“2018 Art of the Young Child”

Exhibition Information

Location: Artspace Gallery on the CSN North Las Vegas Campus & I Building Main Lobby on the CSN Charleston Campus

Dates: Friday, April 13, 2018 – Saturday, April 28, 2018

Press Release
The College of Southern Nevada Department of Fine Arts will host an exhibition of artwork created by students of the CSN Early Childhood Education Laboratory Program. This exhibition, a collection of artwork by children ages 6 months through 5 years, utilizes a variety of media and expresses the thoughts, emotions, and creative explorations of its young artists. “2018 Art of the Young Child” will begin Friday, April 13, and will run through Saturday, April 28, 2018.

“Art is a vital part of the Early Childhood curriculum,” says Janis Fikes-Buntjer, ECE Laboratory Program Director. “Children of all ages are given time and access each day to explore and manipulate a wide range of art materials. As children explore – they learn. They learn about physical properties of the media; they learn problem-solving skills; they learn social skills; they develop motor skills; and they learn creative ways to express themselves – most importantly they learn that ART IS FUN!”

CSN’s Early Childhood Education Lab Program is a nationally accredited preschool, kindergarten and childcare program for children ages 6 months through 5 years. As a model for “best practice” in Early Childhood Education, the ECE Lab Program provides CSN students, participating parents, and the local Early Childhood community, opportunities for observation and practice.

This exhibition is featured in conjunction with the CSN Early Childhood Education Program and in celebration of the National Association of the Education of Young Children’s (NAEYC) “Week of the Young Child,” April 16 – April 20, 2018. This exhibition is free and open to the public.

Artwork will be on display at the Artspace Gallery on the North Las Vegas Campus, 3200 E. Cheyenne Avenue, North Las Vegas and in the “I” Building, First Floor, Main Corridor, on the Charleston Campus, 6375 W. Charleston Boulevard, Las Vegas. This exhibition will be open during normal campus building hours.

Links

CSN Child Care / Early Childhood Education Lab: https://www.csn.edu/daycare
CSN Early Childhood Education Program: https://www.csn.edu/programs/early-childhood
National Association for the Education of Young Children: https://www.naeyc.org/

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Yoshiko Shimano: “Engraving on Land”

Exhibition Information

Location: Fine Arts Gallery on the CSN North Las Vegas Campus

Dates: Friday, March 23, 2018 – Saturday, April 28, 2018
Artist Talk & Artist Reception: Wednesday, April 18, 6 p.m.

Artist Statement

“Engraving on Land” is about people’s living conditions, their creativity, and evidence that people’s daily lives have been conducted on their lands. The title has two metaphoric meanings. The first is the physical changes of the land after destruction from wars or colonization. These physical change can also occur from another culture’s influences, like forced construction and industrial projects. Often, past physical change may not be recognized in the present. We forget easily, because lands continue to host new people’s lives that create new landscapes. The second meaning is the emotional scarring and mental changes. I became interested in how people kept their identities, cultures, pride, and languages under difficult circumstance. When I learn about the histories of how people lived, I am often encouraged by their wit, humor, creative energy, and love, which kept their lives going. I hope that my work expresses the beauty of all human beings with their strengths and passions.

“WISDOM OF WATER” and “CITIES IN CHECKERS” are two separate cities in different cultures and locations, but they have twin like similarities. The canal system in Amsterdam influenced the system in Edo (Old Tokyo) of the 17th century, and the city structure in Kyoto in the 12th century had a very similar city plan to New York City today. I became fascinated by how human beings of different nationalities, cultures, and religions embraced similar living conditions: even if living conditions then in each country were limited in many different aspects, I often feel that the people lived their everyday lives creatively, simply, beautifully, and peacefully.

“70 YEARS OF SILENCE”, “COMPENSATION FOR THE COUNTRY”, and “COMPENSATION FOR THE COUNTRY – RED and WHITE” address the island of Okinawa in Japan, which has been a victim of political conflict with both Japan’s main islands and the U.S. Particularly even into the present, discrimination and neglect by Japan’s main islands have been focused toward Okinawa. I realized there are many similar stories around our world. People, who by chance are living on small islands or in countries with a small GDP, become less valued. Their voices are hardly heard.

