In Five Words: Sue Katz

Curated by Debra Claffey

In Five Words is a regular feature of ProWax Journal in which we go literal, lyrical, and poetic. Visual art does not exist in a vacuum, it sings along with poetry and prose, music and rhythm. Each issue we ask our feature artist to comment on one of their works with five single words, chosen to add meaning and highlight intent.

Transfixed, 2017, encaustic, metal, wood, silk, 32 x 56 x 4 inches

pierced

by

ray

of

sunlight

suekatzart.com

Art/Community/Education: The Teaching of Art

Edited by Milisa Galazzi 

This is the second article in a two-part series. In the last issue, using an interview-style format, four teaching artists and I explored various conceptual thoughts surrounding the The Art of Teaching. In this issue, I broadened my inquiry to include the voices of artists who posted responses to my specific question on our ProWax Facebook page. In contrast to the previous theoretical piece, this article is more concrete. The question I posed was this: "What is the most important element of planning a successful curriculum for your students?"

Jane Allen Nodine leading a discussion with students

Jane Allen Nodine: I am a Professor of Art, University of South Carolina Upstate, and I’ve been involved in developing curricula for studio programs for over 20 years. It is my experience that planning, preparation, and organization are crucial to a successful program.  

. Preparation includes educating yourself to the highest level possible in the discipline you will teach. Know your material and attract colleagues of a similar caliber to develop a team of professionals who will establish a reputation in the discipline. 

. Planning includes setting a vision and mission. Look at whom you are serving and set goals that are attainable to your audience. When your audience/students succeed, the reputation of your program will spread and attract growth. 

. Organization is crucial to teaching success. Organization of materials/supplies and space are a must, but instruction must be organized to allow students to grasp the material at hand and process according to their learning styles.

In my teaching, I offer verbal, visual, and kinesthetic experiences in class instruction in order to give each student the chance to succeed. Overall the most important criteria for teaching is, Practice what you preach. Set your standards high, work to reach those goals and apply the principles your are teaching in your work as well as in the classroom. All in all, it comes down to integrity.

Mitchell Visoky: Since I retired from teaching several years ago, your query offers a wonderful opportunity to reflect on how I planned and prepared lessons. Since I was the first art teacher whom students encountered in their education, I felt they needed the necessary basic elements and concepts to build on in later years of their art making. Creativity, my student’s pride in their accomplishments, the ability to see in a new way, and the importance of art in the world were my main goals. 

I always felt it was important to expose my students to a wide variety of media and concepts. I taught everything: drawing, collage, ceramics, painting, printmaking, sculpture, and technology. Having a plan for the month/year was always helpful. I also felt that besides directed lessons, students needed the opportunity to do their own thing while utilizing the techniques and concepts I taught along the way. 

Asking essential questions at the start and throughout a lesson gave significance and meaning to the work. Have you ever…? Why would you…?  Can you…? Where have you seen or experienced…? These are the types of questions that I used when I taught. You would think these would be questions for older students, but I used them when I taught elementary-age children.  They help the whole class to focus on a particular idea.  Also, the concept of planning backwards--that is, starting with the goal first--gave me the direction I needed: What do I want my students to do and learn? How would I get them started, and progress throughout the lesson? Breaking the lesson down to significant steps or procedures gave them confidence. Making art relevant to their lives was a key factor.

Krista Svalbonas: In all of my courses, concept and technique go hand in hand. It's important for me to teach my students not only how to make images but also how to see images and how to interpret them. I give them a healthy dose of contemporary and historical references to do that. We talk a lot about our relationship to images these days and how our tools influence our interpretations of images, and in turn how we can use these interpretations to make conceptually compelling work.

Deborah Kapoor: Broadly speaking, you need to prepare, to really know the subject matter. If possible, know your audience, meaning anticipate their needs and how best to communicate with them. In presenting material, I emphasize context, helping students to see where their work fits in with contemporary art making. Relatedly: I find myself thinking more about left brain/right brain notions, as well as introvert/extrovert needs as a teacher, a la Gardner's Multiple Intelligence lines, which is how people integrate information to learn.

