Previous Exhibits (2012)
Boud by Art
February 22 through April 24
ViVO artists re-imagine and celebrate the book as the repository for narrative stories, imaginative thinking and visual imagery.
Two-dimensional works on paper and three-dimensional book art are presented as objects of beauty.
Dream States
January 12 through February 27
What does it mean to dream? Working in media ranging from photography to mixed-media sculpture to encaustic painting, eleven ViVO artists explore the boundaries of the dream and what happens on the fringes. Freud once wrote that “Dreams are often most profound when they seem the most crazy.” This show embraces both the profundity and the craziness of the dream.
Previous Exhibits (2011)
ViVO's 12th Month Event
12 pieces of original art were raffled, with proceeds going to The Food Depot
Thank you for your generosity! The Food Depot was very pleased with the response.
Date: December 9, 2011
Close Encounters Jane Rosemont
Strata: Life Layers Patty Hammarstedt
Date: October 5 – October 31
Jane Rosemont's Close Encounters features close-up photography of organic materials such as cat whiskers, a hornet's nest and corn silk. It is Rosemont's nature to look beyond the obvious, for example when interacting with others or when examining supposed facts. So too, as an artist, her close-up lens allows her the privilege of plunging into otherworldly realms. She finds it intriguing that the abstracted images become things unto themselves, unlikely landscapes that differ significantly from the original content.
Rosemont's encounters with these obscure elements often conjure unexpected emotions. In creating Landscape #5 (Coral Skeleton), she was moved by the tiny morsel lodged in the crevice. It makes her consider that a photographer's credo is to look rather than to merely see, "but do I look deeply enough? What else am I missing?" Working in black and white encourages Rosemont to embrace form and mood. She has chosen a larger format than usual for this series; it helps reinforce the metamorphosis and she finds that the images are more startling.
Photography is Rosemont's way of grappling with our complicated world, perhaps even challenging it; it is her means to examine truth and make peace with whatever that may be. "I have been learning about the world through my lens for three decades, and the biggest lesson is that the more I've learned, the more I realize I don't know."
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As a calligrapher and book artist, Patty Hammarstedt creates visual voice using imagery and letter shapes that reflect the heart and energy of a text. For 'Strata', she has deviated from meticulous, legible letter forms and instead penned letter-based texture and personal expression of content while maintaining the essence of calligraphic discipline. This work is accomplished with abstract calligraphy in Sumi ink, and utilizes water color, acrylic and gouache backgrounds.
The work presented in Strata interprets visual inspiration evoked by layered sedimentary rock which unfolds here in the Southwest. This rock represents layers of life seemingly at rest under tranquil blue sky following a fiery and tumultuous beginning, resembling the conflicting turbulence and peacefulness of mankind. In preparation for this exhibit Hammarstedt reflected on the various strata of her daily life unfolding into layers of thought, time, anxiety, love, and aging as well as haunting imagery from her conservation work on slave trade publications.
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Meditations in Silk and Wax Rosemary Barile
Whimsical Still Lifes Linda Fillhardt
Date: September 14 –October 4
Rosemary Barile began experimenting with nontraditional methods of dyeing and marking cloth as a graduate student in Fiber Arts. Composting fruit, vegetables, flowers and other plant materials directly on silk provided an interesting alternative to the conventional use of natural dyes. "The results were more organic and unpredictable than standard fabric dyeing and printing techniques, much more exciting to work with."
When Barile was introduced to encaustic painting she found it to be a viable medium for encapsulating silk. It allowed her to build up multiple translucent layers of cloth, color and texture. Painting with encaustic can be challenging and unpredictable. Chance and accident are large part of the appeal for her.
In her recent work, Barile continues investigating alternative methods of marking silk using a variation of Arashi Shibori. Arashi Shibori is customarily done by binding folded or pleated cloth around a bamboo pole and then dipping them into a dye vat. The bound areas resist the dye leaving a soft-edged pattern. Her process involves binding the silk against copper pipe or sheets of copper. The fabric and metal are soaked in ammonia then wrapped in plastic until the metal imprints the silk. The chemical reaction between the copper and the ammonia creates a patina where the metal comes in contact with the cloth. She often composts the silk before it is bound to the copper to add subtle variations in color.
Selected pieces of silk become the starting point of her mixed media paintings. "I seldom plan where the piece is going; my process is more of a response to the marks and information contained in the cloth. I approach the act of making art as an intuitive and meditative practice. My work reflects my personal experience with ritual and transformation." Barile has been a student of Hatha Yoga for many years. She has studied Buddhist Art History and practiced Japanese Tea Ceremony with the Seattle Urasanke Foundation.
What Linda Fillhardt calls "Whimsical Still Lives" is a melding of traditional still life and not-so-traditional pop art. These works are about whimsy, contrasts and differences; they are playful and dream-like. Fillhardt likes putting together odd and ordinary things. She also likes the merging of the photos into the paint, another way to emphasize contrasts. Some of the elements in the work have personal symbolism, for instance, the nests are about home, the snakes about fear and the pear reminds her of the female form.