“BLACK TEARS AND BLACK RAIN”, both terms were natural phenomena. One occurred after the USS Arizona was sunk in Pearl Harbor in 1941 and the other after a nuclear weapon was exploded over Hiroshima in 1945. In Hawaii, black oil tears arose from the sunken ship forming floating rings on the ocean. In Japan, black rain, contaminated with high levels of radioactive dust, caused a secondary disaster and increased the number of victims of the bomb. The year of 2016 became a historical year when President Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial and met some Hibakusha (survivors of the nuclear bomb). In the same year, Japan’s Prime Minister Abe visited Pearl Harbor. These events proved to the rest of the world that two past enemy nations could achieve and maintain a peaceful friendship after seventy-one years and are working together toward world peace.

Biography

Working on a grand scale, printmaker Yoshiko Shimano challenges to transform the paper so it no longer speaks as “paper”, but has a density of physical presence that is one with its imagery. By using many different printmaking marks, she wishes to unify existing mediums and layers into a seamless language. Her work invites its audience to enter a seemingly infinite and paradoxically intimate space. Hung in one space large- scale prints become installations or environmental works, which interact with the architecture and create own atmosphere. She likes the possibility of the work “breathing” in its specific environment. Many of her work are her prayers for things she doesn’t have control over, but feels responsibilities toward as one living in this world.

Japanese born Yoshiko Shimano’s work has been exhibited extensively in Canada, Europe, Japan and the United States. She received her B.F.A. degree from California College of the Arts and M.F.A. degree from Mills College in Oakland, California.
She embraces an artist’s responsibilities within society to expand beyond studio practices or gallery presentations. Shimano has offered many outreach projects, local and international, and made prints for various minority groups and victims of natural disaster with her students through the Department of Art at the University of New Mexico.

Links

Yoshiko Shimano Artist Homepage: https://www.yoshikoshimano.com/​​
University of New Mexico Faculty Page: http://art.unm.edu/yoshiko-shimano/

Jing Zhou: “Visual Meditations”

Exhibition Information

Location: Artspace Gallery on the CSN North Las Vegas Campus
Dates: Friday February 9, 2018 – Saturday, April 7, 2018
Preview, Artist Talk & Artist Reception: Thursday, March 8, 6 p.m.

Artist Statement

As a Chinese woman artist living in the Western world, I am aware of art, literature, philosophy, and mythology from both cultures. My understanding of Chinese philosophies has shaped my thinking and conduct. The prudent and contrary-minded Taoist beliefs, the attached-to- the-earth reality of Confucianism, and the sudden enlightenment and intuitive insights of Zen are the foundation of my life. On the other hand, Western culture has inspired me and opened new ways of thinking.

Developing a personal visual language that expresses universal ideas, I create artworks for the stories and aesthetics of each image, and for making visible those concepts which reflect my personal experiences. I want my viewers to look at my images through magical windows into a deep secondary space.

Inspired by nature and multiple cultures, my artwork explores our common humanity, diverse society, and my inner voyage. Creating artwork required me to realize my nature, re-study my culture, and adapt new thinking, which resulted in a new perspective on life. It has also challenged me to constantly solve visual problems, learn new techniques, and explore the splendid human heritage. My images form a visual communication that interacts in several collective dialogues. These dialogues are between eternity and transience, oneness and variety, existence and emptiness.

Beyond various techniques and conceptions, the process of creating and making art has enchanted me. At the core of my art-making is an attempt to attain moments of transcendence, to reach the artless-art, emptiness, and egolessness. My artistic creation is a process of deciphering my life journey.

