Page 14 - the NOISE APril 2013

Dream Two by caryn Bopp is among the new works by the artist featured by Mountain oasis.
iF traSh CouLD teLL a taLe
This is the eleventh year Flagstaff cul- tural Partners and the artists’ coalition of Flagstaff will be presenting the recycled art exhibition at the coconino center for the arts. Many of us local re-users and up- cyclers have been salvaging interesting bits and bobs to reconstruct into new interpreta- tions for this show that promotes recycling, reusing and expressing creatively.
The viola award-winning event invites all artists using 80% recycled materials in their art. The possibilities are endless, and there’s no telling what’s going to show up at co- conino center of the arts by the first week of April.
I stop by visible difference in downtown Flagstaff to ask Ruth Ann Border what she’s got planned for this year’s exhibition.
Ms. Border has sent out a collection of pre-owned toilet seats to artists with these guidelines, “The artists are interpreting,
‘What’s in you water?’ in their own way,” she explains. “Painting on toilet seats was more of a metaphor to make it fun. I think one of the things I’ve wanted to do is keep a social conversation alive through art. I’ve been thinking about this for some time, because water is important in the desert Southwest.
“We’ve had water issues for a very long time. What are we flushing down the toilet or dumping down the sink in the first place? How does this make artists feel? I hope this is the first of more issues that the store can tackle through art projects to make it more of a community involvement. Art brings to our eyes, in many forms, issues, for them-
selves. For me, it’s about our environment and what we’re doing to it.”
The toilet seats are due back at Visible Dif- ference on April First. For the First Friday Art- Walk, they will be displayed. “We’ll have the people’s choice award, the two top votes on ArtWalk I’ll enter into the Recycled Art Show, sponsored by the store.”
The Recycled Art Exhibition will kick off with an opening reception on April 13 from 6PM to 9PM, and remain on display through May 25. Many artists will be present at the opening reception to talk about their cre- ations. There will be live performances and an array of awards will be given for various works. There will be free Recycled Art Work- shops and Artist Demos throughout the run of the show. Check the calendar on page 34 for a full listing.
CulturalPartners.org, Flagstaff-Arts.org
DreaM a LittLe DreaM
Local artist and teacher caryn Bopp is fea- tured this month at Mountain oasis inter- national restaurant. “The works on display are mainly oil paintings that I have created in the past two years,” Ms. Bopp tells me. “Many are dealing with dream states and places of comfort.”
I ask Ms. Bopp about the figure in some of her paintings. “The figure is the same person in the same position,” she elaborates. “These are two of four paintings, the other two aren’t painted yet. The idea behind the series came from a discussion I had with a friend of mine a while back about science fiction and the possibility of different dimensions, and exist-
ing in more than one simultaneously.
“I thought that if I showed the same figure in the same position in different settings, that idea might be expressed. They are
called ‘Dreams’ because while a person is liv- ing in one, the others only appear as flashes, or in dreams, in my science fiction world. For Dream One, the mood is calm, the colors are more subdued, and for Dream Two, the feel- ing is more frenzied, the colors more intense.”
Both paintings are oil on canvas, but seem as though they are created from vastly differ- ent materials. “The application of the paint was different in both of these,” Ms. Bopp ex- plains. “Dream One does use palette knives and has thick areas, but also has many thinned out layers to achieve a more ethere- al effect, and Dream Two used very thinned out oils in washes in the background and thicker and brighter colors toward the front.” Mountain Oasis, 11 E. Aspen, is part of First Friday ArtWalk from 6PM to 9PM.
MaDre De LoS MuertoS
This April the artwork of Jon Jensen will be donning the walls of Mcsweeny’s salon. After looking at a selection of the new paint- ings that will be on display, I asked the artist if there is any underlying connection between the pieces that vary so much in content.
“I know these pieces seem pretty differ- ent but they actually tie in together as the beginning of a direction I intend to explore,” Mr. Jensen explains. “I did the three consecu- tively in a couple of weeks. First came Madre De Los Muertos, the Lady of Guadelupe piece.
I see her more as a cultural icon than a per- sonal religious figure. I love the story behind her and her imagery. I also like how integrat- ed she has become in society. Along with my typical style of painting, which walks the line between impressionism and realism, I brought this graffiti element and applied it to her aura.”
After discussing the painting of Guadal- upe, Mr. Jensen tells me about a landscape and a cloudscape that are part of the show.
“After that piece, I wanted to bring that think- ing into some landscape work. I started the next two pieces pretty much at the same time with the ideal of bringing this graffiti feel to my more traditional paint style, which you will find in the sky background of both Open and Open Tree.
“I love painting skies, all the slight colors and general openness of the subject make for a great background for these bolder, sim- pler foregrounds. While working on these pieces the graffiti elements became a little more computer influenced, a little more bit- mapped while still retaining a modern 3D quality. This really fascinates me, the merg- ing of the organic and electronic, the new and the old. I’m really looking forward to do- ing more work in this vein.”
McSweeny’s Salon, 112 E. Route 66, will be holding an opening reception during the April First Friday ArtWalk, from 6PM to 9PM.
energiZing the Stage
“That was really, really good,” I hear an au- dience member say to a friend after theat-
14 • APRIL 2013 • the NOISE arts & news • thenoise.us