November Exhibits

Tapestries and Looking Sideways by Carol Dickerson

“Maybe the desire to make something beautiful Is the piece of God that is inside each of us.” —from Mary Oliver’s poem “Franz Marc’s Blue Horses” Tapestries — Experimenting in Paint My paintings are all experiments. What if? What if I just staple this big piece of raw canvas to my studio wall? What if I mix charcoal lines into acrylic paint? What if I just make everything wet and let it drip? What if I combine these unusual colors? What a mess!!! Then the process of covering and uncovering, addition and subtraction, over and over again as I seek a resolution of the problems I have created. I am never sure where I will end up but at some point it begins to please me, some combination of color, shapes, texture, and line that I am drawn to. Looking Sideways — Collage Collage is very different from painting. There is the ongoing collection of fabric scraps, papers, string and other interesting junk. I enjoy the playful process of selecting and laying out pieces and moving them around to create a compelling design. Even with a plan there is always an element of surprise in the process once I begin gluing pieces in place: some materials become translucent, revealing unexpected ghost images. Overlays create new textures. Several years ago someone recommended “The Art of Looking Sideways”, a book by the British graphic designer Alan Fletcher (1931-2006). When it arrived I was confounded by it. An enormous compendium of Fletcher’s observations on design and visual learning, company logos, and graphics, it cannot be “read” in any conventional way, and it was so heavily saturated with ink that it smelled bad. I put it aside for several years and when I picked it up again, I discovered a rich source of graphics and quirky humor. I started cutting it up. Some of the bits and pieces ended up in this collection of collages. I have since learned that it took Fletcher eighteen years to assemble the book. I don’t think he would mind this “sampling”, as his book is a sampling of his own and others graphic work and musings. ( I bought another copy of the book which I now enjoy. )

Carol Mordecai Myers – Dropping In

This latest body of work comes from two conflated ideas. One from my my recent introduction and love of scuba diving and the other of the feeling that happens when one drops into a project or task and is completely present.

When you drop in under the surface of the water an entire new world of colors and textures appears. Scuba diving requires and allows you to be completely present listening to your breath and focusing on the world around you. The same happens when I drop into my art practice letting the world melt away and focusing on what is before me.

I work on several pieces at a time in different mediums and usually over a long period. Over years I have developed a process of building layers and then disrupting the resulting surfaces--through scraping, sanding and washing--to reveal underlying layers. This active “erosion” of the work introduces elements of time and of revealing what has been hidden beneath. In dialogue with the work, I then decide to keep the new found passages and micro-landscapes or cover them up and let something else emerge/re-emerge.

Carol Mordecai Myers’s abstract paintings are grounded in the idea of mindfulness and embodied presence (“being here now”). As her work has evolved, it has dissolved the idea of literal landscapes both in space and in time, with the result that her paintings have become small worlds of their own.

Using multiple mediums, Myers produces paintings made up of complex layers that are alternately built and scraped, creating surprises throughout her process that she then decides to keep or cover up. Built upon or scraped back, the “dissolved” landscape continuously forms and recedes. The result is a surface that can be read over time, revealing the physical act of painting and the artist’s presence in the final result.

Originally from New England, she received her BA from Colby College and her MFA from the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University. Myers has taught at Pikes Peak Community College and the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs and has participated widely in juried, invitational and collaborative shows.

The Spontaneous Gesture by Patricia Coughlin

This collection speaks to the ways in which curiosity, and a continual process of discovery, inform my work. I am an abstract painter, inspired by both the inner and outer landscape. I begin with a spontaneous gesture and let intuition take the lead, only becoming intentionl later in the process. For me, painting is visual poetry and reflects the mystery and joy of being alive.

Freud said, “We feel in the contrast, not the state of things”. The contrast and intersection between light and dark, transparent and opaque, bold and subtle, bright colors against neutrals and, most importantly, the conscious and unconscious mind provides fuel and fodder for my paintings. There are layer and layers of paint, marks, papers. What is revealed and what is concealed? What appears on the surface and what is laying beneath? I hope these paintings engage you in a process of discovery and wonder.

Jung said art reveals “the inner images the soul needs to see itself”.

As a child, I loved making art and went on to study painting at Ohio University. However, life called me elsewhere. I became a Clinical Psychologist, published author, mother and grandmother. Now, my art reflects the depth of all my experiences, embracing contrast, spontaneity, and the beauty of life’s unpredictability. I hope these works awaken your curiosity and wonder."

Patricia resumed painting in earnest about 10 years ago, studying with Louise Fletcher, Nicholas Wilton and Fran Skiles. She is represented by the Auric Gallery and the Lucky Pig Gallery and has received the Denis Diderat Grant to attend an artist residency in France this coming spring.

Julie Kirkland – Hidden Strength

Life is full of unexpected twists and turns—surprise challenges we don’t anticipate. It’s common to feel fragile and unprepared, doubting ourselves and our ability to handle the trials that come our way. But often, when faced with these tough situations, we discover a surprising inner strength that we didn’t know we possessed. In the solitude of our hearts and minds, there can be a quiet reservoir of resilience and fortitude that surfaces when we need it most. From facing external challenges to tackling the inner work required for personal growth, this hidden strength sustains us when we least feel able to cope.

Ashley Andersen

Ashley Andersen received her BA in Visual and Performing Arts with honors from the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. She has been awarded several fellowships and awards, including being named one of the top 100 Contemporary Artists in 2021 by Aesthetica Magazine. Recent and upcoming exhibitions that she is showing in are at Auric Gallery, SURFACE, WIRWIR in Berlin, CICA Contemporary Art Museum in Korea, York Gallery in the UK, East Window and Redline Contemporary in Denver, Gallery of Contemporary Art in Colorado Springs, and The
Museum of Art in Fort Collins. She has also been a part of several publications which include the Aesthetica Art Prize Anthology, Studio Image Project, and Shame Radiant with East Window. Residencies that she has been a part of include Picture Berlin, Ox-Bo, New York City Crit Club, and NAIR. Currently, she is based in Colorado.

Deborah Schoen

Deborah Schoen received degrees in Visual & Performing Arts and Art History from the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. The span of her work has involved solo and group exhibitions across the country and overseas, permanent public art installations in California and Colorado, and a three-year traveling interactive installation titled The Deborahs Project. She has been awarded the Linda Holmgren Jensen Endowed Scholarship for the Arts; a co-curatorial internship with the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia; the LAS Faculty & Student
Creative Works Grant with the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs; and the University Village Center Large-Scale Public Sculpture Grant. Her residencies include the Artist in Residency in Motherhood (ARiM) and The Residency Project with the School of Visual Arts, New York City, NY. Her work has been published in the Chrysler Museum of Art Magazine; Southside Daily and Virginia Pilot news in Virginia; The Gazette and The Tribune news in Colorado Springs; Voyage Denver; and the online publication Design Within Reach.