Biography

Born in Chongqing, China, Jing Zhou is a multimedia artist, designer, and Associate Professor in New Jersey, USA. Her award winning work has been widely shown and collected internationally including: Triennale Design Museum, Milan; British Computer Society, London; Asian Cultural Center, New York; SIGGRAPH Art Gallery; ISEA; CAA; Les Abattoirs Museum, France; Mons Memorial Museum, Belgium; Royal Institution of Australia; RE-NEW, Copenhagen; New York Hall of Science; Danish Poster Museum; GAMeC Modern and Contemporary Art Gallery, Italy; Athens Digital Art Festival, Greece;Taksim Republic Art Gallery, Istanbul; FILE, Sao Paulo; Visual Information Design Assn. of Korea; Goethe Institute Alexandria, Egypt; Hungarian Electrographic Art Assn., Budapest; Brown University; Grand Canyon National Park; PX3 Prix de la Photographie Paris Awards; International Photography Awards; public collection of the WRO Media Art Center, Poland; Waikato Museum, New Zealand; Moravian Gallery in Brno, Czech Republic; SDAI Museum of the Living Artist, San Diego; and Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco. Numerous books and magazines such as Photo Techniques, NMEDIAC, and Computer Graphics World have published her work. Jing is also a Gold Medal recipient of the Art Directors Club of New Jersey, Gold Winner of the American Design Awards, Silver Winner of the Summit International Creative Awards, and Prize Winner of IFUW (GWI) Poster Competition in Geneva. Jing’s multimedia artwork explores our common humanity and reflects her interest in spiritual experiences, Eastern and Western art, literature, and philosophy. To Jing, creating art is a process of deciphering her life journey.

Links

Jing Zhou Studio Homepage: http://www.jingzhoustudio.net/​​
Monmouth University Faculty Page: https://www.monmouth.edu/academics/art/faculty/zhou.asp

Stephanie Serpick: “A New Fall”

 

Exhibition Information

Location: Fine Arts Gallery on the CSN North Las Vegas Campus
Dates: Friday February 2, 2018 – Saturday, March 10, 2018
Preview, Artist Talk & Artist Reception: Thursday, February 1, 6 p.m.

Artist Statement

The most recent paintings, the series A New Fall, are an expression of feeling in dealing with personal issues over the past year or so. These stem from both reactions to current events in our country and the world, as well as personal loss. They are intimate paintings represented by unmade beds and tossed sheets, absent of any human evidence, on intentionally blank, somewhat rough backgrounds. The empty bed in these paintings represents a place for grief, depression or isolation. As such, the work speaks to our shared feeling of grief, with the understanding that while we all suffer in our individual ways, suffering is universal.

Source material for this work are photographs I have both taken and found, and the intimate size of the paintings references the intimate nature of the subject matter. The backgrounds of the paintings are repeatedly painted and sanded, to create a frame and backdrop for the bedding that is flat, yet rough with work and time. The bedding itself is seen from different perspectives, but still indicates a scene of desolation and despair.

Biography

Stephanie Serpick was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and earned her B.F.A. from Carnegie Mellon University and M.F.A. from the University of Chicago. Her work has been shown in various exhibitions in the U.S. and internationally, and she is a fellow at several residencies, most notably at the Florence Trust Studios in London, Ragdale in Illinois, and the Vermont Studio Center, where she was awarded a full fellowship and stipend to attend. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Serpick currently lives and works in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Links
Stephanie Serpick Homepage:​​ http://stephanieserpick.com/
Paint this Desert, Stephanie Serpick ‘A New Fall’ at CSN https://www.paintthisdesert.com/field-notes/stephanie-serpick-a-new-fall-at-csn

Marianic Parra: “In Dreamy Solitude”

Exhibition Information
Location: Artspace Gallery on the CSN North Las Vegas Campus
Dates: Friday, November 17, 2017 – Saturday, January 27, 2018
Artist Talk & Artist Reception: Thursday, January 25, 6 p.m.

Artist Statement
I want to show, from a contemporary approach

• The most intimate of the heart
• The most divine of thought
• The most beautiful of pictures

I want to show feeling, sensation, mind and materials.

I want to show a complete language that captures man in his humanity.

Biography
Marianic Parra is an accomplished and noted artist.  Words cannot adequately articulate the depth of her artistic merit; but, as you review this partial list of exhibitions, note the countries that have embraced her work as a solo artist or as a member of a group show, and the venues in those countries. Marianic Parra presents her artwork (paintings, drawings, sculptures, installations mainly throughout Europe and United States (London, Barcelona, Paris, Philadelphia, Sacramento, Cincinatti, Missassauga, Los Angeles , New York, etc); Marianic Parra is the author of 8 books.

Residing in Béziers (France,), Marianic Parra is used to work with her husband the writer Jean-Pierre Parra. There, the Parras take lines and words and weave both distinct entities into multi-hued artwordwork that entices the eye and the mind.  You are drawn into their world of endearment and form, of graciousness, and generosity of the spirit.

