Page 21 - the NOISE September 2013

very thin porcelain tiles that were intended for use in com- puter boards. They can be fired in the kiln and I have been using them as canvas for small paintings with glaze.”
“I have also been working with some new cone ten glazes,” she explains further. “It is great fun to try out new colors and see what the kiln can do with your tinkering. It’s a blast to see all the possibilities. Rutile blues can go green or yellow, the copper reds are purple from time to time and iron mixed with any of these can create crystals that float in the glaze, just like suspended leaves in a river.”
The river, canyons and nature inspire the art of Ms. Pevarnik. She tries to capture the beauty she sees while floating down a river.
Ms. Pevarnik is joined by many other local artists and visit- ing artists who create in a wide range of mediums. The 21st Annual labor Day Weekend Art in the Park Arts and Crafts Festival will take place 9AM to 6PM August 31 and Septem- ber 1 and 9AM to 4PM September 2, at Wheeler Park in Down- town Flagstaff. FlagstaffArtInThePark.com
A SWirL of LiGHt And CoLor
Walking into Transmission Man in East Flag is very different from what one would expect when bringing in a car for repair. John Rogers greets me in the front of the shop, tiled in
red and black floor. It is hard for the eye to settle on any one thing, it roves from poster to poster to the sculptures and the counter. Colors and images adorn the walls everywhere the gaze goes.
“Glass” and “Mirrors,” along with odds and ends are waiting for their turn to be worked into a piece.
I’m supposed to be taking pictures, but I spend much more time with each kaleidoscope, gazing in as light shines through and cranking the levers to see the colors wheel and change.
Mr. Rogers tells me a bit about himself, “I arrived in Flagstaff on July 17, 1978. “You have to go way back to discover why I love creating art, and why I like to use recycled materials,” Mr. Rogers tells me. “Eons ago, when I was a kid, my dad hit the road. He left a note for Mom and not much else. As such, we grew up really poor in terms of money. We could count on a new toy for Christmas and that was about it. Most often, if I wanted a toy, I had to make it out of something that was ly- ing around. I made rubber band powered paddle boats from scrap wood, whistles from bamboo that grew wild along the creek bank, little swords from nails I hammered out flat and little cars from blocks of wood. Well, I’m still making my own toys. They’re a bit more complicated now. Each of my cre- ations is 100 to 200 hours in the making. That includes head scratching time. It doesn’t include the time I spend digging through scrap yards, disassembling old machinery, or shop- ping at Larry’s Antiques & Things.”
His first venture into kaleidoscope making was brought on by the Artists’ Coalition of Flagstaff’s Recycled Art Exhibit at Coconino Center for the Arts in 2010. “I got a bit carried away with that one,” Mr. Rogers says. “I think it’s the world’s only chrome, dual tube, sit down, hand cranked kaleidoscope made from recycled materials. I had been thinking of mak- ing a kaleidoscope for a few years. I must credit my mother
With the flip of a switch, a whirring sound fills the air and
hanging sculptures begin to move. A mobile made from
old computer parts and shining rounDdendnisikssH, anttoetmhe,rpmlaaydinegGamfoerSghivoinwghmosettThreoiydReaicihnatrhdesfiinrstteprvlaiecew.sSahuedgieanvecemmeeambboeorks, of transmission parts playfully titled, Wind Chimes form Hell.
My favorite is a hanging mobile that spins as a little pig with
wings buzzes in circles in the air.
apwphrophriavtelyvonlaumnteederTehde tKoableeidcosncotepsetaBnootsk,fothr atht ehaedveanilnotg. of illustrations of beautiful scopes along with pictures of the images within them. Back then I was working full time and
John Rogers’ rustic kaleidoscopes are featured at the Gallery in Williams.
I follow him to the back of the shop, under cars and be- tween toolboxes. In the far back of the shop is where the creative ideas come into fruition. Shelves of boxes marked,
working toward my degree at NAU in the evenings. I just didn’t have time to create kaleidoscopes, but that’s where the
spark began to burn.”
>> Continued on PAGe 22
>> Continued on PAGe 20
thenoise.us • the NOISE arts & news • september 2013 • 21