Contemporary art continues to rise in JH

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

By Emily Hinckley

With the help of Lyndsay McCandless Contemporary, five local female artists – Roberta Carney, Babs Case, Bronwyn Minton, Charlotte Potter and Susan Thulin – are securing a place for non-Western contemporary art in Jackson Hole.

A substantial crowd gathered at LMC last Friday to listen to the women present and discuss their artwork. The event’s popularity suggests that cutting-edge contemporary art has found a niche in our valley’s art scene.

For the rest of the month, the gallery’s two smaller rooms will hold collages by Case, three-dimensional mixed-media pieces by Carney, Potter and Thulin, and abstract Polaroid photographs by Minton.

Case’s surreal collages combine text, pictures, and found objects. “The Meal of My Neglected Body” depicts a woman standing against a blue and black background.

Her face, framed by thick blond hair, seems detached from the rest of her body, which has the words “be forgotten” scrawled across it in black. Small balls of red fuzz and a tangle of black thread fill her stomach. Although the collage feels personal, it resonates with anyone who has overlooked health and happiness in order to please other people.

Carney and Potter also incorporated found objects in their wall pieces. In Carney’s “The Ultimate Good Luck,” a strip of numbers sits above a small toy racehorse wearing the number seven.

Blue and green hard candies in clear plastic wrappers create a sugary race track. Another work, “Pluto,” reveals Carney’s disappointment that the far-away member of our solar system has been stripped of its “planet” status.

For this fun piece she filled a box with number 2 pencils, objects most people carried to school as children, and a metal house. A small gold charm hangs in the dark night sky suggesting that Pluto, like the yellow pencils of childhood, is neither gone nor forgotten.

Potter used lightbulbs to illuminate clear boxes adorned with images of fans, phones and bodies. Another large piece, completed in a very different style, shows a clear song bird and a pair of transparent dancing shoes. A green and red background makes this work bright without the use of artificial light.

Thulin’s artwork also relies on texture, materials and layers. “This body of work is inspired by dreams, skies and memories,” Thulin said.

For the series, she explored contrasts such as thick/thin, inside/outside, line/mass and light/opaque. First, she covered heavy paper with dripping wax and paint. Then she mounted it in front of mirrors and Plexiglas decorated with amorphous shapes.

The bright swirls of thickly applied paint contrast with the cool, smooth, glassy mirrors, adding even more depth and dimension. Thulin believes the layers represent the way we ascribe structure and meaning to our lives.

Finally, a display of Minton’s small, yellow-tinged photographs offers a nice contrast to the three-dimensional works in the show.

Minton has been building and photographing miniature houses for almost 18 years. In this latest series, she used her simple models to explore more complex ideas like the house as a symbol, positive and negative space, and scale distortion.

She made the tiny houses appear to be looming structures, softening their defined edges with shadows. Minton used this abstraction to turn a common object into something unfamiliar.

In some of the Polaroids, you’re not even sure you’re looking at a house. Others challenge you to reconcile the concept of the home as a warm safe refuge with the shadowy windowless edifices that Minton presents.

All together, Carney, Case, Minton, Potter and Thulin offer a thought-provoking, sophisticated show.

On Friday, they helped make contemporary art less intimidating by discussing it with the public.

But most importantly, these artists support McCandless’s desire to create a stimulating environment where Jackson residents are welcome to look at and learn about art.  

LMC is located at 130 S. Jackson Street. For additional information, call 734-0649 or www.lmcontemporary.com.

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Catch a glimpse of exotic animals and indigenous species this month at Trailside Galleries’ annual “Wildlife Discovery” exhibit.

The show features paintings in various styles and palettes by Bonnie Marris, Ralph Oberg, Chad Poppleton, Kyle Sims, Ryan Skidmore, Daniel Smith, Linda St. Clair and Jim Morgan, the National Museum of Wildlife Art’s 1996 Red Smith Artists’ Choice Award recipient.

“Wildlife Discovery” also showcases new works by Zimbabwe native Lindsay Scott. Scott, who has work in private collections and at the NMWA, frequently employs a minimalist background and soft palette to highlight majestic creatures such as bighorn sheep and zebras.

Her experience in botanical research, biology and illustration is evident in her work. Scott’s creatures are carefully composed with an eye for proportion, color and anatomy.

But you can look at Scott’s detailed drawings and oils without feeling like you’re staring at a photo in a science textbook; her colored pencil drawings are so fresh and immediate that you’ll believe you’re there squatting beside the panting coyote in “Coyote Portrait.”

“Wildlife Discovery” will be on display through March 31 at 105 N. Center Street. For more information, call Trailside Galleries at 733-3186.

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The Art Association’s monthly Photographer’s Forum meets 7-9 p.m. tonight in the photography studio at the Center for the Arts, 240 S. Glenwood. Call Thomas Stimpson at 733-6379 for details.
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Contemporary art continues to rise in JH | Planet JH News Article: Arts Beat

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