Creative Thresholds

by Eleanor Adair

I’ve always been interested in how self-consciousness alters our identity, so my art naturally becomes a way of exploring the different ways we define ourselves through others. I’m heavily drawn towards figurative art, and find the human form the best place to look at the extremities and disruptions that push us beyond the predictable and make the body talk. I tend to be an instinctive painter, so that I work in the moment rather than from plans. I think this means the art is less censored, less concerned, even if it’s more chaotic or absurd. With figurative art, the artist plays a role in filling up space that challenges the contained, precise and predictable forms we’re so often presented with. Once eyes start moving outside of those shapes they become exciting again. The bodies that materialise in my own work are an alternative account of the routine human form; bodies for eyes that like to wander.

Line Dance, oil on canvas 60x75cm

Line Dance 2, oil on canvas 60x75cm

Line Dance 3, ink on paper 20x30cm

Lemon, oil on canvas 100x75cm

Lemon 2, oil on canvas 100x75cm

Swans, oil on canvas 100x75cm

Angels, oil on canvas 60x75cm

Floorboard, oil on canvas 50x60cm

Head studies 1,2 & 3, felt pen on paper each 20x30cm

Yellow Evolving, pen on paper 30x40cm

Yellow Evolving 2, pen on paper 30x40cm

On Pink, pen on paper, each 20x30cm

Bluemen, pen on paper 30cmx40cm

Blueman 2, pen on paper 30x40cm

Eleanor Adair was born and grew up in Glasgow, Scotland. She has exhibited internationally including London, Paris, Edinburgh and in the US. She has no formal art training and currently lives and works in Edinburgh, Scotland.

by Ashley Sauder Miller

These Two, 10 X 10″

At the End, 50 X 35″

But this Belongs to Us, 5 X 8″

Pulling Things Together 1, 11 X 14″

Bind and Separate, 48 X 50″

Quick Fix, Under the Rug, 56 X 60″

Cover/Veil (Blue), 30 X 40″

Here Again, 12 X 12″

Little Yellow, 4 X 4″

Pink Rug and Chair, 28 X 60″

Interior Spaces (My Memory is Fuzzy), 30 X 50″

Interior Spaces (Cover/Hide), 48 X 50″

Ashley Sauder Miller holds an MFA from James Madison University (2007) with an emphasis in painting and drawing.  She actively exhibits her work, maintains a regular practice  from her home studio, works as the director at local art center, and is the primary caregiver for her four children.

In my most recent work, I am particularly aware of the demands of motherhood, preservation of memory, and repetitious patterns of thought and behavior. Consistent in my work throughout the past number of years are my children’s mark making, textile design, Biblical text and stories, and a deep rooted passion for painting, drawing, and making.

Website: http://www.ashleysaudermiller.com/

Instagram: @ashleysaudermiller

Facebook: Ashley Sauder Miller Art

by PK Donson

Backyard

Carpetbaggers

Diva

Erp!

Hung the Moon

Lost

Musical Swamp

Personality

Reflection

Rhino in the House

Sleeping Elk

Super Cow

Swan Walk

Untitled

Untitled

PK Donson (1954 Anniston, AL)

PK’s work investigates the pixels by exaggerating certain formal aspects inherent to our contemporary society. She creates intense personal moments masterly created by means of rules and omissions, acceptance and refusal, luring the viewer round and round.

PK’s whimsical photos directly respond to the surrounding environment and she uses everyday experiences as a starting point. Often these framed instances would go unnoticed in their original context.

By applying abstraction, she approaches a wide scale of subjects in a multi-layered way and likes to involve the viewer in a way that is sometimes emotional. The results are deconstructed to the extent the meaning is shifted and possible interpretation becomes multifaceted.

Her works are saturated with obviousness, mental inertia, cliches and bad jokes. They question the coerciveness that is derived from the more profound meaning and the superficial aesthetic
appearance of an image, with a conceptual approach. PK makes works that can be seen as self-portraits. Sometimes they appear idiosyncratic and quirky. At other times, they seem typical by-products of American super abundance and marketing.