Patricia Spainhour: I taught high school art and art history for 36 years. I’d offer these suggestions:

. Choose assignments that allow for a high rate of success. Students need to practice a learned technique, but feel good about the results. Otherwise, there may not be sufficient interest to move forward

. Stress design and composition within all assignments. Be consistent and point out when these concepts are being met

. Creativity is encouraged for all assignments. I want the concept of the assignment to be understood and to see ability demonstrated, but I also want to see that the work looks as if it were produced by a creative thinker.

Deborah Winiarski: Where I teach at The Art Students League of New York, there is no set curriculum as it's an atelier setting. The classes I teach are mixed media—everything and anything goes. There are students (all adults) working with paint, wood, metal, paper, installation, and any combination of all of these and more. It's a room with tables, easels and lots of power tools. There's no materials list. Students bring to class what they prefer to work with.

In each class I work one-on-one with every individual student. I critique their work, noting its strengths and where it could be made stronger. Discussion centers around the formal aspects of the work and not the story behind it. I advise them about technical, archival and structural issues. We discuss their statement and if their expression of that statement is clear and distinct. We talk about their preferences and how every choice they make matters. That is, how every element in a work should be vital to statement. Art with a capital A, nothing less. We talk about art, art history, and how artists think. We talk about art not being a career or a profession but being a life.

In Five Words: Charyl Weissbach

Curated by Debra Claffey

Balsam Series, 2013, encaustic, metal leaf, UV resin on Belgian linen on panel, each 12 x 12 inches

expansive

embellished

consciousness

calming

movement

charylweissbachfineart.com

Special Section: The Exhibitions of Conference 11

By Deborah Winiarski

There was a lot of art on exhibition during the 11th International Encaustic Conference this year. In addition to Depth Perception, co-curated by Joanne Mattera and Cherie Mittenthal at the Cape Cod Museum of Art, six exhibitions featuring work in the medium of encaustic took place in and around Provincetown – two juried exhibitions, two curated exhibitions, one invitational and one solo exhibition. Here’s a brief recap.

Sense of Place

Juror: Patricia Miranda

Castle Hill Gallery

Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill, Truro

May 23 – June 9, 2017

Sense of Place was juried by artist, educator, and curator Particia Miranda. In the prospectus, Miranda stated that ‘A sense of place is something that we ourselves create in the course of time. It is the result of habit or custom . . . A particular experience of a person in a particular setting . . .” This thematic exhibition included the work of twenty-six artists whose work emanated a ‘sense of place.’

 From left: Diana González Gandolfi; Kelly Steinke, top; Dietlind Vander Schaaf, bottom; 

Lia Rothstein, Shelley Gilchrist, Steven Cabral; Kelly Steinke, top; Julia Dzikiewicz, bottom; Susan Delgalvis, Marina Thompson

Installation photos: Cherie Mittenthal

From left:  Marilyn Banner, top; Karen Karlsson, bottom; Lia Rothstein, Cindy Martin Lesperance, top; Nancy Whitcomb, bottom; Stephanie Roberts-Camello, Michelle Robinson, Laura Moriarty on pedestal, Patricia Dusman, Christine Shannon Aaron

From left: Pamela W. Wallace, Melissa Morton Lackman; Diana González Gandolfi, top; Julia Dzikiewicz, bottom; Gay Schemp, Nancy Natale; Christine Shannon Aaron, top; Mitchell Visoky, bottom; Stephanie Roberts-Camello; Dorothy Cochran, top; Beverly Rippel, bottom; Nancy Whitcomb

Exhibition artists: Christine Shannon Aaron, Marilyn Banner, Binnie Birstein, Steven Cabral, Dorothy Cochran, Susan Delgalvis, Patricia Dusman, Julia Dzikiewicz, Shelley Gilchrist, Diana González Gandolfi, Karen Ruth Karlsson, Melissa Morton Lackman, Cindy Martin Lesperance, Laura Moriarty, Nancy Natale, Beverly Rippel, Stephanie Roberts-Camello, Michelle Robinson, Lia Rothstein, Gay Schempp, Kelly Steinke, Marina Thompson, Dietlind Vander Schaaf, Mitchell Visoky, Pamela W. Wallace, Nancy Whitcomb

_________________________________________________________

The Space Between Shadow and Light

Curator: Debra Claffey

Gallery X

Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill, Truro

June 1-9, 2017

Catalog available

At Castle Hill’s Gallery X, The Space Between Shadow and Light brought together work by five artists who explore monochrome in black and white. In the exhibition catalog of the same name, curator Debra Claffey writes, “. . . in monochrome, we can feast our eyes on value . . . The elegance of rhythms, the strength of contours, the massiveness of blocks of value appear with an amazing force.”

