Hometown Encounters Remind Me of My Own Artistic Roots

First, about me. Let's get right down to it, I had to get out...

As a creative young man, I was an odd bird in Lenoir NC.  Lenoir was a hard working town. If you weren't farming (and even if you were), most people spent their days turning out the highest end furniture and custom upholstery, a town full of craftsmen. In spite of having some of the best artisans in the world, I remember the arts be largely absent  from my experience, except on TV, where I saw occasional creative programs for children full of modern art and design.

No one I ever knew went to an art museum on purpose. I imagine there were many people who loved and even collected art in my small town. Still the standard art of my experience was the ubiquitous last supper, or Currier and Ives.  I heard lots of derisive comments about "modern art" without ever figuring out that the art I loved was modern. The furniture designers knew there was an outside world, but with a pragmatic understanding that the future wasn't for everyone. Some design forms and fabrics for upholstery echoed the traditions of Cubism, Futurism, Bauhaus and even Abstract Expressionism: clean, bright, unburdened by narrative.  However they always shared a showroom alongside more popular Victorian and Baroque designs.I figured out over time that this "modern art" was not new, and the adults around me affronted by Picasso or Braque were 50 years behind the times.

In 1962, when I was born, Broyhill Furniture released Brasilia Line, based on the futuristic architecture of  Oscar Niemeyer. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Montagem_Bras%C3%ADlia.jpg But Victorian was still the rule of the day.

I did get out...at 16, to Vancouver, British Columbia, where Emily Carr College (Now University) of Art& Design and The Vancouver Museum of Art  moved me from curious observer to art-junkie. When I returned in my early 20's, things had changed drastically. Both the long-running  Annual Sculpture Celebration and the very active Caldwell Arts Council itself which  hosts touring exhibitions of note, local shows and workshops, made Lenoir one of the more artful small towns in the region. I also became aware that there were, and presumably always had been, a lot of great local artists practicing around town. Over the next many years, as Lenoir blossomed, I spent more time away.  Finally, I was following the siren song of love and career back to the west coast, this time to the lower-left.  

I currently live in San Diego CA and curate the Swift, and every element of my life is intimately tied to the arts in one way and another. But North Carolina never really left my heart again, and this place which holds my heritage and most of my family, including my beloved mother and sister. And it was a need to see my dearly missed family that sent me on a trip back to the Old North State ( I won't call it Tar Heel Country, because I am, for my sins, a Duke fan).

While making my compulsory visit to downtown Lenoir, I was saddened to see much of the recent redevelopment failing with the current economic realities. I took a walk around the quiet and empty blocks that had seemed so revitalized and alive before the real estate bubble burst.  Then a bright storefront and a name on a wall caught my eye.

There on Main Street, was the studio of local artist Charlie Frye, a hometown original, who walks the blurry line somewhere between raw and fine art. Frye's work was a revelation on my last visit, because he is a painter in Lenoir who doesn't simply focus on landscapes the beautiful Appalachian Foothills. I was particularly struck with his series of hometown portraits, and his literary portraits.  

Charlie's primary reason for being lies in the need to paint. And his recent one man show in neighboring Wilkesboro NC demonstrated he can do this on a large scale. Frye's work, although it is often of and about place, also discloses a complex interior landscape, a place where characters populate a personal mythology. His portrait of Edgar Allen Poe conveys a personal viewpoint, in a way, the place Poe occupies in Charlie's own mythology, in relation to other characters which live there. Charlie is a skilled portrait artist and a excellent draftsman of the figure, although he never does nudes. (Gosh no, not here. I guess you could call me a conservative in that sense. ) By "here" I don't know if Charlie was referring to Lenoir, or his studio in specific...in the studio he supports his paintings by teaching classes in art to people of all ages, from individual adults, to groups of home-schooled children. Charlie comes to this naturally, having entered the arts after working as a teacher.

Charlie stands before a couple of his haunting anatomical chart paintings which reflect a historical narrative about the displacement of native peoples. His work can be serious, or lighter, as in the crayon self-portrait he holds, done as an example for his students.

But for an aspiring artist, Charlie feels anything but limited by his surroundings. His work is always local in spirit, and he seems to draw strength from the kind of rootedness that being a native son provides. One landscape is painted atop a large roll down county map, of the kind that used to be in classrooms all across the school district, it serves as a sophisticated sort of layer on layer depiction of the landscape, an aesthetic argument that sometimes, "the map is the territory."

Another indication of Charlie's commitment to the region is his "Made in Lenoir" movement. Charlie promotes and markets wares made in Lenoir from his storefront studio and on his website. If you buy a painting from Charlie, it will come in a frame which he manufactures, or orders locally made from another local artisan.  He is deeply in touch with the fine wood-working history of Lenoir, and is himself a skilled craftsman.

