspect of the natural world, and the uniqueness of the space, light and color interacting with it. This information provides a structure that I then improvise from. I sample the colors, shapes, patterns and light and I am open to the possibilities that are presented. A painting is finished when all the visual elements resonate as correct in their relationships. The painting is then dynamic and meditative simultaneously, which is similar to my experience with the natural world.

Visit www.lesliekennethprice.com for more about the artist.

(click on image to see 6 of the 13 paintings on display)

Joyce Plath

Pattern, Form and Texture

Paintings from Rajasthan, India

April 5 – 30, 2010

Artist reception: Arts! Arcata, April 9, 6-8:30 p.m.

Pattern, Form and Texture, an exhibit of paintings inspired by the state of Rajasthan in India, has opened at Upstairs Art Gallery.

Arcata building designer Joyce Plath returns to her artistic roots after 30 years with a selection of abstract paintings capturing the buildings, clothing and people of ancient India from her most recent two-year stint as a professor at the Aayojan School of Architecture in Jaipur, India.

A reception for the artist will be held from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Friday, April 9 for Arts! Arcata at 1063 G Street inside Umpqua Bank.

Plath’s paintings demonstrate craftsmanship from the region, with acrylic paint placed on recycled cloth paper handmade in the village of Sanganer, known for its block printing industry. The paper was then mounted on khadi, another handmade cloth purchased from fair trade cooperatives, then stretched over sound-absorbing board that helps quiet echoes naturally found in native buildings composed of hard surfaces.

Learn more about Joyce Plath and her building projects by visiting http://www.joyceplath.com/

(click on image to see 7 of the 21 photo-works on display)

Obscura Illuminati

March 9 – April 1

Artist reception: Arts! Arcata, March 12, 6-8:30 p.m.

Juan Carrillo, Laura Cedergreen, Christine Clonts, Dorian Daneau,

Eden Golub, Joey Hiller, Zig Lawsha, Sean Leydon, Antonio Lopez, Mary Luong,

James Mena, Christina Pedroza, Nicholas Seckington,

Crystal Stroud and Zachary Wills.

Our March show features the work of 15 Humboldt State University photography students. These students are currently enrolled in a course taught by Professor of Art, Don Anton. With Don’s support, each student is allowed the freedom to implement various photographic processes while exploring photography as a medium for self-expression.

Statement from the Artists

The photographer Diane Arbus once said, “The thing that’s important to know is that you never know. You’re always sort of feeling your way.” This intimate statement considers the complexities of creative expression. It speaks of how an artist might seize a moment, interpret its form and deliver a version of their own experience. This personal act of inspired meaning can be seen in this exhibition of photographs by Humboldt State University photography students.

The images displayed reflect a rich diversity of photographic process revealing a unique perspective of personal depth and exploration. These thought provoking images share an intimate description of life and the complexities of the human experience.

Of these students, HSU Professor of Art, Don Anton adds, “The images on display are as diverse and meaningful as the photographers who’ve created them. They give us a significant perspective on the issues confronting our next generation of artists.”

This exhibition holds firm to the truth that creative expression is an act of will and that those who practice it often feel their way in a process of discovery.

The Upstairs Art Gallery is located at 1063 G street, Arcata (across the street from the Arcata Theatre and inside Umpqua Bank).

statement from the gallery curator

Collectively, art speaks of our culture and about the individuals that contribute to it. It is all for good and we need everyone’s participation. The value found in viewing student work is the chance to see or feel an edge and to have an opportunity to admire one’s courage in self-exploration and self-revelation.

Generally speaking, the vast majority of art that sells is considered beautiful or invokes comfortable feelings. But there is more to art and photography than the depiction of outer beauty and comfort. There is nothing inherently wrong with beautiful art that makes us feel good. But what about art that has no market, is not in a commercial form that is easily owned or is so challenging that one doesn’t want to live with it? Does this kind of art have no value because it doesn’t sell? Of course not. Perhaps it has more value because it makes us feel or remember or see from a perspective other than our own.

These few lines of written words are not to suggest this show is lacking in beauty. Quite the opposite, however, it is acknowledged that the average viewer might be more challenged than our previous show of wildflowers. If this is the case, feel what you feel and think about it for awhile, be slow to make conclusions – sit and savor, then move on.

(click on image to see 12 of the 30 artworks on display)

the Wildflower Show

February 10 – March 3

Artist reception: Arts! Arcata, February 12, 6-8:30 p.m.

traditional Irish music performed live by Scatter the Mud

Gary Bloomfield, Natalie Craig, Paula Golightly, Michael Harris,

Ken Jarvela, Joyce Jonte, Dorothy Klein, Maureen McGarry,

Linda Parkinson, Leslie Reid, Molly Ryan, Alan Sanborn,

Stock Schlueter, Patricia Sennott, Rick Tolley,

John Wesa and Peter Zambas.

Our February show is produced and curated by painter Rick Tolley as a fundraising event for the North Coast Chapter of the California Native Plant Society.

Through March 3rd, 40%-100% of the gallery sales will be donated to the Plant Society’s transportation fund. This fund provides busing so that local area school children can attend the May Wildflower Show held at the Manila Dunes Community Center. For the second year, the local chapter of the CNPS will host an extensive display of native plant species along with educational events ranging from traditional and contemporary uses of local plants, plant ecology, restoration, gardening and art.

For the reception come meet the artists, listen to live music, buy some art and support the kids educational experience by helping them learn the value of local plants and plant ecology. The Upstairs Art Gallery is located at 1063 G street, Arcata (across the street from the Arcata Theatre and inside Umpqua Bank).

(For a show preview click image )

Recent Works on Paper

Susan Bornstein, Libby George and Joyce Jonté

December 9 – January 29

Artist reception: Arts! Arcata, January 8, 6-8:30 p.m.

live chamber music performed by Kira and Sonya Weiss

Showing through January 2010 are works on paper from three Arcata based artists associated with the Arcata Artisans and the Stewart Studios.

For the reception come meet the artists and listen to live chamber music. The Upstairs Art Gallery is located at 1063 G street, Arcata (across the street from the Arcata Theatre and inside Umpqua Bank).

]]> http://www.meridianfineart.net/exhibits/?feed=rss2&p=150 0 http://www.meridianfineart.net/exhibits/?p=147 http://www.meridianfineart.net/exhibits/?p=147#comments Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:00:00 +0000 meridian fine art http://www.meridianfineart.net/exhibits/?p=147 Please subscribe to the gallery newsletter. This once-a-month announcement features news and information about current exhibits and artists. Sign up by clicking here.