Links
https://www.saatchiart.com/account/profile/33614
https://www.parra-art.com/

Margaret Noble: “Resonating Objects”

Exhibition Information
Location: Fine Arts Gallery on the CSN North Las Vegas Campus
Dates: Friday, November 10, 2017 – Saturday, January 20, 2018
Preview, Artist Talk & Artist Reception: Thursday, November 9, 6 p.m.

Artist Statement
I​ ​create​ ​interactive,​ ​multi-sensory​ ​sculptures​ ​and​ ​installations​ ​layered​ ​in​ ​sound​ ​and gesture.​ ​I​ ​design​ ​these​ ​works​ ​with​ ​found​ ​objects,​ ​raw​ ​materials,​ ​and​ ​circuitry.​ ​I​ ​use tactile​ ​controls​ ​to​ ​integrate​ ​light,​ ​electro-acoustic​ ​sounds,​ ​and​ ​field​ ​recordings​ ​into​ ​my projects.​ ​This​ ​practice​ ​enables​ ​users​ ​to​ ​animate​ ​and​ ​be​ ​animated​ ​by​ ​my​ ​sculptures​ ​and installations.​ ​The​ ​found​ ​objects​ ​and​ ​materials​ ​I​ ​integrate​ ​have​ ​their​ ​own​ ​narratives​ ​and yet​ ​they​ ​also​ ​accrue​ ​new​ ​meanings​ ​when​ ​combined.​ ​Through​ ​this​ ​hybrid​ ​medium,​ ​my work​ ​explores​ ​human​ ​and​ ​material​ ​relationships​ ​modulated​ ​by​ ​technology,​ ​memory, and​ ​communication.​ ​I​ ​want​ ​each​ ​experience​ ​I​ ​create​ ​to​ ​become​ ​personal​ ​for​ ​the​ ​user. Instead​ ​of​ ​viewing​ ​the​ ​works,​ ​I​ ​would​ ​like​ ​audiences​ ​to​ ​inhabit​ ​the​ ​works.

A​ ​note​ ​on​ ​my​ ​content;​ ​my​ ​body​ ​of​ ​work​ ​includes​ ​resonating​ ​objects,​ ​shrines,​ ​and portals​ ​which​ ​are​ ​intertwined​ ​with​ ​personal​ ​and​ ​narrative​ ​elements.​ ​I​ ​fear​ ​and​ ​love technology​ ​through​ ​a​ ​complex​ ​relationship​ ​I​ ​have​ ​with​ ​it​ ​in​ ​living,​ ​teaching,​ ​and​ ​making art.​ ​Also,​ ​my​ ​experience​ ​of​ ​growing​ ​up​ ​on​ ​welfare​ ​often​ ​boils​ ​over​ ​in​ ​my​ ​work​ ​as​ ​I frequently​ ​explore​ ​social​ ​hierarchies​ ​and​ ​escapism.​ ​I​ ​engage​ ​with​ ​all​ ​of​ ​these​ ​ideas​ ​by looking​ ​at​ ​media,​ ​society,​ ​and​ ​interpersonal​ ​conflicts.​ ​For​ ​example,​ ​in​ ​my​ ​sculpture​ ​“I Long​ ​to​ ​be​ ​Free​ ​from​ ​Longing”,​ ​I​ ​present​ ​a​ ​collection​ ​of​ ​intimate​ ​sounds​ ​embedded​ ​in​ ​a case​ ​with​ ​the​ ​invitation​ ​to​ ​covet​ ​things​ ​that​ ​aren’t​ ​there.​ ​In​ ​my​ ​music​ ​box​ ​sculptures: “What​ ​Was,​ ​What​ ​Is,​ ​What​ ​Is​ ​Not​ ​Yet​”​​ ​and​ ​“A​ ​Score​ ​for​ ​Conversation”​ ​I​ ​use​ ​various sound​ ​patterns​ ​controlled​ ​by​ ​interactive​ ​paper​ ​loops​ ​to​ ​explore​ ​the​ ​impact​ ​of​ ​trauma and​ ​the​ ​difficulties​ ​of​ ​listening.​ ​In​ ​my​ ​pieces:​ ​“What​ ​Lies​ ​Beneath”​ ​and​ ​“Head​ ​in​ ​the Sand”​ ​I​ ​offer​ ​audiences​ ​a​ ​chance​ ​to​ ​explore​ ​social​ ​anxiety​ ​through​ ​light,​ ​sound,​ ​and containment.​ ​For​ ​all​ ​works,​ ​I​ ​am​ ​interested​ ​in​ ​creating​ ​personal​ ​moments​ ​in​ ​public places.​ ​This​ ​is​ ​theatre​ ​in​ ​that​ ​these​ ​experiences​ ​are​ ​constantly​ ​evolving​ ​due​ ​to​ ​the particularity​ ​of​ ​various​ ​venues​ ​and​ ​the​ ​nature​ ​of​ ​an​ ​audience’s​ ​participation.

