F I N D I N G B A L A N C E

F I N D I N G B A L A N C E

May 23rd - July 11th, 2014

National Group Invitational

Exhibition Curated by Prof. Joel T. Dugan

Deines Cultural CenterRussell, Kansas

Statement for “Finding Balance” landscape exhibition at Deines Cultural Center

Matthew Ballou

Work selected for the “Finding Balance Exhibition-The role of the landscape in contemporary art” was considered to be any art, which depicted the natural world, outdoor scenery, geographical environments’ and related landscape subjects in a unique an engaging manner.

Curatorial Statement for “Finding Balance”

Joel T. Dugan

The artwork created by the artists of the mid-west has historically focused on themes of the land and mans reliance upon it. Many artists explore the landscape

Joel T DuganBryon Darby Ben CowanMatt BallouMegan SchafferDevin MawdsleyJacob DudleyMike KnutsonEric Norby JJacob CrookDaniel CoburnLeeland PowersGordon ShermanMolly Walters Lara Shipley

Hays, KansasLawrence, KansasBrooklyn, New YorkMissouriMissouriChicago, IllinoisLos Angles, CaliforniaHays, KansasMissouriSyracuse, New YorkLawrence, KansasHays, KansasHays, KansasHays, KansasEmporia, Kansas

of the region as it pertains to our physical survival, domestic lively-hood and spirituality.

In choosing the works for this exhibition I selected artists that explore the presence of mans foot print on the environment and the impact our surrounding have on us. These works explore the spaces we inhabit, places we visit and memories. As we look forward and consider what the future holds the landscape reminds us of the changes we have lived through.

I thank the Deines Cultural Center for making this exhibition possible and for the generous financial contribution for the printing of this catalog.

Thank you to Matthew Ballou and Daniel Coburn for your assistance while curating this exhibition.

E R I C N O R B Y

My paintings are an exploration of notions of originality and sincerity, the picturesque, and process through the lens of the gridded western landscape. The perceived lawlessness and expansiveness of the American west is at odds with the desire to frame and compress. By superimposing a grid onto the images I choose, I act to literally “lay down the law,” and confine and delineate the sense of expansiveness. The works in my thesis act as an attempt to balance the formal qualities of Modernist painting with the conceptual features of Post-Modernism that I find particularly important, such as the Modernist notion of medium specificity

and the Pictures Generation’s skepticism toward originality. Combining these elements, I create work that transgresses the boundaries of these critical frameworks. The paintings and drawings I am currently making bring to light the disappearance of the picturesque western landscape between the late 1800s and the 1950s, the era in which the United States was reaching its empirical and domestic peaks. Through appropriation and the interposition of the grid, my project is an exploration of this history. Titled after the moment they appear in the video, my works expose the compositional

similarities between movies. In many of these videos, the most picturesque landscape appears at the beginning of the second third of a movie. This is inevitably the moment in which the adventure begins; the picturesque landscape is a symbol for the overwhelming obstacles the protagonist must overcome.

0:36:38. Watercolor on Paper42.5”x23.5”

0:39:40.Graphite on Paper26.5”x17”

0:00:34. Watercolor on Paper28”x18”

L A R A S H I P L E Y

Light of Our Fires Digital Print

MigrantDigital Print

D E V I N M A W D S L E Y

Let’s go some places,some thing places.I’ll build you ladders,Climb to ecstatic peaks.Dig you holes,Sinkinto lush sublimity.Talismans,portalsof perplexed wonderment.

In my mind a landscape is a term both literal and metaphorical. In an era in which it is becoming increasingly clear that we understand more about the workings of the cosmos than those of our own minds, I make it my business to plumb the vistas of the head. Much of my work falls under the historical motif of “landscape,” and I think of my role as something of a tour guide to the caves and cliffs of the mind.

Asleep In Hong Kong11”x17”35mm photography, digital monotype + digital collage, printed on Rives BFK

New Line11”x17”35mm photography, digital monotype + digital collage, printed on Rives BFK

B R Y O N D A R B Y

My creative research is an investigation of place and experience. Specifically, my interest lies in the cultural perceptions of the American landscape - its deserts, plains, and expanding urban areas - as theplace my family and I call home. Following in the steps of cultural geographers, I see landscape as a reflection of society. I draw heavily from my own personal experiences and, through a series of interrelated projects, use photography as a means to engage and understand the modern world.Though I often work within the conceptual framework provided by systematic methodologies, I’m

Modular CityPhotographs

fundamentally guided by an open intuition and willingness to let the work raise questions and lead mewhere it may. The duality of these seemingly disparate systems of inquiry inform one another, keeping the work moving on a self-sustaining forward trajectory. Ultimately, the driving force behind everything I do is an underlying faith in the photographic process as one of discovery.

D A N I E L C O B U R N

Tragic events involving domestic violence, substance abuse, suicide and mental illness haunt my family history. These issues take center-stage in a story that emerges from the walls of a single-family home and unfolds onto the Midwest plains. In next of Kin, I photograph my family in parables of love, reverie, respect and quiet tragedy. These people are defined by their history and the social, political, and geographical landscape of Kansas. I use elements of the foliage and terrain to elaborate on the complexity of this family narrative. The prints are a tangible manifestation of memories and experiences acquired during

my journey to adulthood, and function as a supplement to the broken family album assembled by my parents.

