Post by Moon Seeker on May 19, 2008 11:32:40 GMT -5
By Susan Skorupa • sskorupa@rgj.com • May 18, 2008
Traditional and contemporary styles and media are combined in a new exhibition at the Wilbur D. May Museum to showcase a group of American Indian Great Basin artists.
The Earth and Sky Exhibit showcases eight artists who work in media as diverse as beads and gourds, watercolors and acrylic paints.
"It's important to think of it as diversity of mediums and composition," said Reno artist Ray Valdez, show organizer and participant. "It shows the history and the talent. Some are folk artists, some are art schooled. All are painting about our nativeness."
The eight artists included in Earth and Sky are:
Ben Aleck, a resident of the Pyramid Lake Reservation living in Wadsworth, works in natural materials to create three-dimensional graphite renderings with paint or ink, and acrylic paintings.
Phil Buckheart of Reno uses color and geometric designs to produce paintings and drawings in different media, representing Indian spiritual beliefs and lives.
Burton Pete, who lives in the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, works with traditional media such as beadwork, arrows, hand-carved dolls and hand drums.
Dean Barlese lives in Nixon and works with natural and modern materials to create traditional and contemporary beadwork.
Jack Malotte of Duckwater currently paints mostly abstract landscapes.
Jean LaMarr of Susanville makes limited-edition prints, paintings, mixed media pieces and murals, and conducts graphics workshops.
Ray Valdez of Reno is a painter, muralist and teacher working with watercolors and acrylics.
Tia Flores is a local gourd artist specializing in culturally themed sculptures made with heated tools and flame.
Valdez has shown his work at the May Museum in Rancho San Rafael Regional Park and was asked back this year.
"It was a successful show. I liked the place," he said of the earlier exhibition.
For the new show, "I thought rather than do it myself it was time to show as a group," Valdez said.
From various shows around the area over recent years, Valdez came up with this group of artists. The exhibition includes 38 pieces.
"I like the title -- 'Earth and Sky,'" Phil Buckheart said. "It's kind of a warm feeling for Native Americans. An outdoorsy feeling. I think it's good for an exhibition like this so the local community can come together and view this and see what natives are trying to display, and how they're developing from traditional to modern to a contemporary feel towards their art."
"Earth and Sky," he said, might introduce people in the community to American Indian artists and it might encourage other artists to come forward with their work.
Buckheart had done artwork at first for his children. Then he set it aside for a while until he retired and returned to painting and drawing.
"They learned a lot of things past, and through personal experience and can express feelings through all art media," he said of American Indian artists.
Working in different media from acrylics and oil to watercolor and inks, gives Buckheart a chance to get his hands in everything, feeling something different with each piece of art.
"It keeps me energized as far as not staying in one thing," he said.
"I'm trying not be so traditional," he said. "I want to be more modern and contemporary with the way I feel. That's why I do a lot of geometric designs, kind of abstract, but real clean and defined. There are a lot geometric designs in Indian design. I'm trying to get out there -- get the feeling of 'slap it on.' One of these days I'll go wild like that, like Jackson Pollack."
From only a short distance, the three beadworked pictures Burton Pete displays in the exhibition look like paintings. It's only on closer inspection that the vibrant colors and clear design appear as beads.
"Wadsworth, Nevada," a depiction of four people -- one in traditional Indian dress -- in a early 1900s-model auto driving past a two-story building has stories behind it. The building is a schoolhouse in Wadsworth built in the late 19th century.
"I always had an interest in that old school house," Pete said. "People went to that school, but right now it's falling apart slowly. A friend of mine was going to restore it. I don't know what happened. It might be a way to restore it through beadwork."
Pete began doing beadwork in about 1969. He had collected beads for years and decided it was time to start using them.
"They do take a while," he said of the effort involved in bead artwork. "'Wadsworth' took about four months, but I was not shooting for anything -- I just made it. I worked when I wanted to."
