Exhibit:  Vault Gallery Presents Annie Walters & Jerry Jacobson

Location: Downtown Phoenix campus Library

Available: Through October 30 2009, during normal library hours

About the Artitsts:

Annie Waters , September 2009 — My present work is all about color and line. I am intrigued with the cast off, the thrown away object, the imperfect and broken, the blighted leaf, the discarded silk flower. The work in this exhibition was done over the past year. During this time I have been concentrating on drawing, working primarily with prismacolor pencil, wax china marker pencil and oil pastel on paper prepared with images manipulated with commercial photocopiers.

Annie has a BFA in Painting and Drawing from Auburn University and a MFA in Painting and Drawing from Arizona State University. She is represented in corporate and private collections in Arizona, California, Georgia, North Carolina, and Alabama. She maintains a studio on 1st Avenue in downtown Phoenix.

See more of Annie’s work at anniewaters.com

Jerry Jacobson is a painter presently living and working in Tempe, AZ. He received a BFA in printmaking from North Texas State University (now UNT) in Denton, TX. His work has been shown in local and national exhibitions including the Arizona Biennial and Texas National. Jacobson was a recipient of a Contemporary Forum Artists Material Grant in 1998.

For more information see intrepidart.net

As temperatures in the Valley continue to climb into the triple digits, the libraries are a cool oasis from the summer heat. So kick back and let Anali show you how to beat the heat with fun and relaxing things you can do at the libraries.  You can grab a cold drink and a snack, watch a movie, surf the web, play some games and more.

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See all the Library Minutes on YouTube!

The Library Minute hosted by Anali Perry

Exhibit:  The Vault

Artist:  Jake Fischer

Location:  Downtown Phoenix campus Library

Available:  Summer 2009, during normal library hours

Description: This body of work is primarily an exploration of new methods to convey narratives on a two-dimensional picture plain. The images displayed are done using charcoal on paper and include both technical studies as well as more fully developed ideas. My goal is to create a relationship between images which can be connected and differ with each individual’s perception. This work is based on the style of early German Expressionist film as well as film noir. The objective is to create a heightened sense of drama and mystery through high contrast and portraying moments of action. The narratives depicted are relatively simple and as I explore more ideas I intend for them to become increasingly complex.

Artists Nancy Reinker and Diana Clauss talk about their joint exhibition “Double Vision” at the ASU Downtown Phoenix campus Library.  During this fascinating conversation Nancy and Diana, who are exhibiting together for the first time, discuss the similarities in their artistic process, as well as the differences in their final artistic products.

Joining us as well is Scott Muir, director of the Downtown Phoenix campus Library, who discusses the improvements made to the library to provide new gallery space, the downtown Phoenix art scene and the First Friday events.

Double Vision is available for viewing through April 17 in the Downtown Phoenix campus Library, during normal library hours.  In addition, the library will be open for First Friday on April 3 from 6-8 pm.
For more information and the artists statements, see our news item on the exhibit.

Download Podcast (MP3 Audio)

Host:
Fred McIlvain

Guests:
Scott Muir
Nancy Reinker
Diana Clauss

Episode 92
Running Time: 19:54

Exhibit: The Cards Playing Era – Secret Meeting

Artist: Xiaoping Luo of the Shanghai College of Fine Arts Academy and Mesa Community College

Location: Hayden Library Rotunda

Available: March 16 though April 12, 2009, during normal library hours

Peter Held, Curator of Ceramics, ASU Art Museum Ceramics Research Center says,  “In his latest series Playing Cards, the artist shuffles our notion of playing cards with iconic portraits of movie stars, politicians and other glitterati embedded in global pop culture. Balancing the fragility of life and the delicate nature of porcelain, the cards mix and match personas, cultures, and eras into a new world order. Through a magician’s slight of hand, he points to a better place.”

Artist Statement:

The playing card is for gambling and all the people around the world like playing cards. Today, you may find people playing cards and gambling in pursuit of fame and wealth in all corners of China. The playing card is not only a symbol of gambling and competition, but also a symbol of our life of struggle. Gambling is an instinctive element in our life as it is none other than a game of chance.

For the past three years, I have taken the playing card as one of the elements in my works. By combining the cards with the public figures and their professions, I have created the connection between their public image and their value as a brand name entity; I have created daily-life wares and taken it into the living environment. The things in our lives, inanimate objects such as furniture, and house wares are brought to life by our endeavors to grow, advance and take risks. I will take objects and installations of cards into our life and make it as one; because where there are people, there is gambling and competition. Individuals make plans that involve risk because the future is uncertain. Life is a continuing game full of risks large and small.

- Xiaoping Luo

Exhibit:  Double / Vision

Artists:  Nancy Reinker and Diana Clauss

Location:  Downtown Phoenix campus Library / Information Commons

Available:  February 23 – April 17, 2009 during normal library hours

Artists Statements:

Diana Clauss

In my work, I use the language of illusion, landscape space and motifs, and the evocative potentiality of paint and various materials to reflect an emotional climate. The tension between a shifting illusion of depth and dimensional surface is used to invite an introspective gaze where the senses can navigate the enclosures and expanses of the visual terrain.

I believe that the elements of chance and intention coupled with doubt and faith are inherent in the process of painting and embodied in the materiality of the paint itself. These elements are present as each new body of work progresses and ultimately they integrate within each painting akin to alchemy. Each painting contains the record of what remains after a circuitous process of applying and subtracting combined with the daily contemplations in the studio that seep into each layer.

Nancy Reinker

My paintings and drawings are an intense focus on an intimate optical experience. It is a visual excursion beneath, between, among and around the surface of all living forms, human and otherwise. The work is a journey that appreciates the glory of all creation.

More information about the artists:

• Diana Clauss
• Nancy Reinker

Exhibit: West of the Plains: A juried exhibit of contemporary book works by members of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Guild of Book Workers

Location: Hayden Library, Tempe campus

Available: January 20 – March 8, 2009

Description: The 35 book forms exhibited in the West of the Plains include examples of fine binding, calligraphy, artist books, handmade paper, and marbled paper.

This exhibit was juried by Laura Wait, whose book, Monumentum Arbusti, appears in the show.

Full List of Artists

Exhibit Catalog

About the Guild of Book Workers:  The Guild of Book Workers is an international organization that was founded in 1906 to “establish and maintain a feeling of kinship and mutual interest among workers in the several hand book crafts.”  An early focus of the Guild of Book Workers was on fine bookbinding, binding a book by hand in leather with various decorative techniques and hand sewn headbands.  The Guild’s focus has changed through the years to reflect contemporary innovations in design.  The Rocky Mountain Chapter includes members from Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming.

Contact Beverly Schlee at 480-965-9415 for more information on the West of the Plains exhibit.

For information about exhibits in the ASU Libraries, please contact the Exhibits Committee at libraryexhibits@asu.edu.