University of Mobile

May 14, 2009

Eclectic artscape

UM Juried Exhibition reflects a broad range of styles and media

By THOMAS B. HARRISON

Mobile Press-Register Arts Editor

Photos by BILL STARLING/Press-Register Staff Photographer

Phillip Counselman, assistant professor of art and director of the University of Mobile Art Exhibition, stands among the artwork entered in the University of Mobile Juried Art Exhibition in the foyer of Thomas T. Martin Hall on the school's campus on Monday.

"Lawn Chair" by Elaine Pawlowicz.

“If It's Sky Paint It Blue, If It's Grass ..." by Conroy Hudlow.

"The Mermaid" by Melissa Claypool.

"Ten Stars" by Michael Boles

Margaret Warren is easy to find, as her Web site suggests.

The artist is "usually found somewhere along the Gulf Coast of Florida, working on computers, art or both." Or touring the region's auto junkyards seeking the perfect photograph, usually a detail of an old Porsche weathered by years of sun, rain and salt air.

With luck and excellent timing, Warren will get an unforgettable image such as the eerie "Salvador," one of the few photographs in this year's University of Mobile Juried Art Exhibition. Warren (www.margaretwarren.us), who lives in Gulf Breeze, Fla., is making her debut in the exhibit once known as "Art with a Southern Drawl."

She says the photo is part of her "Porsche Junkyard" series of odd images wrought by rust, decay and peeling paint. "Salvador" was a genuine surprise.

"It's such a distinctive face that came out of the rust and everything," Warren says by long distance. "I was drawn to that particular car and saw this enormous moth underneath the fender. I went to take pictures of the moth and I looked down and saw the face, which jumped out at me. I was really surprised by it."

The face reminded her of a Salvador Dali pencil sketch of a head that is unraveling.

"When you look at this face, it's not just peeling paint but the face itself is peeling up from one side," she says. "It looks like the face is unwrapping. Just a wonderful thing."

"Salvador" also impressed Phillip Counselman, head of the art program at the University of Mobile and director of the juried art exhibition. He says this year's edition of the show has few photos, "but the ones we do have are excellent."

Warren's entry is a photograph blown up on canvas, and it "looks like a painting," he says.

"Salvador" is one of 50 pieces in the exhibit, which features artwork in a variety of media by artists born in or currently living in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas. The artwork, which includes five pieces by UM students, will be on view through May 30 in Thomas T. Martin Hall on campus.

Counselman says juror Deb Wiedel, assistant curator of exhibitions for the Columbus (Ga.) Museum of Art, started with approximately 300 submitted pieces - down from 500 last year - and narrowed the field to 50 works in a variety of media. Wiedel named winners on Thursday. (See information box.)

Until last year, when the show was resurrected, the "Drawl" exhibition often had 100 or more artworks.

"I did downsize it this year," says Counselman, who says he wanted to see how an exhibit of 50 quality pieces would look in Martin Hall. "I feel like people, especially on this campus at the university, just want to see a lot of art. So I'm really going to try to blow it out next year and get as much as I can in and fill every space that I have."

True to its eclectic roots, this is not a themed show. Artists are unfettered and produce sometimes edgy, topical work. Nothing controversial, just different.

"It's really a novelty that we don't have a theme," says Counselman. "It's all about good ideas and it has been encouraging to me to see a lot of traditional media - but the ideas are still there. (The artists) can still communicate and get their point across, no matter what medium it is. And that happens in this exhibit. ... What I see is great ideas and concepts." Those concepts are evident in paintings, photos, mixed-media works and three-dimensional pieces such as "Certain Side Effects" by David Collins of Douglasville, Ga.

"He really transformed the objects in that work," says Counselman. "You can't figure out whether it's a traditional ceramic piece, a teapot with the spoon on the top. It doesn't seem like something you eat out of - it looks like something you pour from.

"You see this quirky, crazy stuff that's unimaginable and that's really refreshing, I think."

Josh Ashley's work is titled "#28," but the artist refers to it as the "scary fish."

"I found over the last year or so that scaly subjects such as fish make great subjects for me," Ashley says. "Their matrix of distinguishable parts can be replicated with found objects and create texture that I am drawn to. '"28' is the result of my finally pulling together some of the ideas I had been pondering - using thin slices of tree limbs for scales was one of them.

"The weathered shutter seemed to be a great frame for the fish, with all the rusty parts. I felt the pennies worked well for the remainder of the scales as they both contrast and blend into the rest of the body."

One of the more striking works in the show is "Ten Stars," a metal relief by Michael Boles, professor of art at Pensacola Junior College's Switzer Center, where he teaches sculpture. The relief, made of aluminum, bronze and malachite, is one of a 15-piece series that Boles will exhibit in August at PJC.

"That piece was cut out with digital technology from original drawings," he says, "and there is something very evocative about it. When you look at it, you see symbols and shapes that possibly suggest things you can relate to, but it's pretty much an interpretation by whoever is looking at it - everyone reacts to shapes, signs and symbols in a different way."

Counselman says Boles' entry "really has a presence in the gallery (with) that shiny, glossy surface and the space it occupies. It's the first thing you see when you come in."

Among many familiar names in the 2009 exhibit is Mobile ceramic artist Bertice McPherson, who entered her male/female heart forms. She says she enjoys creating the "age-old form that represents love, the center of self and the soul."

"The surface of this simple curved form acts as an open canvas for the effects from the firing process," she says. "I've been exploring the process of barrel firing, a slightly modern version of a pit firing in that the work is placed in a metal drum as opposed to a hole dug in the ground."

The process begins with the clay hearts being smoothed and burnished to a velvety finish, according to McPherson.

"After bisque firing, the hearts are packed in wood shavings, sawdust and other combustibles in a 55-gallon drum," she says. "A fire is started on top and once a bed of coals is established the barrel is covered and allowed to smoke and smolder overnight. I never know exactly what designs the fire and smoke have created on the surface of the work until excavation the next day."

McPherson recently began experimenting with bird forms on the surface of the hearts after reading that the ancient Egyptians believed that the heart in death should be the weight of a feather, "to make sure that it has not been made heavy through misdeeds," she says.

"The four hearts in the show are combined, one over another, to represent human forms. I call the two different heart forms 'Big Love' and 'Long Love.' Placing 'Big' over 'Long' resulted in a form resembling a human figure."

SECOND ANNUAL UNIVERSITY OF MOBILE JURIED ART EXHIBITION

WHEN: through May 30

WHERE: Thomas T. Martin Hall on campus

DIRECTOR: Phillip Counselman, assistant professor of art

JUROR: Deb Wiedel, assistant curator of exhibitions for the Columbus (Ga.) Museum of Art

HOURS: 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday

ADMISSION: Free

INFO: 251-442-2283 or www.umobile.edu/art

WINNERS:

1st PLACE: David T. Collins, "Certain Side Effects," ceramic

2nd PLACE: Allan Butt, "Umbrellas," watercolor

3rd PLACE: Duane Wingard, "Thoughts of Thoughts," pastel and gold leaf

Honorable Mention: Thomas M. Stade, "Oar Painter," watercolor; Teri Zaccaro, "Alabama Sunset," glass and copper; Barrie Foster, "Farmer Dale," watercolor

Last modified : Friday, May 15, 2009 0:06 AM
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