Page 16 - the NOISE July 2013

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The artists of Mural Mice, finishing the mural on South San Francisco Street this month; Crashing Surf by Bruce Horn is part of the artist’s new ocean series at the Artists’ Gallery.
bypassing the Motor-Inn, the oversized sign tower above it was placed as consolation for the inconvenience of being off the beaten path. The mural takes us from the road’s construction, past the Dust Bowl refugees, through the WWII era of the neon 50’s, and features the exciting mid-summer All-Indian Pow Wow. While we couldn’t possibly place all the stories on this wall, we’ve included a few motifs that celebrate the spirit of the road.”
“We are deeply committed to placing rele- vant art for the community,” Mr. Wall tells me. “We are open to all roads of communication and we hope to nurture a long-standing re-
lationship with the town. We are interested in cultivating community involvement and education through public art. We would be especially happy if we can foster pride and ownership in the public art placed on the south side of the tracks. This project summa- rizes the legacy of a road that resides close to the heart of the nation. People need to know the road is a precious part of America’s past and that its current state of disrepair represents a part of America that is disap- pearing altogether.”
“The mural is a sign of new beginnings,” he says. “When we work together, shoulder- to-shoulder, we meet our neighbors, share new ideas, and discover that we are all pretty much on the same road together. There was a small window in time for free speech through public art in Prescott. Since then, any new public art (that doesn’t contain the cowboy branding) may be considered ille- gal by a few Councilmen. In my opinion, by turning the artists into criminals and forcing them to paint illegally in the river bottom and alleyways, they are shooting themselves in the foot. There is so much talent in that town. By silencing the voice and living soul of the town, they are throwing out the best
parts of the town, its unique identity and charm, not to mention a multimillion-dollar tourist attraction. It’s refreshing to know that Flagstaff understands the role of public art in communicating its values to the world.”
The painting of this new piece of Flagstaff history on the southside of the Lumberyard Brewery, 5 S. San Francisco, will continue throughout the summer. In the fall, a dedi- cation event will be held, with a Mouster- peice Theater play. “The play will entertain and educate about the mural and give credit to those who made it possible,” Mr. Wall con- cludes.
MuralMice.com
summeR shoWCase
This July at The Artists’ Gallery the art of Joni Pevarnik, Bruce Horn and Nancy Foo are featured in the window.
Mr. Horn has recently been reworking his plein air pieces painted by the ocean into stu- dio paintings. I ask Mr. Horn what inspired the ocean theme for his new show. “I have al- ways been challenged by the subtle and elu- sive effects of the ocean,” he tells me. “The light, the color and the form is constantly changing. Painting on location at the ocean is helpful, but ultimately you have to paint what you think you saw.”
“A surprising influence was a recent exhibit of oil paintings by Edgar Payne (1883-1947) at the Museum of California Art in Pasadena,” Mr. Horn continues. “The exhibit featured many vibrant, large-scale paintings; the most impressive to me were his ocean paint- ings. While trying to develop a technique, artists often achieve brushwork that looks contrived; the brush manipulation looks predictable and sometimes decorative. The casual and personal quality of Payne’s brush- work was uniquely strong; his brushwork ap- peared raw and random. These exemplary
paintings inspired me to repaint some of my own older ocean paintings.”
All but one of these paintings was origi- nally painted on location in Maine, California, Oregon, Hawaii, and the West Indies. “The paintings I had done of the ocean over a number of years were totally repainted so that all sixteen pieces currently on display are new,” explains Mr. Horn. “I have never repainted older artwork before because I always preferred to have a new creative ex- perience and I was more interested in new challenges. The Edgar Payne exhibit was so impressive that I wanted to see if I could learn something about a more random way of applying paint. So, the paintings that were originally done on location have now become studio paintings.”
Mr. Horn tells me more about his recent painting experience, “Plein-air painters abhor retouching paintings in the studio because the simplicity and spontaneity of the work can easily be lost. Recently I have been more interested in capturing natural atmospheric or visual effects in the studio without losing spontaneity. Looking to Ed- gar Payne’s playful brushwork seemed to be a way of achieving this.”
The recent work of Ms. Pevarnik is carved pieces made of stoneware and porcelain. “Stoneware glazes are applied and the fluid
glaze works with the carvings to create a play on the bowl’s lips,” Ms. Pevarnik says. “I use cobalt blues and copper purples along with rutile blues to achieve this effect. This new series has given me a fresh look at what I love doing best, making functional pottery.”
Using exotic stones like Larimar, Koroit Opal and Willow Creek Jasper, Ms. Foo has created two jewelry collections. “My settings are simple, I want the beauty of the stone to speak for itself, a truly natural ‘wow’ factor,” the artist says. Her other collection is all hand
drawn etchings in metals.
All three artists can be found during the
First Friday ArtWalk at The Artists’ Gallery, 17 N. San Francisco July 5 from 6PM to 9PM. FlagstaffArtistsGallery.com
thRouGh WindoWs
Mid-June I visit the home and studio of Artists’ Coalition of Flagstaff ’s member Joan McKee, a painter who will be a part of the Flagstaff Open Studios Tour and “Pre- lude,” at the Coconino Center for the Arts and Brandy’s Restaurant.
Ms. McKee tells me what brought her to Flagstaff. “Since I was 15, I wanted to live in the mountains,” she says. She grew up in Ohio, and after her children all moved West, she felt it was time to make a change as well.
“I keep pinching myself, as I drive home from the grocery store, I look up and I see the mountain and I’m still not quite sure I’m real- ly here. The other thing that attracted me to Flagstaff is that it’s a very artsy community... and you can take your dogs everywhere in town. It’s a very welcoming community.”
“Art has been my whole life,” Ms. McKee tells me when I ask her when and how she first began doing art. “When I was 6 or 7, my mother caught me drawing a picture with a straight pin on the woodwork, and being a very progressive mother, decided I should have art lessons. I never thought about do- ing anything else since.”
While earning her Masters degree, Ms. McKee became involved in the school’s sum- mer musical theater program where she painted sets. One painting in particular I saw at her studio was inspired by a costume lay- ing across the table beside a sewing machine during the production of Fiddler on the Roof.
Her experience in set making translates into her window pieces, paintings so con- vincing that a woman who bought one of
16 • JULY 2013 • the NOISE arts & news • thenoise.us