2008-2009
AIR Program
2008-2009 Exhibits
Enrichment Classes
Teaching
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Artist-in-Residence
Program Each year, a committee of art educators, local artists and community members will identify potential artists in a variety of media and invite them to apply to the program. Five or six residencies will be awarded annually and presented to the community as a series. Selections are made based on the art form and the artist’s scope of experience, body of work, and demonstrated ability to work effectively with community members and students.
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Erick
Pichardo: Oil and Acrylic Paintings A visual storyteller, Erick Pichardo speaks in the bright colors of his Caribbean homeland, but is sure to leave room for others to experience his art on their own terms. “Everyone’s story is different,” he says. “Many people like to see right away what I am thinking and know what it means. But I encourage them to take a minute and make a little trip through the canvas to make their own interpretations.” Whether painting narratives like “Sembradores,” a reflection of how hard sugar cane workers toil for almost no money, or “Dancing Over the Moon,” honoring women and their struggle to gain a place in society that provides equality, hope and freedom – Pichardo has something to say. Possessed with a profound respect for humanity and the need for human harmony, Pichardo hopes that people come to a more peaceful place through his art. Although always part of his belief structure, this respect was reinforced after a violent experience in his native Dominican Republic. Severely injured, Pichardo came to Grand Rapids to recover several years ago and stayed. Since moving, Pichardo’s whole life has changed – the culture, the language, and he jokes, especially the weather – but he believes that his is a story that can inspire others to keep reaching for their goals. “It’s about hope and fear and desire,” he says. “No matter what happens to you in life, you have to wake up positive. What you put out there is what comes back to you. Have faith that good things will happen.” An abstract impressionist dabbling in surrealism, Pichardo works almost exclusively in series. He begins by brainstorming an idea – perhaps a commentary about what is happening in society or an anecdote about a relationship. He sketches multiple pieces, almost like a storyboard on his chosen theme. After selecting from the sketches, he paints with both oil and acrylic on canvas, creating a texture that brings his work alive. Pichardo’s paintings most often have people in them; he seems drawn to them, or perhaps they are drawn to him. “Body shapes just follow me,” he says. “Even when I try to take them out, they seem to appear as if to say, ‘I’m here. Remember me. I am part of your story.” Content to remain in Michigan, Pichardo remains
influenced by the vibrant colors of his native culture. His paintings
have a celebratory feel, reflecting a magical symbolism he experienced
in the Caribbean. “In the Dominican Republic, we are influenced
by our African heritage and also by Catholicism. This mixing of beliefs,
this Caribbean flavor – it’s who I am, it’s my
story,” he says. “All people together, that’s the
rainbow that makes life good.”
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Erick Pichardo |
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Lori
Kammeraad: Mixed Media Painting on Copper Lori Kammeraad’s art is a reflection of her environment – always changing, ever evolving. An accomplished weaver, sculptor and pastel artist, she set all other media aside a few years ago to pursue her current passion of painting on copper. “I fell into it and just kept exploring,” she says. “I sold all my yarn and dove in.” Her style and technique are a result of extensive experimentation and inspiration from the abundant nature around her. Living and working in her home on the Thornapple River “about 10 feet from the water,” she has always felt connected to the outdoors and is amazed by the beauty just outside her window. “My paintings are what I’ve seen for all the years I’ve lived here,” she reflects. “I love the trees, the water, the changes of the seasons; it’s all there when I create.” A self-taught painter, Kammeraad began working with pastels on suede matte board, which helped her develop the techniques she now integrates in her copper paintings. Each piece starts with a copper plate, which Kammeraad buffs by hand to enhance the surface. After sketching a design in pencil, she begins painting. She incorporates variegated colors of copper leaf, applies patinas and mica powders, and finishes with an automotive clear coat. “The mica gives my paintings an added dimension,” she says. “I’m fascinated by the layers of transparent color peeking out beneath other layers and love the iridescence from the light refracting from each piece.” Whether painting trees or leaves, which are her favorites, or doing a series on fish, Kammeraad’s pieces rarely are planned ahead. “A lot of the time, I need to just step back, let the piece speak to me and tell me what it wants,” she says. Kammeraad usually works in multiples, often painting 20 or more pieces at a time. “It’s an adventure to see what will happen – both
in individual paintings and in my art as a whole,” she says.
Always looking to the next endeavor, Kammeraad is exploring the use
of copper and plexiglass with acrylic. She says painting on plexiglass
is very different because it requires working in reverse, putting
down the top layer first instead of last. “I love discovering
the possibilities – that’s what keeps me energized,” Kammeraad
says, already relishing the thought of her next evolution.