In her Lamy, New Mexico studio, Fillhardt takes many still life photos to see how the elements work together. She has a collection of birds' nests that often appear in her pieces along with other objects that she has collected. Once the photos are taken, she looks at them on the computer, sorting through and finding the images she feels have the most impact. If she likes what she sees, she makes a large archival ink jet print and adheres it to a panel or to paper. Once mounted, she paints around the image and merges the preciseness of the photo with more painterly qualities. Fillhardt is attracted to this medium because of her many years working in advertisingin California. She likes the intimacy of the work and the design sense that the pieces have.
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The Bits and Pieces Patricia Pearce
That Which is Luminous Barbara Gagel
Date: August 4 –September 13
Patricia Pearce, who describes herself as a "creative expansionist," has artfully assembled "The Bits and Pieces" from her collection of architectural elements, tapestries, pages from old foreign language books, moulding, rusty things, etc. She is always looking for new approaches to translating her unique pieces and once again, has successfully elevated these curiosities to fine art.
Pearce's assemblages are a culmination of many years of working in sculpture, painting and printmaking. Each discipline taught her something new, but the most important lesson came from a photographer who told her "the making of a piece of art is the art; what is left at the end of the creation is just the residue of the art process."
Pearce heartily embraces that sentiment and it has allowed her to expand her creativity beyond specific disciplines, to explore and exploit her art, to take risks, to create spontaneously and immerse herself utterly and completely in her art.
Barbara Gagel has been using symbolic imagery as metaphors for her personal spiritual narrative for several years. These images have served to inform, transform and heal, as well as mystify her.
For the last three years, she has been consumed with the imagery of floating circles of light in a "metaphysical" world. Encaustic, which is wax and pigment fused by heat, is the perfect medium to allow the artist to translate this vision of light and movement in an ethereal space. "That Which is Luminous" uses repeated colored circles that have been printed, then imbedded, or carved into translucent wax. She then applies metallic pigments and gold leaf that shift color in mysterious ways. Transferred graphic elements offer another visual element.
Gagel states "The space between humans is alive with energy, echoing the microcosm and the macrocosm. If we but close our eyes and 'see' with the quiet mind, we allow ourselves the possibility of comprehending this floating world of grace."
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Matrix Moments George Duncan
Bewitching Summer Flowers Mary Parkes
Date: July 13 –August 3
George Duncan's Matrix
Moments offers the viewer a fascinating series that uses color and form
to be at once tranquil and structured, while suggesting an underlying
force and turmoil. Duncan conveys structure by a rigorous use of matrix
geometry, arraying cells in grid-like patterns that convey order and
stability. He then introduces complexities that are powerful but not
always apparent on the surface. "Life is like that. We try to keep
things organized but nature must have its say."
To see how this concept is realized, consider four of the paintings in his show:
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In the diptych "Power Rising," a bold force - a strong arm in black -
powers the illumination of a band of a matrix array of cells with colors
ranging from blue to yellow through green.
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The relentless push of the sea, in all its subtle force presses the
matrix of bright cells into a bent column and then into an arc.
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Outwardly formal and tranquil, like an apparently calm sea, four panes
are awash in the full range of colors of plum. Beneath the surface,
nearly forced to obscurity, is each panel's rectilinear grid.
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In "Jumble Structure," on a hillock, jumbled fractures of a once
regular grid provoke a clash of between yellow cells and blue cells.
A contemporary oil painter, Mary Parkes
enjoys the workability that the medium allows for the detailed images
she portrays. She paints on canvas and linen, sometimes using many
layers of gesso and wet sanding to achieve a smoother surface.
Although
Parkes' paintings reflect ordinary objects that we see in the world
every day, she adds playful, magical elements: colors are more vibrant,
proportions are exaggerated and subjects are effervescent.
"I
do love to introduce objects into a painting that wouldn't ordinarily
be there. If the viewer finds it a more interesting place to be in, my
art has served it's purpose. I always try and achieve a happy mood with
my art."
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An Affair of the Mind Ro Calhoun
Whispered Secrets Jovan Sherman
Dates: June 22-July 13, 2011
Ro Calhoun's conceptual mixed media assemblage series combines elegant elements with recycled, commonly found items set in iconic Moroccan frames. Featured exotic elements include beet and radish paper, camel bone, ivory, mica and semi-precious polished stones as well as vintage keys, timepiece workings and found rusty objects. The exhibit theme is based on the concept of experiencing the art as an affair of the mind with composition titles such as Caged Passion, Mindscapes, New York State of Mind, Santa Fe State of Mind, Count on Me, And The Beet Goes On, Ravishing Radishes and The Gift. The historical art movement most influential to Calhoun's practice is Dada, which challenges the status quo of society, politics and art. Emphasized techniques in the Dada practice include ready-mades, assemblage and collage as well as the use of found objects, randomness and tapping into the subconscious. Ro Calhoun is on the faculty at Santa Fe Community College in the School of Arts and Design and serves on the board of the Book Arts Group of Santa Fe. She has work in the permanent collection of The New Mexico History Museum as well as The Kinsey Institute.
