Artist Talk

Sunday June 28 at 1pm
Free! Please come!

Also, we will be open extended hours from 1-5pm- don’t miss your chance to see this incredible show!

Read it here: http://www.oregonlive.com/art/index.ssf/2009/05/review_dinh_q_le_at_elizabeth.html

Sunday June 28 at 1pm
Free! Please come!

About the Show:

“Bloodline: a women’s story is a body of work in progress. A study of self and humanity inspired by my own life and story. I attempt to begin each painting with an empty mind. Focusing on my internal system I allow my body and hand movements to mimic attitude and experience. My color palette, the application of paint, and compositional decisions are chosen moment to moment in a feeling bound process. Each story, shape, figure arises from my subconscious. The allowance of each image stems from an abandonment of my mind self. This occurs as I lend my body and consciousness to something much bigger, stronger and purer than I can comprehend. It is with these feelings of inspiration in hand that I give myself humbly to my own guidance and will less understanding. The results of this study have become a storyline of paintings reflecting my experience of being a woman in present day time, a child in the past, and a human being with an ancestral linage that is both extensive and world based.
It is my hope that through the sharing and exposure of this process that I will inspire in others a sense of awareness that will support and lend them insight as they travel on their own paths of personal healing and growth.”

~ Jolyn Fry

About the Artist:

Jolyn Fry was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania May 22 of 1972. Her parents were tobacco farmers, and she and her younger siblings spent much of their childhood exploring and working on their 89 acre farm. Jolyn showed a passion for art from an early age on and her family encouraged her to pursue her creative interests. After graduating from Penn Manor High School she attended Pennsylvania School of Art and Design in downtown Lancaster City. She graduated with honors in 1996. In February of 1997 she packed all of her belongings into her station wagon and drove cross country to Portland, Oregon . She currently works as an artist and teacher at Radius Community Art Studio on SE Morrison Street, and lives in Southeast Portland with her partner, Miles Uchida, and their children, Sorrel and Hazel.

LINKS:

http://jolynfry.com
http://lochlomondmusic.com
http://wunderpantsband.com/

Artist Talk & Slide Lecture
May 31st at 1pm

About the Show

Animals are slaughtered in mass daily without much thought by the consumer. This is especially prevalent in western cultures, where the process is purposefully cloaked & sanitized.

In the fall of 2008, Micki Skudlarczyk was awarded an artist in residency in Mexico at the Fundacion Gruber, Jez. During her time there she developed a relationship with the small slaughter community in & around the village of Cholul, where she experienced the process of animal slaughter from start to finish first hand.

Well Finished investigates the artist’s philosophical & emotional struggle between her reverence for the animals that we eat & her dismay at the pain & fear they sometimes experience at the moment of death.

Funded in part by an LIAEP Grant from the Kansas City Artists Coalition.

	Visit www.mickiskud.com/blog to see some of the work Micki produced in Mexico.
	CLICK HERE to learn more about the artist’s experience leading to the creation of this work, including pictures and more.

Big thanks to DJ CLEAN, Rob Gray (AKA silly rob childish), and Ashia for playing at the opening!

About the Show

“A single photograph can tell many stories. The photographer–who either captures a moment or manufactures one–has one story, and each person who sees that photo has their own. Some of these stories are true, and some of them are better than the truth.

These photographs were made with the truth in mind. These are authentic moments. These paintings were made with as little knowledge of that truth as possible. The painter was free to tell his stories, unburdened by the photographer’s stories. A photo, a title, and a few points where the lives of the painter and the photographer’s subjects intersect–this is the inspiration and the interpretation. Fiction and non-fiction. Pictures speaking in pictures. People will talk.”
~ Mark Wickum

” Interpreting someone else’s work is a careful procedure. The mere act of collaboration removes each artist’s ego a bit. With this unique collaboration - working from different mediums, with little knowledge of the subjects, was a difficult but growing experience for me as an artist. The gestures of the people and the colors of the photos instantly struck me as painterly works created with sincerity, vision and forethought. The personal nature and sensitivity of Mark Wickum’s photos is truly the essence of “People Will Talk.” Our mission for this show is really about conversation, spoken and unspoken. The paintings and photos of people, with words around them (gestures of private moments, vast colorfields surrounding a distinct figure, small smiles, childlike innocences, and grandfatherly wisdom) all create a body of conversations between many types of people.

My act of redefining these stark works was purposely based upon my ignorance of its subjects. I know there are many “true” stories in these photos, but I don’t really know them.

With almost no subject history, I approached these photos as beautiful cast images of color, candid pictures of frozen intimate strangers to redefine in my style, creating in an honest but playful fiction. I made these folks my own, keeping the color base backgrounds consistent while interjecting thoughts and culture upon them, trying to understand them, while retaining a bit of fact within the fiction. I tried to stay true to Mark’s works, his friends and relatives, as they talked to me too (as People Will Talk), creating subconscious dialogues, funny situations, moments of compassion- all reflecting these often too brief, but always beautiful instances of everyday life.”
~ Chris Haberman

About the Artists

Mark Wickum has been taking photographs of friends and family for the past few years in an effort to make some poetry out of the candid snapshot. Before picking up a camera, he just found himself staring at people a lot…and wishing he owned a camera. He avoids flashes, studios, posed shots and comparisons with better photographers. He invites flaws, mistakes, questions and authentic moments. These are his pictures, but you get to make up the stories.

Chris Haberman is a local painter, writer, curator, and musician. At first glance, Haberman’s friendly, colorful painting style downplays some of the real world subject matter that drives the work, but on a closer reading of the words, the paintings swell with meaning and depth, revealing the hidden subtext, humor, innocence, cruelty and dirty thoughts that permeate our human existence.

Listen to Chris talk about making work, showing, curating, and the future of Portland’s emerging scene with Eva Lake on Art Focus (KBOO 90.7 fm) LISTEN HERE

Links:
Chris Haberman
Mark Wickum

check back for more info and images soon!

I’m looking for two things currently: 1) decently paid, emotionally non-destructive & legal part-time work & 2) a benefactor to pitch in money to help Launch Pad stay afloat.

If any of you can offer either of these things or leads, please please do so.

Thanks!

benpink@launchpadgallery.org

Curator and artist Eva Lake will undoubtedly uncover some interesting details about the Love Show, Launch Pad and who knows what else….

Listen to the interview HERE