This exhibition took place as part of the Conference Curatorial Program. This annual program encourages artists to conceive and propose an exhibition to be held in conjunction with the International Encaustic Conference.

Gallery X with exhibition banner

Photo: Dora Ficher

Left and Right:  Christine Shannon Aaron; Pat Spainhour, center

Installation photos:  Debra Claffey

Paula Roland, left; Toby Sisson

Debra Claffey

Exhibition artists: Christine Shannon Aaron, Debra Claffey, Paula Roland, Toby Sisson, Pat Spainhour

_________________________________________________________

Photosynthesis

Curators: Sherrie Posternak and Lia Rothstein

Julie Heller East, Provincetown

June 2-8, 2017

Another Conference Curatorial Program exhibition, Photosynthesis, was hosted by Julie Heller East in Provincetown. Co-curators, Sherrie Posternak and Lia Rothstein brought together six artists, including themselves, whose work combines encaustic and photography in various ways. In the exhibition catalog, they write, ”Applying wax to a photograph can exponentially extend the meaning of an image. The texture of the surface and the invitingly sensuous and tactile sheen of the waxes add to the visual and emotional impact of the underlying handmade photographic work.”

From left: Fran Forman, Janise Yntema; Sherrie Posternak, pedestal and far right; Lia Rothstein, center pedestal; Wayne Montecalvo, foreground

Photo: Deborah Winiarski

From left: two by Patti Russotti, three by Fran Forman; Sherrie Posternak on pedestal; 

Janise Yntema, far right

Photo: Patti Russotti via Facebook

Lia Rothstein, Fran Forman, Janise Yntema, Sherrie Posternak

Photo: Lia Rothstein 

Exhibiting artists: Fran Forman, Wayne Montecalvo, Sherrie Posternak, Lia Rothstein, Patti Russotti, Janise Yntema

_________________________________________________________ 

Cherie Mittenthal: New Works

Kobalt Gallery, Provincetown

June 2-15, 2017

Two exhibitions took place this year at Kobalt Gallery in Provincetown. On the ground floor, Cherie Mittenthal, Conference director, had a solo exhibition of New Works, while the mezzanine held the juried show, Alternative Wax – Layers of Facts. Cherie’s solo exhibition included her notable still lifes and Provincetown landscapes.

Panoramic installation view of Cherie Mittenthal’s solo, New Works

Photo: Kobalt Gallery

Above and below: Cherie Mittenthal

Photos: Deborah Winiarski

_________________________________________________________

Alternative Wax – Layers of Facts

Juror: Francine D’Olimpio

Kobalt Gallery, Provincetown

June 2-9, 2017

Alternative Wax - Layers of Facts was a politically themed show juried by Kobalt Gallery director Francine D’Olimpio that included 40 artists from around the globe, each with a unique take on the current political climate.

Panoramic installation view of Alternative Wax-Layers of Facts

Photo: Kobalt Gallery

Top row: Lisa Pressman, Stephanie Roberts-Camello, Mitchell Visoky, Cherie Mittenthal

Bottom row: Kathy Cotter, Beth Johnston, Dorothy Cochran, Deborah Winiarski

Photo: Deborah Winiarski

Top row: Jodi Reeb, Milisa Galazzi, Angel Dean, Jennifer Greely, Christine Shannon Aaron, Dora Ficher. Bottom row: Beverly Rippel, Janise Yntema, Elizabeth Harris, Nancy Whitcomb, Mira White

