Calling Haines Photographers!

The Sheldon Museum invites Haines photographers to submit one or two of your photographs taken in the Chilkat Valley for exhibit in the Museum’s Hakkinen Gallery from March 2nd - March 31st, 2012.  Submissions must be already framed or mounted for hanging, and are due no later than February 27th.

For more information, contact Karen Meizner, 766-2366 or e-mail, exhibits@sheldonmuseum.net.

The ongoing Six Week Spotlight Program is a temporary art exhibition series launched in April of 2007. Our goal is to provide a way for local artists to put together museum-quality shows in a local venue and to “bring greater awareness, appreciation, knowledge and understanding of history, art and culture to and for the people of the Chilkat Valley.”

Local artists are invited to submit proposals for a six-week long exhibit of their work in the Elisabeth S. Hakkinen Gallery. Exhibitions are selected based on the evaluations of a guest juror.

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PROPOSALS ACCEPTED
for 2012 Six Week Spotlight Exhibits

December, 2011
PRESS RELEASE

The Sheldon Museum & Culutral Center is proud to announce the artists awarded exhibits for the 2012 Six Week Spotlight series. Because we only received 4 entries, this years shows were not juried and all applicants were accepted. Two 2013 applicants have also been accepted and two more will be selected from our next open application. For those of you who didn't get your application in, please apply during the Museum's next SWS application in the coming season.

Eligibility:
Open to all resident artists of the Chilkat Valley who have not had an exhibition at the SMCC within the
past four years. Exhibitions may include more than one artist. Click on the link below for an example application.

Download Six Week Spotlight Application

Please contact Karen Meizner or Jerrie Clarke at 766-2366 for additional information.

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UPCOMING SIX WEEK SPOTLIGHT ARTISTS

2012

• Carol Clifton
  April 6th - May 19, 2012
• Bill McRoberts
  May 25, - July 7th, 2012
• Klukwan
  July 13th - August 25th, 2012
• Tresham Gregg
  August 31st - October 12th, 2012

2013

• Tim Shields
  Summer 2013
• Donna Catotti
  Summer 2013
  

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PAST SIX WEEK SPOTLIGHT ARTISTS

2007

• Donna Catotti
• Alexandra Feit

2008

• Beverly Schupp
• Rod Weagant
• Suzanne McCollum

2009

• John Svenson
• Kerry Cohen

2010

• Amelia Nash & Andrea Nelson
• Sharon Svenson & Debbie Knight Kennedy
• Sarah Cohen
• George Figdor

2011

• Tamsen Cassidy & Joe Parnell
• Jim Heaton
• Ron Horn
  

 

SERIGRAPHS BY DONNA CATOTTI:
26 Years of Hand-Printed Originals
April 2007
www.artstudioalaska.com

Born in Bennington, VT in1950, Donna Catotti has been painting, drawing and creating since she was a young child, often visiting the Sterling Clark Art Museum in Williamstown, MA, where she was inspired by Adolphe Bouguereau’s 19th century painting “Nymphs and Satyr”. After a semester of fashion design in NYC in 1968, she returned to Florida to earn a Bachelor of Design with high honors from the UF Dept. of Architecture in 1973. Moving to the Sierra Nevada high country in California, she began doing free-lance commercial art to support her love of backpacking, skiing, and river-running in the Grand Canyon. It was during this period that she learned the silkscreen process from sign-painter friend Bob Shedd. Focusing her creative efforts on fine art in 1979, Donna opened her first public showing of watercolor paintings in 1980 at the Pacific Grove Art Center on the Monterey Peninsula.

With her art career well underway, Donna commuted between California and Haines from 1986-1994, while she and artist/husband Rob Goldberg hand-crafted their home studio and gardens from the forest on the Chilkat Peninsula, where they now raise two boys, Aihan and Martin.

Besides serigraphy, Donna currently works in pastels and oils, and is exploring sculpture for bronze casting. Her work can be seen at the Juneau hospital and the Alaska Marine Highway building as well as in galleries throughout Alaska and in California.

ALEXANDRA FEIT:
Installations
August 2007
www.alexandrafeit.com

Alexandra Feit moved to Haines six years ago. She has a master of Fine Arts Degree in both Painting and Sculpture and merges her interests in 2-D and 3-D work in her installations. "Installations" features work designed to stimulate thought about what art is and can be. The show offers art as a fun & playful experience while continuing the aesthetic traditions of light, space, color and texture.

The artist draws her inspiration from many sources, including the following artists: Eva Hesse, Jessica Stockholder, Sol Lewitt, Robert Ryman, Agnes Martin, Martin Puryear, Yayoi Kuzama, Richard Serra, Annette Messager, Wolfgang Laib, Andrea Zittel.