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Lori Kammeraad |
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Laura
Hutton Goodrich: Mixed Media Masks Mask maker Laura Hutton Goodrich has brought characters alive for the Grand Rapids Civic Theater and the Grand Rapids Ballet through the use of her unique talents for almost 30 years. “It’s completely creative,” she says, noting that each of her pieces is a visual interpretation of the character. Because performance needs vary and she likes to experiment, Laura’s technique and media are always changing. She uses materials like Mylar for shiny pieces, but often employs plain paper stock. On a quest to improve ventilation for ballet dancers, she began using imported embroidery netting, which she says works wonderfully. Laura also uses an airbrush to enrich detail work on the surface when a structure is complete. Although every piece is unique, Laura strives for a consistent quality throughout her work. A self-proclaimed perfectionist, she is never satisfied, suffering through each detail and often doing things over and over again to get everything just right. Laura studied fine arts at the Art Institute of Chicago, the American Academy and the Chicago Academy before moving to California, where she participated in art shows at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. After moving to Grand Rapids, a new venture began when she received a frantic call for an artist to do an assortment of animal masks for a production of Tarradiddle Tales. Laura was persuaded to take on the challenge. More volunteer work painting scrims and backgrounds at the Civic Theater followed. When the Civic Theater’s “Wizard of Oz” production needed an impressive five-foot-high wizard head that could speak and blow smoke, Laura designed and had it constructed. She went on to create six horse heads for Equus, a horse for Hello Dolly, and Nana, the family dog for Peter Pan. Several ice hockey teams commissioned her for their mascots, as did WOOD for the creation of Willie Wood. The Grand Rapids Civic Ballet commissioned her for the Nutcracker and mice for the Nutcracker Ballet, followed by Alice for the ballet Alice, (based on “Alice in Wonderland”). Recently, Laura has become interested in the
brilliant colors and shapes of insect heads. When modeled, they “take on a life
of their own, and have a lot of my life inside of them,” she
says.
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Laura Hutton Goodrich |
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Tom
Clinton: Printmaking Printmaker Tom Clinton is fascinated with patterns; his art is comprised of repetitions of elements essentially the same, yet each one asserting its own personality. “No matter how much you try to contain the process, there’s room for a lot of originality,” he says. “It’s reflective of how we are as people, constantly traveling a continuum, trying to strike a balance between conformity and individuality.” That balance has been a lifetime theme for Clinton. An attorney for many years before deciding to pursue his interest in art, Clinton says he has always been an analytical thinker. He likes order and the challenge of working within a set of parameters, whether the boundaries are created by legal regulations or the size constraints of a 24-inch press bed. As an artist, he gravitates toward the expression of abstract concepts through geometric patterns. “Like law, it’s very logical,” he says. “But also like law, the creative part is figuring out novel methods of approach within the limits.” The collograph process used by Clinton is a form of intaglio, which encompasses all printmaking processes in which an image is created through recesses and textures in a printing plate. Traditional intaglio uses acid to create designs on a copper plate; Clinton prefers to use an Exacto blade and cardboard. He scratches lines and builds textured layers, and then adds ink and buffs it out. The ink clings to the rough spots and the recesses, and transfers onto damp paper when the plate is sent through a press. Clinton’s use of color is secondary to the design, but he tends to be drawn to muted earth tones. Interested in adding dimension to his work, Clinton began coating some of his prints with layers of acrylic polymer, a varnish that is flexible and rubbery. He then peels the paper off, which leaves the ink pattern on the plastic. By pulling the pliable ink piece across a stretcher frame and stapling the back, he achieves a result that looks like a painting, but is technically a print. Clinton works in a somewhat regimented fashion,
keeping regular studio hours almost every day. “That probably comes from the
lawyer in me,” he says, laughing. “But I’ve figured
out a great deal about how my mind works and how best to create.
It’s an incredibly liberating way to live life.”