PK currently lives and works in Davidson, NC.

Facebook: PK Donson
Google Plus: +PK Donson
Website: www.pksphotos.com
Email: pdonson@gmail.com

by Shirley Benton

Acrylic on Board, 2 X 2 ft

Acrylic on Board, 2 X 2 ft

Acrylic on Board, 4 X 4 ft

Acrylic on Board, 2 X 2 ft

Acrylic on Board, 2 X 2 ft

Acrylic on Board, misc

Acrylic on Board, 4 X 4 ft

Acrylic on Board, 4 X 4 ft

Acrylic on Board, 4 X 4 ft

Acrylic on Board, 2 X 2 ft

Acrylic on Board, 2 X 4 ft

Acrylic on Board, 2 X 3 ft

Acrylic on Board, 2 X 4 ft

Acrylic on Board, 2 x 4 ft

Acrylic on Board, 4 X 4 ft

Artist: Shirley Benton

Creating abstract art is an inward journey for me and my work is continually evolving. By staying in the moment and with very little planned, the creative process takes on an energy and motion all its own. The tactile experience of opening the paints I’ve selected quiets my mind and the layering of color provides a way to express a range of emotion from simply playful to much deeper complexity and tension.

I am a self-taught artist whose creative production revolves around exploring emotion and expression through color and form. Using simple tools and a lot of experimenting, I apply and blend multiple layers of acrylic paint on hard board which is then framed and ready to hang. Delving into the unknown with each new piece is filled with play, celebration and inner revelations. It is an act of possibility and discovery for myself. Sharing my work with others who bring their own unique interpretation enhances a connection and creates additional layers of discovery. The personal and the shared, the unknown and the final outcome are what keep me in the studio.

My work has been displayed at The Grand Impromptu Gallery, Allied Arts Center, Artistic Expression Gallery, Four Winds Café, Ruby’s Collections, Artifakt Signature Gallery, Obscurities and Tacoma Art Slam. Juried art award for “Gemini” from Allied Arts Center.

email: shirleybentonart@gmail.com

facebook: shirleybentonart

facebook: Small Studio Big Paintings

website: shirleybentonart.com

Instagram: shirleybentonart

by Emili Yi

Watercolor Emotion Series

The Watercolor Emotion Series aims to explore the relationship between emotion, color, shape, and context through water media.

“Optimistic Thought,” Watercolor, 30cm X 40cm

“Emotional Man,” Watercolor, 30cm X 40 cm

Mind Manifestation Series

The Mind Manifestation Series comprises a collection of paintings that were started and completed during the summer of 2013 using watercolors and charcoal. The inspiration for this body of work stems from the Emili’s exploration of the relationship between mind, image and actionable experience within material existence.

“Mind,” Watercolor and Charcoal, 30cm X 30cm

“Mind 2,” Watercolor and Charcoal, 30cm X 30cm

“Mind 3,” Watercolor and Charcoal, 30cm X 30cm

Expressive Symbolism

“Caged Dancer,” Digital Media (Acrylic), 15″ X 15″

“Caged Dancer” uses symbolism, a diverse color palette and fluid line stroke to express a story of irony and confined fancy. It marks Emili’s first work since emigrating to the United States and in digital media.

“Red,” Digital Media (Acrylic), 15″ X 15″

“Red” is an exploration of emotion expressed in symbol and color to represent context, mood and atmosphere.

Visual Syntax Series

“Visual Syntax,” Digital Media (Acrylic), 15″ X 15″

“Visual Syntax” is an abstract painting which contemplates the evolving function of human visual syntactic processes during a time of emerging information and media technologies.

“Escapade,” Digital Media (Acrylic), 15″ X 15″

“Escapade” continues to explore human mindscape in a time of transition. The image presents a visual landscape rich in organic shapes and colors inspired from nature. The aim of the image is to present an abstract concept based created from shapes inspired from nature and contrasts from that of mathematical abstraction and straight line.

Watercolor Bodies

These images work to present the human figure through color and the virtues of watercolor media.

