# Art Critique March 2014

- Link: https://www.reekersart.com/art-critique-march-2014/
- Published: 2014-05-02T18:07:31+00:00
- Author: billy bates

This month we had a very eclectic group of art which often provoke the greatest 
amount of discussion, especial focused on art making and processes.  All participates
seem to draw from nature, but in much different ways of expression and feeling.

[[Donna presented a group of ‘ghost prints’ of waterfalls, or an idea of a waterfall.
These are built works developed from ink jet transfers, mono-printing in ink and
drawn over repeatedly as she is working the idea.  We found these ‘prints’ to be
very original and speak most about the self and how one feels within the elements
of water, plant life and earth.  Yet on the other hand, they seem very solitary,
or without human presence which highlights the idea of an untouched ebb and flow
of nature. These are very delicate work and bode very well as a series, the difficulty
will be in the way she chooses to present them; framed, floated, cut edge or broken
and viewing level.

[[The manner in which Donna approached the work harkened back to a series of monoprints I did of Yellowstone. I had been working on a series of views from a car and the original photo inspired me to explore the image further. It is of an elderly women walking toward the hot springs in Yellowstone where steams and the mountain environment are active in the background.  Most of the group was interested in process and how one can create a plethora of feelings just by the act of making the image; there are a total of eight of them (you can see all eight at [http://reekersart.com/012YosRevisit.html](http://reekersart.com/012YosRevisit.html)) each inspired
and pushed the other; this is the beauty of the mono-print technique.

[[Jared will be going to Holland and so in preparation did a series of images of
streets named after cities in the Netherlands and kitschy images of windmills from
miniature golf courses.  These are highly conceptual ideas and sparked a discussion
of pre-actual-post effect of the residency he is to experience.  If one has never
been out of the United States, one tends to have a preconceived, and most often 
narrow view, of the world outside, but once experienced in world travel those ideas
fade away and are replace (as in my case) with a more thorough and enlightened idea
of the world outside our familiar existence. We are sure this experience will play
well into his future work.

[[Thom brought a cubist painting focused on Global Warming (GW) and its direct killing
effect on trees. The work is executed with a cubist style and the color was of a
mostly bright warm palette.  The wonderful colors used seemed to contrast against
the pessimistic view of our effect on the world’s climate and the subject trees.
To bring the harsh impact from GW back into focus we suggest applying more aggressive
mark making around the subject thereby imposing violently on the trees as opposed
to the current more playful marks that frame them.   On the other hand, Thom’s whimsical
style (note the smiles and lollipop trees in the composition) may better be served
to turn the pessimism of GW to the optimism of recover (may be asking a lot) and
thus perhaps giving an ironic tone to the work.

These critiques continue to provoke ideas and bring into focus the environment in
which we all live in, and most importantly for us, how this is translated into art-
making

## Comments

### By: Donna Champagne

- Link: https://www.reekersart.com/art-critique-march-2014/#comment-33
- Published: 2014-05-02T19:21:31+00:00

Nice review! I especially liked how you brought up the emotional context of the 
work in each case. This aspect tends to fall by the wayside sometimes in our efforts(
mostly mine?) to analyze art.