Biography
Born​ ​in​ ​Texas​ ​and​ ​raised​ ​in​ ​California,​ ​Margaret​ ​Noble’s​ ​experimental​ ​artworks​ ​have been​ ​exhibited​ ​nationally​ ​and​ ​internationally.​ ​Her​ ​interdisciplinary​ ​work​ ​resides​ ​at​ ​the intersection​ ​of​ ​sound,​ ​sculpture,​ ​and​ ​performance.​ ​She​ ​holds​ ​a​ ​BA​ ​in​ ​Philosophy​ ​from the​ ​University​ ​of​ ​California,​ ​San​ ​Diego​ ​and​ ​an​ ​MFA​ ​in​ ​Sound​ ​Art​ ​from​ ​the​ ​School​ ​of​ ​the Art​ ​Institute​ ​of​ ​Chicago.

Noble’s​ ​work​ ​is​ ​influenced​ ​by​ ​the​ ​beat-driven​ ​dance​ ​culture​ ​of​ ​southern​ ​California which​ ​flourished​ ​during​ ​the​ ​1980’s​ ​and​ ​later​ ​led​ ​her​ ​to​ ​perform​ ​as​ ​an​ ​electronic​ ​music DJ​ ​in​ ​the​ ​underground​ ​club​ ​community​ ​of​ ​Chicago.​ ​In​ ​2004,​ ​she​ ​branched​ ​out​ ​from​ ​the dance​ ​floor​ ​into​ ​experimental​ ​sound​ ​art​ ​for​ ​new​ ​audiences​ ​which​ ​intersected​ ​the electronic​ ​sound​ ​scene​ ​and​ ​the​ ​visual​ ​arts​ ​community.​ ​During​ ​this​ ​transition,​ ​Margaret created​ ​sound​ ​works​ ​for​ ​collaborative​ ​projects​ ​in​ ​video,​ ​dance​ ​and​ ​object​ ​theatre.​ ​Her artistic​ ​works​ ​have​ ​now​ ​evolved​ ​into​ ​sculpture​ ​and​ ​installation​ ​influenced​ ​by​ ​interests​ ​in memory,​ ​history,​ ​narrative,​ ​and​ ​identity.​ ​Noble’s​ ​work​ ​has​ ​been​ ​featured​ ​on​ ​KPBS,​ ​PRI, Art​ ​Ltd​ ​Magazine,​ ​Art​ ​Forum,​ ​San​ ​Francisco​ ​Weekly​ ​and​ ​the​ ​Washington​ ​Post.​ ​She​ ​was awarded​ ​the​ ​International​ ​Governor’s​ ​Grant,​ ​the​ ​Hayward​ ​Prize​ ​and​ ​the​ ​Creative Catalyst​ ​Fellowship.​ ​Her​ ​artistic​ ​residencies​ ​include​ ​the​ ​MAK​ ​Museum​ ​in​ ​Vienna​ ​and​ ​the Salzburg​ ​Academy​ ​of​ ​Fine​ ​Art.​ ​She​ ​has​ ​had​ ​several​ ​solo​ ​exhibitions​ ​including​ ​the Museum​ ​of​ ​Contemporary​ ​Art​ ​San​ ​Diego,​ ​Ohrenhoch​ ​der​ ​Geräuschladen​ ​Sound​ ​Gallery in​ ​Berlin,​ ​and​ ​Mute​ ​Gallery​ ​in​ ​Portugal.

