When you walk into the Fort Lewis College Art Gallery, be prepared for a jolt.
Such is the power of Del Zartner’s suspended sculpture of bodies falling. Titled “Descent,” the cascading and disintegrating figures appear to have been burned. A small pile of black ash rests on the floor.
Zartner’s artist statement tells us little more than that she explores “humanity’s relationship with our environment.”
The piece immediately brought to mind the famous photograph of Falling Man taken on Sept. 11, 2001, by Associated Press photographer Richard Drew. Any image of falling without control is horrendous, and Zartner has added the agony of fire.
If you go
WHAT: Fort Lewis College Faculty Biennial Exhibition.
WHERE: FLC Art Gallery, 1000 Rim Drive.
WHEN: Now through Oct. 3. Gallery hours: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday to Thursday and by special arrangement.
MORE INFORMATION: Visit www.fortlewis.edu/art-gallery, email smtrujillo@fortlewis.edu or call 247-7167.
The biennial exhibition by FLC art faculty members is more than worth a trip to the mesa. Unfortunately, the show closes Oct. 3, unless you make special arrangements to see it. Gallery hours are limited: 1 to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday. It’s something the department needs to seriously address.
In addition to new faculty member Zartner’s powerful piece, works by long-standing faculty are also on display, extensions of projects I’ve noted in earlier shows by core faculty members such as Paul Booth, David Cahoon, Chad Colby, Jay Dougan, Tony Holmquist and Amy Wendland.
Cahoon’s mixed media “Material Study 3” may be small, but it is elegant and carries an important message about fundamentals. In a simple collage, Cahoon has assembled letters, numbers, lines and two film negatives, one sliced in half. Cahoon underscores the importance of noticing basic materials. His Mondrianesque composition quietly says that materials are to visual artists what musical scales are to composers. It’s a thought worth holding throughout the exhibit.
Holmquist’s four mixed-media prints combine components we’ve seen before as he continues his pursuit of musical themes. He places partial photographic images of musicians under varying abstract visual patterns. Often playful, wandering lines, dots, circles and strips of wiry parallel lines dance above cropped photos of musicians and their instruments. Holmquist is a member of the Six Dollar String Band and current chairman of the Art & Design Department.
Dougan continues to explore 3D printing techniques through the lens of memory. “Quilt #3” is an elegant wall sculpture featuring three layers of the Ohio Star quilt pattern. Thin colored wires define the pattern and hover over a gleaming metallic base. Move around; the optics are exceptional. In 2018, Dougan exhibited his first work in the series, “R.W. Quilt.” He’s been examining anew the beautiful geometry his grandmother Rita Wilgenbush practiced throughout her life as an American quilter.
Booth goes big with his 16-block, 40x40 inch massive statement dedicated to the German design conglomerate known as the Bauhaus. Relying on black and red texts on a white ground, offset at an angle, it seems to be an homage to Walter Gropius and other giants of modern design. Booth continues to be provocative as recalled in his poster from 2018: “#noonecares.”
Six years ago, Wendland started her imaginative Botany Series in collaboration with FLC biology professor Ross McCauley. She has dipped into the FLC herbarium archives and combines specimens with her own flights of fancy. A superb illustrator, Wendland conjures old buildings, artifacts and medieval structures to deepen the story of plants. The new “Assumption” intertwines two women from Christian iconography, Eve and Mary, and their flower symbolism. Stand and wonder.
Colby shows two works that extend his semiabstract oil paintings that brim with color and gesture. “Tangled Up in Blue” is a diptych he created in collaboration with his students and his 4-year-old son.
More works by adjuncts Julia Klema, Ya’el Pedroza and Kathryn Waggener are included in the exhibit and worth a long look. Noticing materials in each case can extend an understanding of intentions.
Having covered FLC faculty shows since 1995, the Stanton Englehart era, subjects and styles have changed. Gone are the days when Western landscapes, pristine still-life watercolors and classic ceramic vessels filled the gallery. Today’s faculty members bring a high degree of craftsmanship and intelligence to works that expand the borders of visual culture.
Judith Reynolds is an arts journalist and member of the American Theatre Critics Association.