For pictures - see URL:
news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080518/LIV/805180308/1056/ENT
If you go:
The Earth and Sky Native American artists exhibit is from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday; 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday through July 31 at Rancho San Rafael, Wilbur D. May Museum Gallery, 1595 N. Sierra St. Free admission. Details: 785-5961
Traditional and contemporary styles and media are combined in a new exhibition at the Wilbur D. May Museum to showcase a group of American Indian Great Basin artists.
The Earth and Sky Exhibit showcases eight artists who work in media as diverse as beads and gourds, watercolors and acrylic paints.
"It's important to think of it as diversity of mediums and composition," said Reno artist Ray Valdez, show organizer and participant. "It shows the history and the talent. Some are folk artists, some are art schooled. All are painting about our nativeness."
The eight artists included in Earth and Sky are:
Ben Aleck, a resident of the Pyramid Lake Reservation living in Wadsworth, works in natural materials to create three-dimensional graphite renderings with paint or ink, and acrylic paintings.
Phil Buckheart of Reno uses color and geometric designs to produce paintings and drawings in different media, representing Indian spiritual beliefs and lives.
Burton Pete, who lives in the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, works with traditional media such as beadwork, arrows, hand-carved dolls and hand drums.
Dean Barlese lives in Nixon and works with natural and modern materials to create traditional and contemporary beadwork.
Jack Malotte of Duckwater currently paints mostly abstract landscapes.
Jean LaMarr of Susanville makes limited-edition prints, paintings, mixed media pieces and murals, and conducts graphics workshops.
Ray Valdez of Reno is a painter, muralist and teacher working with watercolors and acrylics.
Tia Flores is a local gourd artist specializing in culturally themed sculptures made with heated tools and flame.
Valdez has shown his work at the May Museum in Rancho San Rafael Regional Park and was asked back this year.
"It was a successful show. I liked the place," he said of the earlier exhibition.
For the new show, "I thought rather than do it myself it was time to show as a group," Valdez said.
From various shows around the area over recent years, Valdez came up with this group of artists. The exhibition includes 38 pieces.
"I like the title -- 'Earth and Sky,'" Phil Buckheart said. "It's kind of a warm feeling for Native Americans. An outdoorsy feeling. I think it's good for an exhibition like this so the local community can come together and view this and see what natives are trying to display, and how they're developing from traditional to modern to a contemporary feel towards their art."
"Earth and Sky," he said, might introduce people in the community to American Indian artists and it might encourage other artists to come forward with their work.
Buckheart had done artwork at first for his children. Then he set it aside for a while until he retired and returned to painting and drawing.
"They learned a lot of things past, and through personal experience and can express feelings through all art media," he said of American Indian artists.
Working in different media from acrylics and oil to watercolor and inks, gives Buckheart a chance to get his hands in everything, feeling something different with each piece of art.
"It keeps me energized as far as not staying in one thing," he said.
"I'm trying not be so traditional," he said. "I want to be more modern and contemporary with the way I feel. That's why I do a lot of geometric designs, kind of abstract, but real clean and defined. There are a lot geometric designs in Indian design. I'm trying to get out there -- get the feeling of 'slap it on.' One of these days I'll go wild like that, like Jackson Pollack."
From only a short distance, the three beadworked pictures Burton Pete displays in the exhibition look like paintings. It's only on closer inspection that the vibrant colors and clear design appear as beads.
"Wadsworth, Nevada," a depiction of four people -- one in traditional Indian dress -- in a early 1900s-model auto driving past a two-story building has stories behind it. The building is a schoolhouse in Wadsworth built in the late 19th century.
"I always had an interest in that old school house," Pete said. "People went to that school, but right now it's falling apart slowly. A friend of mine was going to restore it. I don't know what happened. It might be a way to restore it through beadwork."
Pete began doing beadwork in about 1969. He had collected beads for years and decided it was time to start using them.
"They do take a while," he said of the effort involved in bead artwork. "'Wadsworth' took about four months, but I was not shooting for anything -- I just made it. I worked when I wanted to."
For pictures - see URL:
news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080518/LIV/805180308/1056/ENT
If you go:
The Earth and Sky Native American artists exhibit is from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday; 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday through July 31 at Rancho San Rafael, Wilbur D. May Museum Gallery, 1595 N. Sierra St. Free admission. Details: 785-5961