Links
Margaret Noble Homepage:​​ ​http://www.margaretnoble.net
Review Journal Article, CSN Gallery a Nexus for Art in North Las Vegas: https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/north-las-vegas/csn-gallery-a-nexus-for-art-in-north-las-vegas/
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Noble_(artist)

Martina Shenal: “Secondary Nature”

Exhibition Information
Location: Artspace Gallery on the CSN North Las Vegas Campus
Dates: September 22 – Saturday, November 4, 2017
Preview, Artist Talk & Artist Reception: Thursday, September 21, 6 p.m.

Artist Statement: “Secondary Nature”
The conceptual direction of the series secondary nature explores aspects of human intervention relative to the landscape; intersections of public and private, nature vs. the built environment, literal and metaphorical boundaries that protect as well as isolate. Acknowledging that place suggests an experiential encounter and space points to the unknown, these images invoke the dichotomy of an intimate encounter against the distanced backdrop of foreign observation. Though they involve a highly detailed transcription of place, they are, in one sense, more about the act of looking than a narrative about place. They operate within a perpetually passing moment–ambiguous fragments of the material world.

They are part of a larger, ongoing series entitled borrowed views, after the Japanese shakkei, and utilize the stylized perspective strategies in traditional eastern landscape painting and seventeenth century Japanese garden design. In the new series, I chose the title to draw parallels between the notion of differentiated natures, with references to first nature (instinct) and second nature (culture). In some sense, I am searching for an idealized landscape on these islands that is reflective of the garden: highly manipulated, tightly controlled and cultivated; offering a mediated interaction with the natural world while contextualizing it within a broader topographical and conceptual framework.

Biography
Martina Shenal is an Associate Professor in the Photography division at the School of Art at the University of Arizona in Tucson. She earned her MFA degree from Arizona State University in Tempe and her BFA degree from The Ohio State University in Columbus.

Shenal has received numerous grants and fellowships including a Western States Art Federation/National Endowment for the Arts Regional Fellowship in New Genres, a Visual Art Fellowship from the Tennessee Arts Commission, multiple Professional Development Grants from the Arizona Commission on the Arts, and a Contemporary Forum Artists Material Grant from the Phoenix Art Museum. Selected solo exhibitions of her work have been held at Place M Gallery, Tokyo, Whittier College, University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, State University of New York-Brockport, University of California Berkeley Extension Gallery, and the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art.

Antonio Gomez: “Charro: Portrait of a Way of Life”

 

A young Charro Performs at Antonio Gomez: Charro: Protrait of a Way of Life

Exhibition Information
Location: Fine Arts Gallery on the CSN North Las Vegas Campus
Dates: September 8 – Saturday, October 28, 2017
Artist Talk & Artist Reception: Thursday, September 14, 5 p.m.

Artist Statement: Charro
“Charro”, offers and insider perspective of a way of life that exists both in folklore tradition as much as it does in the contemporary every-day. In a documentary style and through the use of black and white photography, I strive to capture epic experiences of this beautiful tradition as well as intimate moments of romance, competition, sorrow, and Joy.

The work shows how Charrería is more than a national sport of Mexico. It’s a festive spectacle of costume and ceremony that evokes enormous national pride for Mexicanos in their homeland or across borders. Charro, Portrait of a Way of Life is a study of the struggle of many Mexican immigrants who make it their mission to pass on equestrian precision and human nobility to the next generation.

Biography
Born in Mexico, Antonio Gomez started his journey as a photographer as he discovered the work of photographer, Henry Cartier-Bresson while stationed in Germany. Soon after his enlistment in the U.S. Army he attended the College of Creative Studies in Detroit where he earned a B.F.A. in applied photography and a Masters in Fine Art from Wayne State University.

Antonio continues to document his surroundings and its people and occasionally goes to Mexico to continue with the documentation of his beloved country. Antonio has self-published three books on some of his ongoing personal projects. His latest book “Life, Devotion and Departure” is a very close to his heart as he documents his parents struggle with Alzheimer’s, their devotion to each other and the hardships that result from their retirement, in Mexico. His documentary series on the Las Vegas street was published in the online National Geographic magazine edition in 2014. His latest project, “Charro, Portrait of a Way of Life”, is a 13-year-old documentary series of the struggle of many Mexican immigrants who make it their mission to pass on equestrian precision and human nobility to the next generation.