Photo: Cherie Mittenthal via Facebook  

Exhibiting artists: Christine Shannon Aaron, Binnie Birstein, Edith Rae Brown, Martha Chason-Sokol, Debra Claffey, Dorothy Cochran, Kathy Cotter, Angel Dean, Susan Delgalvis, Patricia Dusman, Julie Dzikiewicz, Dora Ficher, Milisa Galazzi, Jennifer Greely, Penny Gunderson, Ritch Hanna, Elizabeth Harris, Beth Johnston, Susan Lasch-Krevitt, Wayne Montecalvo, Nancy Natale, Louise Noel, Susan Paladino, Samantha Passaniti, Lisa Pressman, Jodi Reeb, Beverly Rippel, Stephanie Roberts-Camello, Ruth Sack, Gay Schempp, Marina Thompson, Mitchell Visoky, Anna Wagner-Ott, Pamela W. Wallace, Deborah Winiarski, Nancy Whitcomb, Mira M. White, Dianna Woolley, Patricia Yanulis, Janise Yntema

_________________________________________________________

Black Tie (optional)

Adam Peck Gallery, Provincetown

June 2-9, 2017

Catalogavailable

As the name implies, Black Tie (optional), an invitational exhibition at the new Adam Peck Gallery space, was in essence a celebration – of the new Adam Peck Gallery space, the new leadership of the International Encaustic Conference and the sixth anniversary of exhibitions by artists working in encaustic to take place at the gallery during the conference.  Indeed, a black-tie event.

View into the Adam Peck Gallery

Photo: Corina S. Alvarezdelugo via Facebook

Top: Pamela Blum

Middle row: Lynda Ray, Anna Wagner-Ott, Adam Peck, Diana González Gandolfi, Susan Paladino. Bottom row: Dawna Bemis, Sherrie Posternak, Dorothy Cochran, Cherie Mittenthal, Sara Mast. Table: Lisa Zukowski, Laura Moriarity; pedestal far right: Karen Frazer

This and two following photos: Deborah Winiarski

Top: Susan Lasch Krevitt

Middle row: Lisa Pressman, Kay Hartung, Kathy Cantwell. Bottom row: Patricia Dusman, Kathy Cotter, Marie-Claude Allen

 From top:  Martha Chason-Sokol, Julie Snidle, Fanne Fernow

Exhibiting artists: Christine Shannon Aaron, Marie-Claude Allen, Corina Alvarezdelugo, Dawna Bemis, Binnie Birstein, Pamela Blum, Karen Bright, Kathy Cantwell, Martha Chason-Sokol, Debra Claffey, Dorothy Cochran, Linda Cordner, Kathy Cotter, Cat Crotchett, Helen Dannelly, Susan Delgalvis, Patricia Dusman, Fanne Fernow, Karen Frazer, Milisa Galazzi, Lorraine Glessner, Diana Gonzalez Gandolfi, Jennifer Greely, Kay Hartung, Jeff Hirst, Karen Hubacher, Susan Lasch Krevitt, Sara Mast, Joanne Mattera, Cheryl McClure, Cherie Mittenthal, Laura Moriarty, Nancy Natale, Louise Noel, Susan Paladino, Adam Peck, Sherrie Posternak, Lisa Pressman, Lynda Ray, Stephanie Roberts-Camello, Paula Roland, Lia Rothstein, Julie Snidle, Patricia Spainhour, Marina Thompson, Dietlind Vander Schaaf, Mitchell Visoky, Anna Wagner-Ott, Charyl Weissbach, Deborah Winiarski, Dianna Woolley, Lisa Zukowski

Special Section: Depth Perception at Cape Cod Museum

Friday, June 30, 2017

An almost 360-degree panorama showing 22 artworks by 19 artists

Photos: Joanne Mattera

Depth Perception marks the second time that an exhibition of Conference participants took place at the Cape Cod Museum of Art.  At Conference 7 in 2013 the museum’s exhibition director, Michael Giaquinto, selected work for an exhibition we called Swept Away: Translucence, Transparence, Transcendence in Contemporary Encaustic. Luminosity was, literally and figuratively, the leitmotif. In Depth Perception, which ran from May 11 to June 4, the museum’s director, Edith Tonelli, invited Cherie Mittenthal and me to curate an exhibition in which dimension was preeminent. We selected 19 artists, including ourselves.

