Page 14 - the NOISE June 2013

A Dreamy Day’s Night by cover artist Serena Supplee is among the artist’s works at AZ Handmade this June.
YOUR OWN INTERPRETATION
A cerulean sky striped with filmy clouds and dotted with stars illuminates red rock formations, one shaped into a face, in Serena Supplee’s Remember the Future, featured on the cover and available at Arizona Hand- made/ Fire on the Mountain Gallery this June.
Ms. Supplee lived in Flagstaff from 1978 to 1981 when she earned a Bachelors of Fine Art degree from Northern Arizona University.
“I have been inspired by the landscape of the Colorado Plateau since I was 13 years old,” Ms. Supplee tells me. “This is when I first saw the canyon country and I knew this is where I want to be. It has shown me excitement, adventure; taking it to the edge. It has also given me red rock warmth that has soothed and comforted me with a cozy, supportive feeling.”
“I have been expressing this landscape with these feelings for decades,” she says. “I am still interested. I love being in the can- yons. The last few trips in Grand Canyon I have taken I have become aware my dreams at night are a part of my experience during the day. This series of paintings are an ex- pression of that. The landscape’s wildness went to the next level bringing the dreams in. I have done this by exaggerating the col- ors a little. The lines & shapes are fluid and yet the rocks are solid. I am dreaming for- ward and onward.”
Arizona Handmade/Fire on the Moun- tain Gallery, 13 N. San Francisco, is open during the First Friday ArtWalk, June 7, from 6 to 9PM. AZhandmadeGallery.com
THE MOON AND THE RIVER
I am transported to a new location when I look into Robert Dalegowski’s watercolor, Marble Canyon Moonrise. I can feel the sand beneath my bare feet, smell the water and feel the cool evening air on my skin as I my
gaze travels over the slightly rumpled sur- face of the water that reflect the large, yellow moon that is rising over the changing colors of the canyon walls.
Growing up in Doney Park, Mr. Dalegowski and his brothers explored nature and were taught to draw using fireplace charcoal by their father.
Over the years his skills were honed down to the exquisite representation of natural treasures we see today. Painting in plein air, wilderness is his model as he lays brush to paper and portrays light, shadows and color in a soulful way.
Mr. Dalegowski is part of many artists groups in Arizona, and this June will be fea- tured at The Artists’ Gallery, 17 N. San Fran- cisco. Bats Dance at Hance, an 18x24” studio piece will be featured in the window.
In Bats Dance at Hance, a troupe of bats spiral up through a moonlit sky. “This paint- ing was in process for nearly 30 years,” Mr. Da- legowski tells me. “Camped at Hance Rapid on the Colorado River in the bottom of Grand Canyon in the early 1980s, the river level changed dramatically due to power genera- tion at Glen Canyon Dam. The lowered water level in the evening produced a swarm of hatching insects from the pool above the rapid. As evening progressed, thousands of bats appeared from the cracks and crev- ices of the Supergroup Formation forming the river gorge at Hance Rapid. Swirling in the twilight feast were a number of white or white-spotted bats that produced startling patterns against the darkening sky filled with even darker bats. A full moon hung glowing above the sunlit arm of Escalante Butte, all reflected by the dark water.”
After returning home from the trip, Mr. Dalegowski tried to recreate the beautiful scene on paper with watercolor from pho- tos and sketches, but no renditions gave the result he wanted. He tried many times to
create this painting, never satisfied with the outcome until he attempted the painting again in 2011 while preparing for the Grand Canyon Celebration of Art.
“The twilight poetry emerged, colors har- monized, and the bats danced across the gorge,” Mr. Dalegowski says.
In addition to the Artists’ Gallery, Mr. Da- legowski also sells his watercolor paintings at the Grand Canyon Association Store in the Visitor Center Plaza near Mather Point in Grand Canyon Village, South Rim.
“I love the land, especially Grand Canyon; colorful monuments and drainages draped with ever changing light and shadow, the adventure and solitude of labyrinth depths and the sullen, shining river. This tale of epic changes to the land is presented through the majesty and drama of an immense and complex landscape through which I have hiked, climbed, floated, and painted for more than 50 years of intimate observation and experience.
“I love to paint; it is my meditation, my cele- bration, my renewal, my communication. My art is and always has been an essential part of my life. Years of experimentation with watercolor and plein air painting has evolved a unique style of controlled and colorfully expressive brush work to develop a final vi- brant image.
This year Mr. Dalegowski plans to continue cultivating his skills in plein air, focusing on Grand Canyon, and will later this year par- ticipate in the 5th Annual Grand Canyon Celebration of Art: Plein Air on the Rim in September.
An artists’ reception will be held during the First Friday ArtWalk on June 7, from 6 to 9 PM at The Artists’ Gallery, 17 N. San Fran- cisco. Also featured this month are Bruce Horn and Melanie Erickson.
FlagstaffArtistsGallery.com
JUNE JEWELRY
Jewelry Artist Araceli Gonzalez is fea- tured for the month of June at the Artists’ Coalition of Flagstaff’s Gallery.
“With this nice weather, lately I have been inspired to do some outdoor shows,” Ms. Gonzalez says. “My jewelry can be found at The Pioneer Museum, Riordan Mansion and of course The Artists Coalition of Flagstaff Gallery on Aspen.” Ms. Gonzalez will also be at the Peaks Arts & Crafts Fair on June 8 and at Heritage Square some Sundays throughout the summer.
“Lately I’ve used brass and silver pieces and coated them with special heat activated powders that when finished look like enam- el,” she tells me about new work. “I find that the results are beautiful and it’s fun.”
The Artists’ Coalition of Flagstaff Gal- lery is now located at 111 E. Aspen and is holding an artist’s reception during the First Friday ArtWalk. Flagstaff-arts.org
FOUR CORNERS
“Four Corners Quilt Exhibition,” opens with a free reception to the public on Satur- day, June 8, from 6 to 8PM at the Coconino Center for the Arts.
Flagstaff Cultural Partners compares the Four Corners that unite different territo- ries and cultures to the four corners of a quilt joining layers of fabric together. Quilts have a historical place in our pioneering past and the “Four Corners Quilt Exhibition,” shows traditional and modern techniques and to- day’s artists’ interpretations of them.
Artists from Arizona, Colorado, New Mexi- co and Utah submitted their quilts to be jur- ied by Ruth Garrison, who chose the pieces that would be part of the show.
Ms. Garrison is a studio quilt maker who began working in the art form in 1983. She creates quilts of her own design and paints,
14 • JUNE 2013 • the NOISE arts & news • thenoise.us