Antonio moved to Las Vegas Nevada in 2004 where he holds a full time teaching position at the College of Southern Nevada. He resides in the outskirts of the city with his wife and three children.

Jessica Larva: “Leeward”

Exhibition Information
Location: Artspace Gallery on the CSN North Las Vegas Campus
Dates: Friday, July 7 – Saturday, September 9, 2017
Artist Talk & Artist Reception: Wednesday, September 6, 6 p.m.

Artist Statement: Leeward
Growing up in the flat landscape of the Midwest, the long expanse of the horizon has an almost tangible presence. It is a familiar and calming constant, and yet our concept of the horizon is paradoxical and abstract. Celine Flecheux writes in her book L’horizon, “the seemingly contradictory aspects of the horizon oblige use to ask ourselves what is the nature of the horizon, and whether it is a line, a circle, an opening or a wall, a locus for the vanishing point or a chimerical place, a mark of the finite or resonance of the infinite, an enveloping limit or vertiginous abyss.”

This body of work developed from an interest in how we align conflicting perceptions and reestablish visual and cognitive balance. Physiologically a sense of balance is derived from vision, the vestibular system in the inner ear, and proprioception provided by the physical body contributing to a sense of the body’s place in space. If those senses send ambiguous or conflicting information we suffer from disorientation that ranges from confusion to vertigo. For example, airplane pilots who loose the visual reference of the horizon in bad weather may not be able to align their perceptions and have been know to suffer from sensory illusions that can lead to catastrophe.

Psychological balance is also often symbolically and metaphorically represented through orientation and direction. Phrases like “my world turned upside-down” or “I couldn’t tell if I was coming or going” often indicate confusion, an overwhelmed state, and lack of psychological balance. Conversely, distant horizons with their clear sense of orientation and direction are used in imagery and prose as places of balance. It seems fitting that physiological and psychological balance would share a vocabulary of orientation and that consistent markers like the horizon would indicate stability.

My work is aesthetically reminiscent of abstract color field painting and is influenced by perceptual abstraction, however the development was also closely tied to avant- garde structural film including Paul Sharits’ film installation “Shutter Interface” and Tony Conrad’s flicker films as well as the work of conceptual artist Jan Dibbets. Unlike color field painting, the photographic medium used in this artwork imbeds the work with residual detail that we understand as orientation. Because of this detail one can see how the natural horizons pivot, abutting “above” and “below” until the orientation becomes convoluted.

The individual horizon sections used in these pieces essentially loose their properties of balance and spatial orientation to become an undulating curtain of color. At the same time the strata of vertical bands combine to construct an entirely new horizontal form and establish a new sense of balance.

Leeward is a nautical term meaning downwind from a point of reference. If a ship is heeling in the wind the leeward side is lower and sheltered from the wind. I selected the title to refer back to the position of the camera relative to the images of the horizon.

Biography
Jessica Larva was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and currently lives and works in Chicago, Illinois. She earned her BFA (2002) and MFA (2005) in new media art at Ohio State University.

Larva has exhibited across the country including notable exhibitions such as her solo show Fluid Horizons at Ohio Dominican University (2013), group shows iDEAS 16 at the Laird-Norton Center (Minnesota, 2016), 64 at the Buchanan Center for the Arts (Illinios, 2015), Sky High at the Riffe Gallery and Southern Ohio Portsmouth Museum (2014), Botanicals at the Kiernan Gallery (Virginia, 2013) Photo Plus at the Jacob Jarvits Center (New York, 2003), two-person installation Inscription (Ohio, 2011), video screening at Mission Art Walk (Texas, 2007) and at the Wexner Center (Ohio, 2005). Additionally Larva co-curated Tracing Lines at the Urban Art Space (Ohio, 2012) and curated numerous new media exhibitions in her role as exhibition chair of the not-for-profit arts organization Fuse Factory. Her solo show Leeward opens at the College of Southern Nevada in 2017.

Larva was formerly the studio assistant for artist Ann Hamilton and is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Art, Media, and Design at DePaul University.