“Watercolor Body 1,” Watercolor, 30cm X 30 cm

“Watercolor Body 2,” Watercolor, 30cm X 30 cm

“Watercolor Body 3,” Watercolor, 30cm X 30cm

Homage to Picasso

“Bullfight,” Watercolor, 160cm X 110 cm

“Bullfight” was created to pay homage to Pablo Picasso during Emili’s Junior year in art school.

Photo Realism

“Woman,” Digital Media (Acrylic), 32″ X 24″

“Woman” demonstrates Emili’s skill sets in Portraiture work.

“Leopard,” Digital Media (Acrylic), 24″ X 16″

“Leopard” demonstrates Emili’s skill-sets in Portraiture work and photo-realism.

Emili Yi was born in Liaoning, China February 24, 1987. At an early age Emili displayed artistic ability and was enrolled into a private art school by her parents at the age of six. In 2001, Emili trained under the tutelage of Professor Song Wei who is a practicing professor at the Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts and widely recognized as a wood-block painting and print master. In 2007, Emili studied at the Yi Yuan Private Art Academy and in 2008 enrolled into the Northeast University Fine Arts Program. She graduated in 2011 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree Major in Oil Painting. Emili moved to the United States on July 4, 2013 and currently lives in Walnut Creek, CA.

Website: http://www.emiliyi.com/

Twitter: @emili_yi

Facebook: Emili Yi

by Riin Kaljurand

My interest lies in paint itself. Paint as medium is as tangible and formable as clay and can be manipulated and approached as sculptural material. My paintings are collaged from dried layers of acrylic or household paint by manipulation–by scraping, folding, cutting and building up the surface. Of personal fascination for me beside its surface is paint’s physical quality and its formability. Dried paint is highly flexible and formable and can be used multiple ways. Some of my paintings are built up by collaborating collage techniques and traditional knitting. Paint can also be manipulated in different drying stages. For example, a layer of acrylic paint left for drying overnight gives it a quality which allows it to be drawn into. Because I approach paint as sculptural material I choose to hang paintings further from the wall to give them object like, sculptural format. They often take on three-dimensional forms with varying textures and colours. Colour of paintings are usually taken from original photos from ‘Soviet Woman’, but it is not as intense. For me paint is not embellishment on canvas, but rather a physical material in its own right.

I was born in former Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, what was a part of Soviet Union. The era has always fascinated me with its paradoxes and peculiarities. Imagery of my paintings is taken from Soviet Estonia’s magazine ‘Soviet Woman’. According to communist ideology of work and importance of working, in this magazine women are represented as hard working comrades of Soviet society. ‘Soviet Woman’ created and propagated femininity according to communist ideology. Judith Butler has said: ‘Masculine and feminine roles are not biologically fixed but socially constructed’.

Builderwoman 2

Builderwoman

Cafeteria

Class Photo

Cow

Fifty Shades of Grey

Grass is Always Greener on the Other Side

Head in Clouds

Hitchockian

Knitting

Lady in Green

Leftovers

Red

Snow

Stereotype of my Mother

Photographer: Margus Valt, www.margusvalt.com.

Artist: Riin Kaljurand

by Artsexcreations

Artsexcreations is a collaborative series of artwork by Bruce Neeley and Lesley Bentley. We call it ‘artsexcreations’ because our art is like babies from the commingling thoughts in our personal mind-theatre whereby we share our collaborative view of the world as how we desire to see and create it. Life can be difficult and painful at times and we hope that our art shares our love and humor with the world. Bruce Neeley chooses pieces from Lesley Bentley’s drawings and performs his artistic artsex digital magic to produce the final pieces you see displayed.