Installation art became a movement in the last decades of the 20th century and has fully blossomed now in the beginning of the 21st century. The art addresses the entire experience of moving through space, often using multi-media. Sometimes it’s designed to fit in a particular space, other times the work itself creates the space. “Telephone Doodle” and “Shimmer” were designed specifically with the Elisabeth S. Hakkinen Gallery space in mind.

BEVERLY SCHUPP:
Pastel Paintings
May 2008

Often seen around the Chilkat Valley at her easel painting the local landscape, Beverly Schupp was born in 1949 and grew up in Banksville, New York. She earned a B.S. in Art Education from the State University of New York at New Paltz and taught art at Putnam Valley Middle School in Putnam, New York before moving to Alaska in 1977.

In Alaska, Beverly first worked for the Takotna Community School as an art teacher, classroom aide and substitute teacher. From 1982 to 1990, she was an itinerant art teacher, traveling by bush plane to village schools in the Iditarod Area School District. She received multiple “Percent for Art” commissions for schools at Takotna, McGrath and Shageluk. After completing her Alaska elementary school teaching certificate in 1992, Beverly taught in several villages until 2004 and also taught drawing and painting classes for UAF (University of Alaska, Fairbanks) McGrath Rural Education Center.

Over the past twenty-two years Beverly has continued honing her painting skills through university classes, summer arts festivals and various outdoor workshops in watercolor, acrylic, oil and pastel painting held in Denali National Park, the Brooks Range, New Mexico, Washington, and Maine.

Beverly and her husband, Marc Miller, retired from bush teaching and now make their home in Haines where Beverly focuses on her second art career.

She has exhibited works in several Haines galleries and the local branch of First National Bank, Alaska, and has participated in University of Alaska Fairbanks student shows, the Southeast Alaska State Fair and in Alaska Watercolor Society juried shows in Fairbanks and Anchorage.

ROD WEAGANT:
Oil Landscapes
July 2008
www.artiqueltd.com

Rod Weagant first came to Alaska in 1966 to serve in the Army at Fort Richardson. He quickly fell in love with everything about the state and eventually found himself working for the National Park Service in Anchorage. In 1973 he accidentally wandered into an exhibition of paintings by some of the great Alaska landscape painters. He was most impressed by the power of Sydney Lawrence’s work and the simple honesty of Ted Lambert. The outdoor life of these painters so appealed to Rod that he immediately quit his government job and entered art school.

He earned his BFA in painting from the University of Washington in 1978. His intention to return and paint Alaska was sidetracked to Eastern Washington, where he met and married his wife Jane and raised a family. In 2000, he and Jane fulfilled the dream of returning to Alaska when they moved to Haines. Rod loves the small town atmosphere and the proximity to great landscape subjects. The combination of the fishing industry, beaches, mountains, glaciers, alpine tundra and the Yukon interior provide more than a lifetime of painting inspiration.

Rod’s mentor, the Harlem Renaissance artist Jacob Lawrence, advised him to “accept the challenge about which he felt most passionate.” Consequently he has spent the last 25 years trying to communicate the wonder he feels about our landscape, by balancing the academic formalist background with the pure emotional response he feels when surrounded by the natural world. He travels the Yukon, Alaska, and the western United States painting and conducting workshops in plein aire painting. He has had over 40 one man exhibitions and has participated in numerous group shows including 3 museum shows benefiting the Nature Conservancy.

He is represented by Artique, LTD (Anchorage), New Horizons Gallery (Fairbanks), Allison’s Gallery (Manson, WA), Confluence Gallery (Twisp, WA) and Extreme Dreams Gallery here in Haines.

SUZANNE McCOLLUM:
Incubating
September 2008

Suzi taught herself to draw in dreams as a child (true story). She attempted formal artistic training in college but did not take well to it, preferring to learn the hard way.

She has made countless baubles, doodads, puppets and fairies to support herself in her travels over her years of wandering and began to paint in earnest when she found Haines. She has been painting for ten years now and has just begun to delve into ink and quill.

Suzi calls her watercolors her “tourist trade” and credits her mother with the idea of painting something people may want to buy. The acrylic paintings however are products of her heart.

Her artistic philosophy: “Color follows light and a line always knows where its going, though I never know where I’ll end up.”

She is showing 39 paintings for her 39 years (“its actually 40, but who’s counting”).

JOHN SVENSON:
Woodblock Retrospective
March 2009
www.extremedreams.com

John Svenson has lived and painted in Southeast Alaska for more than two decades. As a mountain guide and climber, John is known for his unique translation of the mountain image through painting and woodblock printing.