It might be tempting to see Charlie Frye as a kind of oddity, but I feel in a way he represents some version of a larger, generational shift in American culture. It used to be that rule-one of becoming a successful artist was to move to the biggest city you could manage to reach, and spend years working your way up the food chain of galleries and patronage. Artists like Frye are redefining success by staying put, and asserting that artists have a place in all communities. If you reflect on the recent trends such as shop-local, brew-local, eat local, ideas which have become mantras of the green revolution, a local artist makes perfect sense. But artists are still often thought of as outsiders, or hobbyists, who have no place in the working life of a community.  

If you're looking for Charlie Frye, go to Lenoir, Head down Main Street, and park when you see the red wall.

Charlie Frye envisions a place for artists in community which is neither elite nor specialized. To that end, he has begun working as sign painter, hand painted, illustrated signs of the kind not seen in town since the era when wall mural advertisements were a commonplace on Statesville Brick walls. This kind of utilitarian art, the making beautiful of the commonplace is where the tie of the artist to the community has it's deep and abiding roots. They say a man with his heart in the community gives heart to it as well. I'm grateful to Charlie Fry for continuing to provide that spark.

 

Feb. 3rd Time is Love: International Video Show and installation appear at the Expressive Arts Institute

"Love is in the air" and as we all know "time flies." What happens when they meet?  Art of course. Todays post is to tell you about February 3rd from 5-9 pm, when two different art experiences will happen at the Expressive Arts Institute and the Martha Pace Swift Gallery. The first is a touring international video show which is sponsored by Larry Caveney's Garage Gallery. Time is Love 5, curated by Kisto Assangni will be presented for two showings at 6:00pm and 7:30 pm. The video exhibition will take place in the studio and due to some brief nudity will be an 18+ event.

Meanwhile back in the Swift Gallery, Curator Wes Chester will invite the public to speak up in his installation "13 Questions about Time and Love" created especially for the show, where the first 48 attendants will be invited to respond to the questions about the nexus of time and love. And those who finish the task, in addition to immortalizing their opinions on an art piece, will be rewarded with a love-themed cupcake. If this isn't an art date made in heaven, what is? Hope to see you there.. 

Recovering the Artist: It was a dark and stormy night....

...which was no surprise. After all there is a tradition of rain on Expressive Arts Week openings. I believe at least five of the eight were accompanied by inclement weather. But when the winter storm sky ripped open at 4:40pm, dropping a brilliant shaft of rainbow almost on our heads, I felt a sense of relief... Perhaps some few hearty-souls might come.

The crowd arrived with umbrellas, boots and anticpation.

The week leading up to the event was immensely pressured, with lots of small details Some of which I cheerfully handed off to the estimable Jane Fyer, the grand-dame of the Creative Arts Consortium, a woman of infinite resourcefulness, who I have come to greatly admire in the work of pulling this show together. A bit about Jane:

Her long experience leading the CAC lends her a calm patience rare in the art world. She is serious and thoughtful about the work, yet quick to laugh. She has the wisdom of a veteran politician, and the savvy of New York Lawyer, and the energy of a woman decades younger .  Jane never seems surprised... (of the broken glass on a painting she owns, dropped an hour before the show, she simply said "Oh it's fine. it happens all the time.") Jane has a heart of gold and, a great eye for art.

Fyer helped lead the jury to amazingly diverse offerings, like Dodecahedron
by Steve Rodgers (foreground) and Woman of the Day by David Webb  

By 6pm, we found ourselves lightbulbs replaced, tags corrected, paintings repaired with a full house. The crowd enjoyed a middle eastern themed feast provided by Gallery patron Stephanie Swift, while waiting for a special opening night event , a poetry reading organized by by Michael Turner of the CAC. Michael teaches art and poetry at many mental-health venues in San Diego County. A veteran himself, he works with vets, seniors, and disabled persons, teaching them how to competently and confidently express themselves. He brought with him veteran performers Christopher R, and Dan Woodward, and a guest; first time reader and student of Turner, Rafael Perez.

Poets Michael Turner, Rafael Perez and Dan Woodward mesmerize the crowd.

The Expressive Arts Institute has seen its share of powerful performances, but none exceeding the nights' offering.  Michael Turner read from the deep places of the souls journey, touching on his Native American heritage, his esctatic journey as an ultra distance runner, and his deeply held conection and reverence for all things. Christopher R. (not pictured)  used wordplay, humor and rhythm to spill out a critique against the absurdity of the current state of all things , himself included. Young poet Perez gave a credible reading, with some memorable language "Graffiti is street talk between devils and angels..."

The full house was attentive, moved and entertained...

By the time Dan Woodward stepped on the stage, with his gray mohawk, eyes intense, the crowd was ready for anything. And Dan delivered. Starting with Gulf War Blues "...I knew her before she became a syndrome..." he recalled the loss of a chopper he helped to launch, in a war that seemed absurd. But before long, the crowd moved into laughter, as Dan read Shoot me for Food. Another piece in praise of larger women brough the house down with its vivd depiction of women "escaping a Jenny Craig convention" to ravage a buffet, in an Animal House-esque food fight.