Expanded Thought

Ethereal Escape

I’m Lost, I’m Scared, I’m Rock Hard

Modern Child Psychology

The Descent

Pocahaunted

Priestess of the Heavens

From Bruce: Lesley and I are a good fit on a psychological level, and my process fits in well with our approach. I take from a file of work Lesley sends me and work with it as though it were my own. We really are about the acceptance of the other. We work to create a piece of art for the greater good. It is about trust and respect at a level comparable to a an intimate relationship. It’s a very unique experience to be working so closely with another person’s work. I would say even spiritual. My strongest motivation is to please Lesley, and as with any work, give the public in general a memorable experience. I have never met Lesley in person, although we have talked. I think it would be fun to have a solo exhibit and meet there for the first time. This project has been a joy for both of us. We both have a good sense of humor and as artists we just enjoy the play. We share a sandbox.

Original work by Lesley for “Fantasy and Reality”:

“Fantasy and Reality” (finished collaboration):

Fantasy and Reality

This is the original work Lesley sent to me which I added to “Dat Bitch Got Crabs”:

“Dat Bitch Got Crabs” (finished collaboration):

Dat Bitch Got Crabs

Learn more about Artsexcreations:

Website: https://artsexcreations.wordpress.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/artsexcreations

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/artsexcreations

Artist Bruce Neeley:

I was primarily self-taught. I had 3 solo exhibits of oil paintings at various alternative spaces in my early 20s. In my 30s I attended the Kansas City Art Institute via scholarship. My course of study was drawing and painting. It has been about two years since I started working in a digital medium, although most of my work has its origins in drawings and paintings. Usually I draw, photograph it, and work on its manipulation electronically.

Awards and Exhibits to my credit include:

1995 Annual 5 State Juried Exhibit in Salina KS. Jurors award by Charles Moffet, Senior Curator of Painting from the National Gallery in D.C.

1997 Annual 5 State Juried Exhibit in Salina KS. Jurors award by Robert Workman, Senior Curator of Painting at The American Federation of Arts in New York.

1998 Solo large scale drawing exhibit ( Torments of the Self ) at the Mingunbach Arts Center in Lindsburg KS.

2010 14th Annual Northeast Arts Juried Exhibit in Kansas City. Award for best 2D work.

2012 16th Annual Northeast Arts Juried Exhibit in Kansas City.

2013 17th Annual Northeast Arts Juried Exhibit in Kansas City. Award for best 2D work, and Award for best themed.

2014 18th Annual Northeast Arts Juried Exhibit in Kansas City.

2015 19th Annual Northeast Arts Juried Exhibit in Kansas City. Award for best 2D work.

Currently preparing for all digital solo exhibit here in Kansas City of next year.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Neeley808
Twitter: @Breton1924

Artist Lesley Bentley:

I am a self taught artist from Houston, Texas. I grew up drawing with my mother and aunt who were artists. My drawings come from dreams and recurring thoughts about energy, manifesting thoughts, creation, recreation, healing, desire, humor, love and animals. I almost always include my face in my drawings. Sometimes I include the face of my deceased aunt. I think art heals people, introduces new thinking patterns and improves humor which increases joy in your life.
In addition to Artsexcreations I have my personal drawings on the following links:

https://fefelovemindtheatre.wordpress.com/
https://twitter.com/fefelove99

by Christopher Hutchinson

sculptor/model maker Joe Fig http://uploads.neatorama.com/images/posts/989/67/67989/1387704872-0.jpg

Ownership of Material

There is a tendency by artists to believe that they have ownership privileges given to them due to the fact that they have been using a certain material for a long period of time. Artists come to believe this delusion when their work has not yet achieved an honest dialogue. Instead, they rely heavily on specializing in a material or a specific skill. When one’s work is in this underdeveloped state, everything appears to threaten his/her creative process. This artist will often have a bunch of “if I had the right ______” or “if I could afford______” and especially “I have been using this for years now–how can someone be using this material without my consent?” The truth is that it was never their material to begin with, and everyone has access to it. To believe that because you ordered this material from some catalogue or Sam Flax that somehow this is your unique material/process is just not valid. To what end are you seeking ownership of a specific medium? Many artists can afford better materials and still not achieve an honest dialogue within themselves about the work.

http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9756607.ece/alternates/w620/38-paint-gt.jpg

This is not encouragement to go and appropriate your fellow artists’ work materials, methods, processes, or ideas. In fact, it’s the opposite. The time spent appropriating is time spent away from the honest work necessary for an artist’s own development. This is where the focus of ownership should be, not on a particular material or skill. In many ways appropriation is an avoidance of the diligent work necessary to become a master of one’s own narrative. Each and every material added to your piece either clarifies or masks that narrative. That should be the primary concern with choosing a medium/material–not because it’s shiny, red, large, or because it’s been used it for a number of years. The question is: how well does this material/skill clarify this current narrative?