Jovan Sherman's
Whispered Secrets is a series of mixed media paintings that speak in layered images, gestures and mysterious atmospheric space. They invite the viewer to slip in and out of the layers and lose themselves in the experience. For Sherman, revealing or exposing something from her inner self is a generous and courageous act. Her work is a composite of oft-repeated images, marks and color combinations that are specific to her experiences. She uses these modes of communication to ask questions, investigate ideas or reach some level of clarity.
The Whispered Secrets series has images that place them in the industrial present and others are elusive of time, place or depth of field. Because it is the process of painting where Sherman gains insight and inspiration, she wants the process to be evident to the viewer. A layered field of vision reveals the artist's hand and hints of shared memories.
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Angles Lines and Points Bill Sherman
Cut It Out Joy Campbell
Dates: June 1–June 22
From childhood to senior citizen, from paper dolls to altered books, Joy Campbell has spent a lifetime
"cutting it out." Joy's mother, who enjoyed sewing, often picked up McCall"s Magazine, a monthly periodical for seamstresses. Inside each issue was a page with the chubby little paper doll, Betsy McCall. Included were paper clothing with accessories suitable for Betsy's activity of the month which could range from planting a garden to playing dress-up. This was Joy's introduction to commercial paper dolls.
In her teens and into adulthood, Joy learned to design and construct clothing for herself, her husband
and two daughters. After designing and fashioning her daughters' wedding dresses, she turned to her next passion in life: altered books.
Cut It Out offers glimpses into the altered book process by including large modified Betsy paper dolls. These are made from recycled book pages, intricately cut images that disappear and reappear as pop-up books, and intriguing scenes that emerge from the printed pages of children's well loved but discarded vintage story books. The show begins with a walk down memory lane and, with modern techniques of re-imagining and restructuring old text pages, on into contemporary works of art.
Bill Sherman's work is a celebration of lines, points, and curves in two and three dimensional space.
It celebrates Euclidean space, more complex shapes and fractal space. The designs start with simple shapes used as the basis for digital paintings.
Until the 15th century, paintings were essentially flat in appearance, often including front and side views in the same space. It was Filippo Brunelleschi, architect of Florence's Cathedral dome, who brought mathematical perspective to art, and its illusion of three dimensional space to modern painting. In 1975, Fractal Geometry was born, giving us a way to define recurring shapes and the infinitely complex forms of nature. Mathematics is intimately involved in how we see, describe and visually represent our world, and Sherman's paintings celebrate this relationship.
Angles, Lines and Points invite us to enjoy the paintings as a whole or to look for the shapes from which they were derived.
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Flowers in the Desert Judy Hall Stapes
Indigenous Geometry Allen Gordon
Dates: May 11–June 1, 2011
Returning from a trip to Italy, painter Judy Hall-Stapes arrived home, in Santa Fe, with an acute awareness of high desert climate. Flowers flourish here despite the scarcity of water, and to the artist they became symbols of protest, tyranny and triumph. This inspired the creation of Flowers in the Desert where petals, stones and tendrils float against intensely colored backgrounds, disrupted by a sudden emergence of the dark and unexpected. A small black bird escapes from a cocoon, stones drop from
the sky, other-worldly pods and plants share the desert floor, a tiny dark flower carries its shadow up from deep turquoise water. Incorporating photography and collage elements in her acrylic paintings,
Judy Hall-Stapes takes us on a colorful, wonderful journey.
For Allen Gordon, the essential mathematical beauty of our extraordinary Southwest environment is expressed in free standing geometrical sculptures fabricated from new & recycled steel and scrap metals. Each work presents a direct experience and connection to the most powerful and stable of geometric forms and how those individual elements interact and fuse with each other. Inspired by indigenous cultures and the desire to connect with nature, Allen's work contains a magical mix of contemporary and ancient. Unique selections of resonant gongs converted from recycled steel tanks for indoor and outdoor use are included in the exhibit.
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book arts eVent
Date: April 22–May 10, 2011
ViVO Contemporary announces an exciting book arts exhibit featuring works by regional artists.
A unique entity on Canyon Road, the ViVO Book Arts Gallery within ViVO Contemporary presents an inviting atmosphere wherein a fascinating showcase of book arts is displayed. This exhibit presents
the fine art of hand produced artist books while generating awareness and interest in the intriguing practice of bookmaking.
Contemporary book arts cross mediums by collaborating and integrating printmaking, drawing, painting, photography, computer graphics, typography, story telling, calligraphy, writing and poetry. As it unfolds
and reveals expressive narrative, the artist book conveys visual voice through collaboration and integration of mixed mediums reflecting imagery and text. Artist books explore innovative connections between content, structure and technique. The book form is unique in its ability to create two-dimensional and three- dimensional formats simultaneously. Artist books result in an exciting art form affording an intimate, hands on relationship with each creation
.
One particularly unique form of artist books is the altered book. An altered book uses mixed media to transform an ordinary well-worn book into a dynamic sculptural form that alters its very soul. Old, recycled, or discarded books are cut, torn, folded, burned, drilled, glued, painted, or sculpted geometrically. The book artist changes the original book structure, giving it an authentic new life.
The book becomes a spectacular new, artistic entity.