"While sorting through and “rediscovering” many block prints of the past for this show, I was amazed at the time I have dedicated over the years to this unique and exciting medium.

As with anything, if you stick with it there is a necessary evolutionary process. The artist has to become familiar with the uniqueness of their chosen materials learning how to combine them and produce a pleasing end result.

This is true with block printing. Your “paper” is either a piece of wood or linoleum which you cut into with knives or chisels. Then you have the inks and papers of which there are hundreds to chose from.

After saying that, and as I look at these prints which I produced over a 25 year period, I see high points and low. There are brilliant moments combined with what I’ve referred to as “Drooling geek” phases, when the brain almost shuts down and motor nerves take over. These can tend to be my personal favorites.

In the world of professional art I have established my reputation as a watercolorist, which my mentors approached with a decisive and bold style using large brushes and very wet paper. I have always, and continue to enjoy the looseness and spontaneity of watercolor although over the years I’ve tended to take breaks and work with other mediums; pen & ink, woodblock, video, Mountaineering, hot glass, to basically “dry out” and gain fresh perspectives.

At this point in my art career (it’s taken 40 years!) I have whittled my focus down to basically 3 disciplines; watercolor, woodblock and molten glass. Knowing I will never give up any of these 3 I have been, almost subconsciously, working them together resulting in extremely challenging creations that have me, not only excited, but freaked at times! In this exhibit I have included examples of the glass connection in addition to a few local kids block prints, which are all inspirational.

Climbing steep rock, can’t forget that, it’s the best!
IN RETROSPECT
Thin air and avalanches are for the birds, I’m outta’ there."

-John Svenson

KERRY COHEN:
Unfolding
May 2009
www.kerrycohen.com

"The work I produced over this past winter comes straight from my heart. I am grateful for the quiet solitude our long winters provide, as they give me space for introspection and time to explore my art.

I have always loved the raw earthy nature of clay, and it has been exciting to work with it in a more spontaneous manner.

My Previous work has usually been representational and executed through a safe and controlled process. Learning to acknowledge and express the deeper voice within myself made room for an organic unfolding of shapes and textures, mirroring the natural world.

Traditional Japanese Chiyogami and Washi papers provide my work with a translucency, vibrancy of color, and a quality of softness that is not available in clay. I find that the contrast of mediums: hard and soft, opaque and translucent, strong and fragile, hold a particular beauty.

Each piece in this show was created in response to my own experience of growth and marks a transformation in my creative process.

I hope these works speak to you in some special way."

Kerry Cohen

AMELIA NASH & ANDREA NELSON:
Curious / Vicarious
April 2010

“Curious/Vicarious” was a life-changing experience for us. Being self-taught artists, working around each other has been revelatory. We share so much—similar aesthetics, ages and worldviews, a love for oddity and antiquity— yet turn out wildly dissimilar work. The differences are inspiring. We hope the viewer is, in turn, inspired to cultivate the curious in their own life, and to revel in the infinite possibilities of personal expression.

 

Andrea Nelson:  Assemblage

I am predisposed to the possibility that treasure exists all around me.  I see it in rust, dirt, bones, corny figurines, nickel toys, diner menus and other relics that wear the weight of their past.  These materials present themselves most everywhere I go, both when I am seeking them and when I am not; only very rarely are they purchased new. 

After finding objects that are interesting independently, the challenge is incorporating them into a bigger whole in a way that highlights instead of diminishes their uniqueness.  Like the number of words in a poem, no object can be disposable to the piece and no object can be missing.  While a few pieces unfold quickly, some of my assemblages grow and change for years before they are committed to adhesives; and some of these are deconstructed regardless if they don't reflect a compelling essence once finished. 

Implications of the objects' pasts, personal experiences, color schemes and other relationships between objects are some of the themes that guide each assemblage.  The pieces also explore how framing and method of display alter the significance of objects, finding inspiration in museum exhibition and scientific handling of "specimens."   Most often, intuition and subconscious drive the ship and only after completion does the gestalt present itself.

I hope my pieces invite viewers to study objects they might usually overlook:  what is considered too different, too common or outright disposable.  Each assemblage creates a space for less obvious forms of beauty to exist.

 

Amelia Nash

Artists are ambassadors of the subconscious, translating their obsessions into a language that others can then explore and reinterpret. My work is a direct window into my overactive imagination, which is primarily concerned with the old, frivolous and forgotten. Utilizing simple materials and many layers of detail, I embellish on practices, objects and themes from eras past, creating microcosms meant to feel as familiar and authentic to the viewer as they do to me.