Ownership of Narrative

Another major illusion by many artists is the ownership of a narrative so broad that it cannot be owned. These artists have been doing this specific subject matter for years but only achieve getting swallowed up into a larger narrative that has nothing to do with them at all. This is easily uncovered by challenging why they are interested in this topic at all. After the challenge it soon becomes readily apparent that this was merely a reactionary or conversational interest that can only be used in decoration. There is no way to craft your own narrative out of something like slavery, jazz, identity, and the sensationalized black body. If used, these narratives usually end up in a very generic commemorative type of work that references external commodity–not an artist’s own interest.

An artist’s job is to make a narrative clear, as well as present, responding to this moment. Certainly artists must practice their craft, often by copying the masters. But then he/she must use that understanding to push the past to this present. “This work reminds me of _________” is not a compliment. It means that artist has not done enough to separate and master his/her own narrative.

http://media.mlive.com/chronicle/news_impact/photo/9195824-large.jpg This Nelson painting is called “Safe at Home.” It’s part of a collection of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Mo. KC’s Jackie Robinson is depicted sliding under the tag of Cleveland’s Quincy Troupee

Ownership of the figure

Again a serious delusion and hypocrisy occurs when a painter paints an image that is not his/her own. The irony is that these same artists, because they use technical skill to appropriate the image from photo to painting, believe they have achieved a more honest dialogue than a Richard Prince. In truth Richard Prince’s direct appropriation is more honest than the copy of an image painted and decorated with one’s so-called individual style. While your technical skill may place that image out of copyright law danger–that narrative does not belong to you.

Eduardo Kobra: Tupac and Biggie
https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7312/11377371203_0fcac63794_b.jpg

When an artist begins an artwork in which an image or narrative does not belong to them, it is impossible to make that image or narrative, through said artist’s own manipulation and style, into honest ones. The artist has now created a massive obstacle to his/her own truth. Many artists who practice this never actually get to that truth, not recognizing that they themselves are the cause of their own stagnation. They mostly succeed at making knick knacks of popular iconography: horses, chickens, American flags and the like.

Honesty

Artists that develop their own honest narrative are not paranoid about fellow artists coming into their studios. They are not paranoid about people appropriating their technique, because it will be so obvious that the appropriator must cease and desist. Even if the appropriator doesn’t feel any guilt, he/she cannot sustain their art-making anyway because that dialogue was never theirs. Many artists do not continue to create after art school because all along the way technique, material, and imagery got in the way of their ability to access their own narrative. Artists that ignore their personal narrative are doomed to reduce their work to notions and gestures, something that looks like art but only succeeds as empty decoration.

Christopher Hutchinson is an accomplished Jamaican conceptual artist, professor and contributor to the art community as a writer, critic and founder of the nonprofit Smoke School of Art. He is a Professor of Art at Atlanta Metropolitan State College and has been featured as a lecturer including prestigious engagements at University of Alabama and the Auburn Avenue Research Library. For two decades, Chris has been a practicing artist. His works have been exhibited in internationally recognized institutions including City College New York (CUNY) and featured at the world’s leading international galleries such as Art Basel Miami. He has always had an innate passion for creating spaces where Africans and people of African descent contribute to an inclusive contemporary dialogue—ever evolving, not reflexive but pioneering. This requires challenging the rubric of the canon of art history, a systemic space of exclusion for the Other: women and non-Whites, and where necessary he rewrites it. He received his Master of Fine Arts Degree in Painting from Savannah College of Art & Design, Atlanta and his Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Alabama.

by Dwijen Gupta

When 3 is Company

Artist: Dwijen Gupta

Dwijen Gupta, painter from Kolkata, India, has been painting for over 25 years and has to his credit several solo shows as well as group shows in India and abroad. Dwijen Gupta completed graduation from Govt College of Art & Craft, Kolkata, and has been in the field of fine art for over 25 years and specialized in large water colours and Acrylic on Tussar ( tasaar – special silk) cloth, Paper and Canvas and Mix Media. Awarded as the Best Watercolour Artist, he had accolades and honours.

