the Shape of Exyerience gwimes Tour
Occasionally events, experiences, or works of art cut through the cob
webs of habit so effectively one is available to see the world again with fresh eyes.
Such is the case with the Faculty Exhibition at the Morrison Gallery in the library.
Each of the professors, Nancy Mendes, Victor Viser, Linda Mylin Ross,
and Samuel Winch, offer a vision so artfully conveyed we are able to glimpse a
view of the world through the prism of their experience.
Nancy Mendes both opens and closes the show with a full burst of color.
In "The Table," one is immediately met with a still life throbbing with vivid inten
sity. At the reception given for the artists on February 13, Mendes said that she
began the painting a long time ago. She let the painting sit, unfinished, until she
received a vase of red flowers. "That's it," she said, and after years she finished it
in a matter of hours. One thinks the painting did not just sit, but accumulated
power, latent and coiling like a spring, until it could release its energy.
Drawing on her expe
rience as a member of a family
of African and Portuguese her
itage, Mendes tells stories in her
paintings. One story, "A Family
Reunion", portrays a family
gathering at the beach. The
painting vibrates with color so
exquisitely the people come
alive and one feels the heat of
the beach, captured in a moment
of eternity.
chosen from amount 100 s for
their ability not only for how they express themselves, but also for how they com
pare with one another.
Viser's muted tones contrast with Mendes' vibrant ones. His Earth Series
consists of soft-edge photographic landscapes, some of which have been slightly
digitally altered. Based on actual locations they have a dream-like quality. One
feels that the harnesses of the world have been filtered out, leaving either a cher
ished memory or a view of where one would like to be.
At the reception Viser commented that the small size the photographs are
intended to allow the viewer to enter into the picture. His device works like a small
portal, where one gets closer and closer and, "voila!", a world opens up.
Winch's photography of the objective world contrasts with Viser's por
trayal of the subjective one. Where Viser uses landscapes to express feelings,
Winch shows us the rich color and texture of the external world. True, Winch picks
exotic locations to show us India, China, Singapore but his true strength lies in
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Ticket Sale Dates & Locations
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• By Ilene Rosenberg
Class of December 2002
his ability to capture moments of ironic incongruity about the world. For instance,
in "Woman Turning a Bamboo Birge,". a fragile-looking woman commandeers a
huge raft by herself.
"Scenes present themselves to me, I just take the shot," Winch says, dis
missing the notion that he has an active role in the creative process. If that is the
case, his talent lies in his ability to instantaneously recognize the expressiveness of
a scene, and capture it. His creative faculties may seem so natural to him that he
can determine whether a photograph needs selenium-toned Gelatin-silver print or
inkjet print, the way Michael
Jordan, for example, decide
between a rim-rocking dunk or a
lay-up
Ross also uses an intu
itive approach toward her materi
al, which in her case is charcoal
and paper. She says she likes the
"rawness" of charcoal, the "direct,
unmediated, visceral quality" of
the medium. Her landscape scenes
are drawings that show off char
coal at its expressive best, that is,
as capable of a vast range of shade
between black and white, of vari
ous textural surfaces, and of its
ability for creating mood.
Fully in command of her
medium, Ross puts her talents to
work to show the threat to the
environment by encroaching
development. While her works do not show development actually taking over, they
do show danger as a palpable presence throughout the landscape. By extension,
Ross explains that her drawings can also be seen as a potential loss of individual
ity by the machinery of production and the superstructure.
However one interprets her drawings one interpretation given to Ross
is that her works are life affirming by virtue of the power of forces at work.
It is worth mentioning that the gallery itself is a contributor to the success
of this exhibit. The rectangular room is wide enough to allow each artist enough
space, yet narrow enough to hold the contrasts between them together. The clarity
of the spare lines of the room, and the skylight, shows off the works to optimum
effect. Praise must also go to Ross, who in addition to participating in the exhibit,
is its organizer. Decisions to place what where are an element in the coordinated
effect of the exhibit.
Occurring as it does in the depths of the harsh winter when living for the
most part is driven indoors and underground, this exhibit urges one to
awake from the isolation of winter's hardened bark and dried root.
Before the exhibit closes on March 21, the official Spring Solstice, give
yourself an opportunity to feel a personal Spring Solstice, and to view
other people's visions come to life.
One student reads Dr. Samuel Winch's profile prior to
the artists' reception.