Michael Turner returned to the stage to read one final piece, taking us again in the the space and light of his landscapes, the man who "...run(s) to figure things out..." leading us into a turning calmness, into the center of belonging with the strength of his lungs and heart. Before the applause finished, I was wondering about the possibility of a chap-book for the show, so later visitors ( it runs through January 7th 2012) could read the poetry which seems to match the visual art so well.

Of course you should have been there...

The evening, a great success,  was to hold one more shocking surprise for Jane and Me...but that is news for another post

At the end of a long day...

Well. The interview with Philly Joe went okay... Still I came away not entirely satisfied.  I felt the fundamental thing I'd like to get across was maybe lost in the cross-talk. Maybe teachers always feel a conflict between a presentation and a conversation... in any case here's the thought.

Art is Art. What you think art is, or what I think it is is not so important. The point is, we can both agree it exists. That said, when we encounter art in the gallery space, museum or on the street, in a very real way  it doesn't matter who made it. The encounter need not be mediated by personal knowledge of the artist, or by what anyone else thinks. We meet the being, the stranger, the presence in the frame or on the stage. And we respond. Not to the history. Not to the back story. (at least not immediately)

We respond to materality. To presence and that aesthetic response connects us strongly to the imaginal realm, the place where dreams are cast and cracked from molds white hot. The place where difficulties become for the moment transparent. Heaviness floats. Time pauses. At it's best, the encounter is visceral, it takes our breath, changes the very internal rhythms by which we walk and talk. It breaks us open, it reveals the hidden, even as it bandages the wound. Yes. Art does that.

Persons who live with mental illness live with two sets of constraints. Those placed upon them by society, and symptomology, and those they place upon themselves. The answer to fear is control, and many people find, by diminishing their lives, taking fewer risks, allowing less unknowns, symptoms fade.  But this is not a strategy for recovery or vigor.

Art, when it's real, is not small. It will not be made small. It won't be polite, restrained, contained. It's a trouble maker, a random stranger, an unpredictable outcome, a look into the void, into the chaos of unfolding possibility. And so, it is the perfect antedote, for a life of constraint, self-imposed, or not...

David Webb- Dinnertime at the Oaks -Acrylic on Canvas

The art in Recovering the Artist isn't interesting because of who made it. It's interesting because it is art. It exists purely for the sensuous encounter, it rattles our cages, tickles our funny bones, raises our pulse rate, breaks open those deep places, just as it did for the artist in the making.

I feel better. How about you?

Recovering the Artist opens Friday November 4th at The Martha Pace Swift Gallery. For information/ or directions, visit the website.

Recovering the Artist: Our 8th Annual Expressive Arts Month Show Opens Friday

The time of year has arrived again when we at the Swift present art that is in many ways closest to the heart of our mission statement. That is, the Annual Expressive Arts Show.

Tonika Garrett- Geometry Acrylic on Fiberboard

 Given that the gallery is associated with the Expressive Arts Institute displaying the art of artists who are in recovery from mental illness is clearly in line with the gallery's mission to bring art of social and emotional relevance to the community of people we serve as helpers. For the past seven years, we have given the clients who work with our students a place to show their art, and to demonstrate the powerful work that art making can bring forth. But this year's show is quite different... this year, for reasons I will discuss in following essays, I felt it necessary to broaden our reach, and to go into the community at large, in search of artists in recovery from mental illness. To that end, the Swift has partnered for the first time this year with two venerable organizations for arts and mental health.

Downstairs by the main entrance, the magic begins with images by
(l-r) Derrick Avalos, Ashlyn Johnson and David Webb

The first one I'll mention is a name you might recognize: NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness). The San Diego chapter is well known for, among other things, hosting a high profile annual walk which serves as a way for people to show their support for better mental healthcare, while fighting the artificial barrier which seperates those with mental healthcare needs from patients with other chronic illness needs. 

It's entirely possible that the second organization might have escaped your notice. The CAC (Creative Arts Consortium) is an all peer run organization which has a mission to support artists with mental illness in their efforts to do a broad outreach into the community, helping both those in recovery and their families through the arts. The CAC sends teaching artists throughout San Diego to work in visual arts and creative writing with other's who also face the challenges of mental illness.

Detail: Lynn Marco, The Gift Within Acrylic on canvas with canvas applique

You might expect such a show to be full of soul-searing, raw, emotional art about despair. The show is not without emotional content, but you might be surprised to know that there is as much joy, and reverence for the gift of life depicted as there is suffering and sorrow. This was not by design. This is the art that showed up, but it is a beautiful illustration of why we wanted to have such a show in the first place.

Recovering the Artist is a show about art...not illness. Artists come from every walk of life and make their images in every concieveable media, style and tradition. Those with mental illness are no different. Yes, suffering comes up, as it does in all artists who truly create from the ground of their own experience. All artists use art to contact their imagination, and explore the possibilities offered by the world. And as with any artwork, both the commonalities and differences in our experience make the art an engrossing and finally satisfying experience for the viewer.  

Recovering the Artist opens Friday, November 4th and runs through January 7th 2012.