“Unification of woman with nature” is the basic trait of Dwijen‟s world-outlook. Through his deft artistry, Artist Dwijen Gupta forces the viewer to deliberate on his female-centric compositions. The strong “Indian‟ feel is inflected through an active interplay of facial features as well as postures and gestures enhancing the mood of his frames. What attracts one’s attention is the simplicity of his women. Not surprisingly his “women‟ seem to be cast in a timeless capsule where her position seems defined either as a mendicant, singer, musician or a devotee far removed from this world, introspecting on the act at hand, singing or making music. The figurative compositions elaborated in water colour and mixed media; express the unheeded, unspoken and unsung” as viewed by critics. His latest collection of artworks is titled “Abstraction of Poetical Tunes”.

Contact: dwijen07@gmail.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dwijen.gupta.5

by Mehmet Şakir Ünlü

Ahşapkari–the name I’ve  given it–is a work of art composed of natural colored wooden pieces. The color of the pieces are entirely natural; they are not painted, stained, or otherwise colored. In the creation of Ahşapkari, wooden pieces of different species and colors are generally cut into 6 mm. cubes. The design for the artwork is drawn on a wooden counter and the cut pieces are glued to their appropriate place with white furniture glue. To form representations of things like hair, moustaches, eyelashes and beards, wooden veneer is used vertically in 6 mm. cords. After pasting, filling varnish is put on the painting. When it dries, it’s rubbed by sandpaper. The last step is the application of  clear varnish as a means of protection.

AHSAPKARI ART’S DOCTRINE AND PURPOSES:

– Trees, to increase interest in nature,

– Evaluate the waste wood pieces,

– Drawing attention to the waste product,

– Develop innovation in the arts, To increase interest in the arts,

– Provide peace of mind in the human body and brain,

– Learn to work patiently,

– To reach from the parts to whole,

– To explain the importance of all parts (There is a place for each of us in the World, Do not underestimate yourself  ),

– Develop three-dimensional thinking….

Artist: Mehmet Şakir Ünlü Mehmet Şakir Ünlü has had a love for wood from the days of his childhood playing with tops, wooden cars, and willow whistles. As he grew beyond the simple toys of childhood, he didn’t outgrow his love for the material that seems so basic, yet can be so exotic. Looking around his native Turkey, Mehmet also noticed the rich history of mosaic art that can be seen. He was struck by the notion that the mosaic tile is really a pixel, the most basic element of what modern technology strives to duplicate in high definition screens. So, taking the richness of the cultural past around him, and combining it with his lifelong love for wood, Mehmet began creating mosaic art using wood of various types, without coloration from paint, stain, or dye. He calls his art “Ahsapkari,” a name inspired by the traditional craft using silver wire called Telkari. His manipulation and placement of wood creates truly unique pieces. While no additional color is added to the wood, the pieces are sanded and shellacked to bring out the natural color and deep beauty each piece holds. To achieve the vibrant colors seen in his creations, Mehmet uses a variety of woods, ranging from tropical/exotic woods such as Ayous, Wenge, Purple Rosewood, Green Rosewood, Movengiu, and Teak; but he does not shy away from using small pieces of ordinary wood that others may see as waste or scrap.

www.ahsapkari.com www.facebook.com/Ahsapkari
www.twitter.com/AhsapkariSanat
https://instagram.com/ahsapkari/
http://ahsapkari.tumblr.com/
https://plus.google.com/+MehmetŞakirÜnlü
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa-5Fdyk73I7X-nPyc7B22A