Page 18 - the NOISE May 2014

18 • MAY 2014 • the NOISE arts & news • thenoise.us
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ralist Kory Miller, and R.E. Wall and Marga- ret Dewar of The Mural Mice in the project. It doesn’t look like the curtain is going to
fall on Mr. Black any time soon, rather the art- ist seems to be riding a wave whose momen- tum is only building.
“Even with my first paintings, I had the feel- ing then that I could paint every single day for the rest of my life and not accomplish ev- erything I could produce,” he says. “It’s like I have access to this bank of information that I think all artists draw from ... and it’s infinite. My art is so inspired by the fact that anything can happen. Paintings can change just like that ... and so can life.”
Mr. Black’s prints are on display and for sale at Mountain Oasis International Restau- rant for the month of May at 11 E. Aspen Av- enue; and a solo show of a brand new body of work is slated for August at Coconino Cen- ter for the Arts. To view more of his work visit SkyBlackArt.com or find him on Facebook.
KRIS AND TOM WILLIAMS BRING NEW LIFE TO WILLIAMS’ ARTS SCENE
It is so refreshing to walk into an Arizona gallery that goes above and beyond the standard Southwest staples of landscape photography, kokopellis, and turquoise jew- elry. The Gallery in Williams, while it does have a hint of that (it is the Gateway to Grand Canyon after all), is predominantly unique, high quality functional, wearable, and deco- rative art that far surpasses the offerings at most Arizona galleries that cater to the tour- ist market. The cooperative features a wide variety of art forms by more than 40 artists from all over Northern Arizona; from Selig- man to Sedona, Flagstaff to Prescott, with the majority from the town of Williams itself.
Amongst the Americana quilts, watercol- ors, carved gourds, paintings, woven fabric baskets, nature photography, copper relief sculpture, stone and wood carvings, jewelry, pottery, and recycled art, a few artists stood
Japanese Flower Pendant in White
by Elvira Lopez del Prado.
out in particular.
An interesting section of the gallery is
devoted to recycled art. There is a cacti sculpture made out of canyon mule shoes (which won best in show in Flagstaff’s 2011 Recycled Art Show) by gallery owner Tom Williams, as well as his Route 66 dinner bells made out of discarded propane tanks, and his popular steel drums. In a similar vein are Flagstaff ’s John Rogers’ recycled kaleido- scopes; and Don Nord’s clocks made out of helicopter turbines and native wood.
The jewelry of Flagstaff’s Elvira Lopez del Prado drew me in immediately. Her light and airy necklaces in eye-popping colors first ap- peared to be made out of fabric fibers, but are actually crafted out of flat ribbons of wo- ven wire. Made of the finest gage of copper wire, it is similar to working with human hair.
Ms. Lopez del Prado obtained a bachelor’s degree in sculpture in her native Barcelona, and although she focuses exclusively on jew- elry now, she draws regularly from her artis- tic background.
“I like to build things,” she says. “Creating three dimensional art is like being part of the whole of Creation. If you look at my jew- elry you will notice that it is sculptural; it’s not simple. I like intricate constructions. I like my jewelry to have different angles and ‘faces,’ just like in sculpture.”
Ms. Lopez del Prado’s jewelry comes in many styles, shapes and textures, from the deceivingly delicate necklaces to bundles of coiled wire and clusters of spherical white Japanese flowers.
“When I was in college one of my teachers told me I would have to choose one direc- tion eventually, so when people look at my art, they will recognize it as mine,” says the artist. “I tried, but decided my style is having a lot of different styles. Each material I use communicates something different. Some of my collection has a very strong masculine energy, some are very delicate and subtle. I