Artwork List
Title: Great Lake (orange)
Media: giclée print
Dimensions: Variable: 17″ x 41″
Date: 2015

Title: August Lake
Media: giclée print
Dimensions: Variable: 17″ x 41″
Date: 2017

Title: Great Lake (teal)
Media: giclée print
Dimensions: Variable: 17″ x 41″
Date: 2015

Title: Great Lake (gold)
Media: giclée print
Dimensions: Variable: 17″ x 41″
Date: 2017

Title: Chicago (pink)
Media: giclée print
Dimensions: Variable: 17″ x 41″
Date: 2015

Title: NYC (gray)
Media: giclée print
Dimensions: Variable: 17″ x 43″
Date: 2013

Title: Otolith Shift (orange)
Media: giclée print
Dimensions: Variable: 17″ x 41″
Date: 2015

Title: Otolith Shift  (pink)
Media: giclée print
Dimensions: Variable: 17″ x 41″
Date: 2015

Title: Boston
Media: giclée print
Dimensions: Variable: 17″ x 39″
Date: 2012

Title: Siesta Key
Media: giclée print
Dimensions: Variable: 17″ x 41″
Date: 2013

Links
https://www.jessicalarva.com

Benjamin Entner: “Classics”

Exhibition Information
Location: Fine Arts Gallery on the CSN North Las Vegas Campus
Dates: Friday, July 7 – Saturday, September 2, 2017
Preview, Artist Talk & Artist Reception: Thursday, July 6, 6 p.m.

Artist Statement
Although I am formally trained as a sculptor, I am conceptually and technically drawn to a multidisciplinary studio practice that involves video, installation, performance, drawing, sewing, sound, and painting… as well as the traditional modes of three-dimensional art, most especially woodworking. My work is driven by ideas or curiosities, and I simply try to find the best tools to address these.

I create works that are the result of play or experimentation, and that range conceptually with my many interests: from children’s literature to aquatic life; women’s underwear to architecture; fire to fly-fishing. Often the only constant is the importance placed on an imperfect and obsessive craft, whether seen or not, and a sarcastic sense of humour.

As I work on a project, I try to anticipate and plan for the viewers’ experience. I want to make viewers aware of themselves as they relate to my art. I accomplish this by creating a presence of an object or installation that interrupts or intervenes in the passive viewing of a piece and invites an active experience with it. Within the gravitas of a typical art space, I also try to inspire a childlike nostalgia and wonder by engaging the viewer with an object or environment that is fun, funny, playful, awesome, and/or rad.

My current body of work, Sumus, explores the boundaries and interplay between two- and three- dimensional methods of making. Specifically, the point at which a drawing can become form and an object can become representation. Focusing on the figure, I draw contemporary individuals: myself, friends, family in postures similar to the figures of Classical Greco-Roman and Renaissance sculpture. In so doing, I hope to create an awkward dialogue between my contemporary parodies and the historical works—a dialogue that questions and challenges perspectives of beauty, proportion, sexuality, and idealized form.

Biography
Benjamin Entner received his MFA in sculpture from Syracuse University and his BA in Renaissance and Medieval Studies from the University of Albany and is currently an Assistant Professor of Art and Design at Oswego State University New York. His work explores the boundaries and interplay between two and three- dimensional methods of art making and has been exhibited both nationally and internationally.

Artwork List
Title: Moses
Media: Marker on fabric, bathroom fan
Dimensions: Variable: 4′ x 4′ x 9′
Date: 2011

Title: Hermes and the Infant Dionysus
Media: Marker on fabric, bathroom fan
Dimensions: Variable: 3.5′ x 5′ x 10′
Date: 2011

Title: Portrait of Gordian III, from Gabii
Media: Marker on paper
Dimensions: Approximately 60” x 88”
Date: 2013

Title: Discobolos
Media: Marker on paper
Dimensions: Approximately 60” x 96”
Date: 2013

Title: Innocenti
Media: Marker on Paper
Dimensions: Each Approximately 45″ x 45″
Date: 2016

Title: Head of Colossus
Media: Marker on fabric, bathroom fan
Dimensions: Variable: 2′ x 2′ x 2′
Date: 2016

 

Links
https://www.oswego.edu/communication-media-and-the-arts/benjamin-entner