In my animal portraits, reality takes a backseat to the idea that love can transcend time, spatial relations and species. This series is ongoing. My paper cutouts allow me to indulge the need for detail in a three-dimensional fashion, and deal variously with themes of obsolescence, mythology, voyeurism and nature’s opulence.

DEBI KNIGHT KENNEDY:
Superheroes & Goddesses - the seven virtues and their eclectic collection of friends

SHARON SVENSON:
In and Outside the Box
June, 2010
www.debiknightkennedy.com
www.extremedreams.com

Debi Knight-Kennedy    

In my early 30s I came to know this happy truth about myself, that I am a carver.  I started out by whittling driftwood with a Swiss Army knife.  I liked it.  I asked my brother, also a carver, for some practical advice.  “Two things,” he said, “find some carvers to hang around with, and learn to keep your tools sharp.”  So I did. 
     Within a few weeks I met Duane Pasco, a master carver and teacher in the Northwest Coast Native style tradition.  He became my friend and mentor, teaching me in equal measures carving skills and life skills.  And he introduced me to puppets.  He invited me to perform one of his creations, a beautifully carved self portrait puppet, in a traditional longhouse ceremony.  I was bitten, smitten and thoroughly enchanted.
     Fast-forward 15 years to Haines, Alaska.  About this time I had recently changed gears from Northwest Coast carving and was primarily making mixed media figurative sculpture using my carving skills and combining them with an earlier passion for textiles and a brand new fondness for found objects.  I actually hadn’t thought of puppets in years.  Then along came Byrne Power and the Lilliputian Puppet Sideshow.  My life hasn’t been the same since.  I seem to dream, live and breathe puppets:  making them, writing scripts, performing…   For me, puppets are proving to be a perfect means of communication and expression, not to mention providing some of the most fun I have ever had!  But I also see them as fine art.  I love seeing them hanging around my studio and it occurred to me that I might set out to make a series of puppets specifically as ‘objects of art’.
     Inspired by a piece of an old boot, my first Super Hero, ‘Truth’, was born.  Hey, what about doing a female version of the “Fantastic Four”.  Maybe the “Fabulous Four”… But who would be next?  I happened to come across a cast off, broken, metal mesh purse and ‘Justice’ was soon to follow.  About here in the story the ‘super powers’ employed by my Heroes turned into Virtues, of which there must be seven, right?  The project expanded.  Along came ‘Compassion’ followed by ‘Wisdom’, ‘Feminine Divine Wisdom’ to be exact.  Oh my, the fine line between Super Hero and Goddess seems to have been crossed.  Next came ‘Love’ then ‘Beauty’ and ‘Grace’.  As usual, I followed them, never knowing who was coming until well into the piece.  A lot of fun and surprises were to be had along the way.
     And that is my story of the Seven Virtues.  Their eclectic friends actually came first over the course of a two year experiment I called, “Get up every morning and make whatever comes up.”  In total, this show represents three years of my most creative work to date.  I truly appreciate this opportunity to share it.

 

Sharon Svenson

     Art comes from the soul, which is received through the heart and is perceived by the brain.

     “Mosaic: a surface decoration made by inlaying small pieces of variously colored material to form pictures or pattern.” (Webster’s Dictionary)

      There has been a gradual and natural evolution in my work from weaving rugs and tapestry to mosaic.  What they have in common is the fascinating process of building up small areas of color.  Woven tapestry first captured me with its potent and saturated hue.  This is not unlike mosaic in which colorful, textural and reflective fragments are assembled and arranged giving birth to a picture or pattern.  This is not a cerebral process, it’s a visionary one, painting with fragments.  Nipping pieces and fitting them together to create an image is both relaxing and mentally stimulating.  It is easy to get lost for hours in the process.

     In and Outside the Box represents for me a metaphor of going beyond what I have been creating for several years, such as functional art mirrors, to exploring and pushing myself beyond the functional.  Also, literally using the box as one of the forms to mosaic into shrines or altars.  Mosaic art can be applied to every surface imaginable.  I feel I have just begun to explore the possibilities.

SARAH COHEN:
"On My Mind"
Glass & Sculpture
July 2010

I enjoy using many different sculptural media.  More so than being defined by glass or metal or paper, my work is driven by the process through which it is created.  I often work in a very tedious and meticulous manner.  I am attracted to small details and repeating shapes and textures.  My involvement with the materials is as essential to me as the final product.  I must touch and be part of each element in the work.  As the piece grows and changes I too am growing and changing along with it.  At its conclusion I see the work not as an inanimate object, but as a form that is now charged and vibrating with the energy that I have woven into it.