Page 17 - the NOISE January 2013

Lotus Flower by Margaret Whittaker is among the work at the ACF Gallery this First Friday ArtWalk.
BROWNIE CAMERA MAGIC
“My parents bought me my first Brownie Camera when I was about nine-years-old and my father taught me photography ba- sics,” Artists’ Coalition of Flagstaff member Margaret Whittaker tells me. “I was amazed and thrilled at some of the scenes I was able to capture. I didn’t start pursuing my educa- tion in photography until about ten years ago, when I took my first photography classes at the community college. Professors and pro- fessional photographers that I met told me that I had an eye for composition and have encouraged me to pursue a photographic career. I am now majoring in Photography at NAU with a minor in Religious Studies.”
“I love to get out in nature,” she says. “I seek the tranquility and beauty of God’s creation and for opportunities to capture special mo- ments of God’s creativity in the scenes and creatures. I try to see and capture what I imagine God sees through his mind’s eye during his creative process so that I can share that vision with everyone else.”
The photography of Ms. Whittaker is fea- tured this January at the Artists’ Coalition of Flagstaff’s Gallery, located at 13 N. San Francisco. An opening reception will be held during the First Friday ArtWalk January 4, from 6 to 9PM. MIWhittakerPhotos.com
A MATTER OF HEART
“I think I always was involved with making things,” Marlys Kubicek, featured artist at Wil McNabb Fine Jewelry Studio, tells me.
“My parents did not believe in buying toys so I created my own world. I also spent a lot of time with my grandmother on the farm. They did everything themselves including quilting and sewing.”
“My favorite thing is to draw and eventual- ly the drawing evolved into painting,” Ms. Ku- bicek explains. “In the beginning I was only
interested in the figure. This was because I was also dancing at the same time.”
Ms. Kubicek took courses at Arizona State University as an unclassified graduate stu- dent, experimenting in many art forms and eventually earning her MFA. Her own style of art developed in those years.
I ask her about her upcoming show. “The premise for this show is the use of heart imaginary. In the fine art world the heart is often banned as a trite, kitsch subject mat- ter. In fact as a teacher I have had it on my banned list, so I wanted to use the heart symbol as something more than a valentine and early American décor. The symbol of the heart has so many contexts, religion, love, sex, the anatomical heart. In the southwest you often see the colored tin Mexican heart milagros. I have a whole collection of them.”
“The new pieces are still print based,” Ms. Kubicek says. “The intaligo images are made with a new technique using photo polymer plates. Instead of acid eating into a copper- plate the plate is sensitive to ultra violet light either from the sun or a box with ultraviolet lights used in tanning beds. Once printed, I draw, paint, gold leaf, and so on.
“The images come from drawings and ob- jects that are in the studio. I collect objects and pictures of whatever interests me and even though it may take years they will be used in some way. Each piece is like put- ting a quilt together except there is no pre- conceived order. The first drawings have evolved into more complex commentary. Besides using just polymer etching plates,
“I have created the backgrounds and ba- sic compositional structures with a printing process called pochoir. A lot of my work is inspired by the work from the medieval age and the renaissance. It is not the painting technique that interests me but the use of space and symbols.”
Wil McNabb Fine Jewelry Studio is located
>> CONTINUED ON PAGE 18
thenoise.us • the NOISE arts & news • JANUARY 2013 • 17