Waiting for Rapture AscentPhotograph

Next of Kin DisposalPhotograph

Waiting for Rapture FigurationPhotograph

J O E L T . D U G A N

If balance is not achieved in nature, collapse, erosion and extinction become a reality. This is also true in social-economical, physiological and psychological situations. How do we balance our lives with technology so prevalent and our perception of nature becoming so domesticated or even nonexistent?

This concept along with abstraction, gravity, and occupation are the overlapping themes driving my work. The embellishments and starkness in my imagery are juxtaposed to illuminate the polarizing issues of the contemporary era.

Parallel Withdrawal22 x 22”Oil on panel

Extracting the Invasive22 x 22”Oil on panel

That Day When You Depart20 x 38”Oil on canvas

By creating imaginative and surrealistic imagery my paintings explore the perception of experiences rather than just reality.

L E E L A N D P O W E R S

I am a native of the Great Plains, and have always been moved by the influence of its large sky and low horizon. The linear definition and worked surface in my images celebrates the subtle nuances and fleeting visual memories of that world.

Crossing04 x 36”Mixed Media on Paper

M A T T H E W B A L L O U

The landscape is always evocative, always resonant, always approaching the epic. This makes sense, given that humans have always had a deep kinship with the earth. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, the name for Adam derives from the Hebrew word Adama, meaning literally earth, soil, dirt. Our embodiment, which has come from this earth, from molecules forged in the hearts of stars, is inherently connected to the matter that surrounds us. Since the beginning of human consciousness, we have seen ourselves in the bones and sinews of the landscape; the play of rocks, trees, water, and sky are mirrored in our own form. I have

often thought about these things when working from the landscape, and strive to translate the fleshy made-ness of the world into my pictures.

Convolutiongraphite on paper

Shouldergraphite on paper

The Ancient Contractgraphite on paper

M E G A N S C H A F F E R

High Ridge Trail StudyOil pastel on board6x6”

M O L L Y W A L T E R S

Landscapes are part of everyday life. We are almost always looking at some kind of landscape whether it be wide open ranges or hills full of houses. They are a reoccurring site that we often take for granted. In my work, I draw attention to these common sites by presenting them in an uncommon way. And through that, these normalities in our lives become more appreciated.

Decay 225”x33”Lithograph Sewn to Paper

Decay 125”x33”Lithograph Sewn to Paper

G O R D O N S H E R M A N

Mysteriousness and appointed iconography has always been a foundation of my visual development. My imagery contains a strong sense of place that demands close attention. Manipulation of this “vocabulary” reveals my concern for human relationship to the environment and potential harmful vestiges of culture’s growth and decay. I have never consciously pursued an obvious dialogue with an audience, but rather engage their curiosity to establish rapport with my work in relationship to one’s experience and history. With that inquiry the viewer hopefully develops some connection to my artistic concerns, intentions and abilities.

Site Unseen One 8 x 9 cast plaster monotype

Sight Unseen Two 8 x 9 cast plaster monotype

J A C O B D U D L E Y

Land of DiamondsOil on Panel

Land of Shapes 2Oil on Panel

Land of ShapesOil on Panel

B E N C O W A N

I interact with the world using my eyes and my hands. I use accumulated scraps available in my studio like leftovers in the fridge. Surfaces in the paintings build into visual and tactile reconstructions of nature. Or, forms flatten to emphasize the landscapes similarities to domestic patterns. Often, I build sculptural arrangements after making paintings as a way to better understand my spacial and material intent. In each work, I play and discover comparing materials and application methods to reinvent the familiar and infuse it with meaning. Circle of Friends

Oil on Canvas

Shoulder RubOil on Canvas

Droop StoopOil on Canvas

M I C H A E L K N U T S O N

Emotions can strongly be prompted by a place. My work does not describe picturesque views, but cinematic scenes, with a strong sense of impending drama. I am interested in competing light sources and the play of light on surfaces. The surface is rendered in a representational manner, and I like to fracture form with paint and accentuate light through brushwork. The surface becomes visually captivating and eerily mysterious at the same time. My artistic language applied to slightly isolated yet familiar landscapes allows the viewer to transcend a common place to make the insignificant

State of ObscurityOil on canvas72 x 48”

significant. Every paint stroke harbors intent, yet I try to create with abandonment. Though the process of addition and subtraction the viewer is hopefully left with fragments of memories suspended in time. The figures in the work are losing control of what is real and what is imagined, while still being present in their own reality.

J A C O B C R O O K

“As an artist I have always felt my task is not to create meaning, but to charge the air so that meaning can occur.” – Todd Hido

The quality of light cast into a space has the potential to bring poetry to the prosaic, magic to the mundane, and beauty to the banal. The light spilling through these nocturnal landscapes serves as a sort of spotlight, transforming the scenes into empty stage sets either soon to be entered or perhaps long abandoned, suggesting the possibility of untold narratives that are just out of reach. My intent is not to tell a story directly, but to set the stage in such a way that viewers

Westmoreland Ave. Facing SouthMezzotint9”x6”

Under I-81, Facing NorthMezzotint4” x 12”

Midwestern Landscape IIIMezzotint with Etching and Drypoint7 3/4” x 24”

are compelled to consider the moments before and after the one presented based on their own associations with the imagery.