Cherie and I selected freestanding sculptures, wall sculptures, and reliefs that allowed a viewer to walk around, peer into, or look through the work. We also selected a number of two-dimensional works that challenged the idea of how we perceive depth on a flat plane. The work was installed in the museum's intimate Polhemas Savery DaSilva gallery. You can see a complete walk-through on my blog, and view the catalog here, so in this brief report let me share a few images to take you counterclockwise on a (co)curator's walk around the space.  --J.M.

Viewers to the exhibition were greeted by Lynda Ray's optical tour de force, Banded Iron, which looked folded but was flat. Continuing along the wall: Wayne Montecalvo, Say That Again, a print that seemed to provide its own shadow; Susan Lasch Krevitt, three-legged sculpture, Bound Trio;  Cherie Mittenthal, House with Chair

This is the longest wall in the gallery, so from Cherie Mittenthal's House with Chair we see Carol Pelletier, Burned Ground; Jane Guthridge double-sided print, Changing Light 3, on pedestal; Karen Freedman, Ruche 0352.127; Dietlind Vander Schaaf, Vatn 4

Pulling back to view the center of the gallery, we see that sculpture holds the floor. Foreground: Sandi Miot, Purple Biome; Laura Moriarty multipart sculpture on the low pedestal, Runaround; Jane Guthridge, right

With Moriarty (right) and Miot sculptures anchoring the image, we see three walls on the opposite side of the gallery. Since we're traveling counterclockwise, let's start from the right and move left: Steven J. Cabral, Ukiyo 6; Lisa Pressman, Stop It; Joanne Mattera, Chromatic Geometry 40  

Long wall: Nancy Natale assemblage, Passage; three mounted monotypes by Toby Sisson, grow inward like a root III, VI, and II;  Stephanie Roberts-Camello relief, Revision; Lorraine Glessner, Pink Snow; Pamela Blum's two sculptures, Limb #2-prototype and Limb #3-prototype. Left wall:  Janise Yntema painting, Hallwood

 With this and the other Conference-related exhibitions--juried, curated, and organized--we focused on themes. Yes, the work was encaustic, or wax and mixed media, but the ideas went beyond medium. It has been a generation since the first "encaustic show" took place ("Waxing Poetic" at the Montclair Art Museum). Now, finally, we are seeing concept assume primacy over material, even while material remains twined to the concept.

Studio Visit: Howard Hersh, San Francisco

Edited by Paula Fava

“I count myself lucky in many ways, but one of them has been with studios," says Howard. "Since moving to San Francisco in 1998 I’ve had three. The first was a top-floor, 2200-square-foot space overlooking the dry docks. The second was a live-work loft that I converted to all-work and then did well selling it.

Howard Hersh last year taking a step at the base of his legendary wax-dripped sawhorses

“The third and current studio for the last 10 years, at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, is perhaps my favorite. The 850-square-foot ground-floor space has good proportions, cross ventilation, privacy, quiet, and views of the skyline, water, Bay Bridge, and ships.  Last but not least, my rent has been a fraction of the market rate due to an old lease that I assumed. The 250 artists here at the Shipyard put on two massive Open Studio events every year. The Shipyard is now beginning a large redevelopment project. A new studio building is promised, which will provide the artists a continuing presence in the community.

Long view of the studio

Below: Howard's foggy-day view of San Francisco Bay from just outside his studio at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, a decomissioned facility that is home to 250 artists' studios

The famous sawhorses, which supported years of encaustic painting; 
the artist standing before his current work

“Regardless of what’s new in the studio, it’s a work in progress. The configuration and arrangement of the studio evolve with my needs. Specifically, my 14-year-old sawhorses have finally left the studio. They showed in Oakland gallery for two months and were sold. I’ve been transitioning away from encaustic for some time and just don’t have a need for them. 

“Especially in these times, I so value my studio as a place of refuge and solace where my creativity can flourish. May we all have such a place, artist or not.”