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Tom Clinton |
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Jennifer
Gould: Textile Figures Jennifer Gould’s dolls unite her lifelong fascination with textiles and her desire to create emotional, contemplative art. “My work is a very personal expression of how I perceive the world around me,” she says. “These textile figures, which I call dolls, are the canvases on which my experience of life plays out.” Gould says her dolls are both autobiographical and reflective of her keen interest in European medieval history and culture, Japanese culture, and other cultures and costumes around the world. As a child growing up outside New York City, she also was heavily influenced by the experimentation she saw in the fashion industry. However, she found that she was far more interested in the fabrics themselves than the changing trends of clothing. In an effort to learn more about the nature of textiles, she taught herself to weave tapestry while in high school. Eventually, she developed an innovative technique of making very small tapestries, just 3 by 5 inches, using bundles of cotton and rayon sewing thread. After spending many years doing tapestry work and hand spinning, Gould began focusing on the human figure in sculptural fabric form. “Working with fabric was an instinctive and immediate love for me from an early age,” she says. “The dolls are a natural evolution of that interest.” Her dolls incorporate a number of techniques she has mastered over the years, using distinctive color combinations in pattern-on-pattern juxtapositions of unusually-textured and often hand-printed fabrics. Known for their needle-sculpted faces and three-dimensional hands, the dolls are exquisitely detailed. “When one of my dolls holds something, its hands are articulated with the fingers slightly bent,” she explains. “I became interested in extreme realism, which is why the hands and the feet are so precise. Even the toes are separated.” Chenille stems running through the arms into the bodies enable the dolls to be posed. They are finished with loose stuffing, enough to give them substance, but not so much that they feel hard. Gould is traveling artistically in some new directions,
expanding her exploration of realism to include photo transfer of
facial images and recently cutting her tapestries into pieces that
she’s integrating in her dolls. “When you make a tapestry,
you never think you’re going to chop it up,” she says. “But
in making that leap, I’ve found a certain parallel to life – sometimes
you have to take it all apart and put it back together as something
new. In so many ways, I’ve really come around full circle.”
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Jennifer Gould |
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2008–2009
Artist Exhibits Artist-in-Residence
Program Retrospective Exhibit Enjoy a diverse retrospective exhibit featuring
each of the 29 artists that have participated in the Fine Art Center's
Artist-in-Residence program. Paintings, drawings, mixed media,
ceramics, sculpture, furniture, photography and more will be on
display. Exhibit hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
and the exhibit is free to the public.
Participating Artists: (Artwork
pictured above from left to right) Download the Retrospective Exhibit Postcard (320K, PDF) Refreshments Sponsor for the Retrospective Exhibit: Forest Hills Public Schools: Staff Art Exhibit Visit our gallery this winter to see exceptional artwork produced by our talented Forest Hills faculty and staff. Drawings, paintings, sculpture and more will be on display. Exhibit hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the exhibit is free to the public. Forest Hills Public Schools: K-12 Student
Art Exhibit Visit our gallery in spring 2009 to see exceptional student artwork from our schools. Drawings, paintings, sculpture and more will be on display. Exhibit hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the exhibit is free to the public. Xixiang He A native of China, Xixiang He is an active artist now living in Grand Rapids. Xixiang works in multiple media, including Chinese calligraphy, traditional Chinese painting and Chinese paper cutting. His art has been displayed and sold in many institutions and galleries, including Gallery 800, Dominic Center, Grace Gallery, Mercuryhead Gallery, Pepper Moon Gallery of Grand Rapids, and Asia Antique of Saugatuck. Xixiang is committed to promoting Chinese culture and has done work in schools and with children to that end. He has been teaching Chinese language at West Michigan Chinese Language School since 2003 and also teaches Chinese language, Chinese calligraphy and Chinese watercolor painting privately. A prolific writer, Xixiang has written six books and more than two thousand articles that have been published in Chinese. His article, “Calligraphy, Health and Longevity,” was published in the United States publication, Traditional Chinese Medicine World in 2004. Exhibit hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the exhibit is free to the public.
2008-2009 Exhibits and Artist-in-Residence
Program are sponsored by:
Sponsored in part by:
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Enrichment
Classes at the Center The comfortable, stimulating, state-of-the-art classrooms and studios of the Forest Hills Fine Arts Center are the perfect home for an enticing selection of enrichment classes for youth and adults offered by Forest Hills Public Schools. Courses in language, cultural, visual and performing arts, creative movement, and wellness are offered for your year-round enjoyment. A talented roster of knowledgeable instructors look forward to sharing in the resources of this spectacular learning environment with you. We hope you enjoy choosing from the course offerings and will look for more in in the future. Visit our sister website, www.enjoylearning.com, to register for classes. Learn More and Enroll
Now!
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We are looking for new courses and instructors for our developing arts enrichment program. If you have an idea for a special program or workshop, you can submit an online form to us describing your proposal. In addition, some general information is available to download in PDF format. Please call (616) 493-8950 if you have additional questions. Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view and print PDF documents. Click here to download Adobe Acrobat Reader if you need it. General Information Brief (59KB, PDF file) Course Proposal Form (Online form from our Community Services Web site)
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