For the images I produce as an artist, I have conducted research in Niger, West Africa, where I lived for three years. My art involves an exploration of the Nigerien landscape, the Djarma and Fulani cultures and the art forms they create. This abstract work portrays ritual and tradition in Nigerien culture.
To create my imagery, I work from a variety of references. Relationships among color, shape, and texture come together to form fluid and grid-like compositions. Color dominates the images and dictates the media employed to produce them. This exhibition features a series of collages.
Gretchen Beck served as Professor of Art, Chair of the Art Department, Curator and on the faculty at Concordia University, Irvine, CA, for eleven years. Currently, she is a professional artist.
Recently, she created a series of exhibitions for the following galleries: Gallery 19, Rockport, MA; Brauer Museum of Art, Valparaiso University, Valpraraiso, IN; Florence O’Donnell Wasmer Gallery, Ursuline College, Pepper Pike, OH; Lucille Parker Gallery, William Carey University, Hattiesburg, MS; and Montserrat Contemporary Art Gallery, New York, N.Y.
She will have upcoming exhibitions at the following galleries: Reflection Gallery, Finlandia University, Hancock, MI; Mary Elizabeth and Charles Bernard Rodning Gallery of Art, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL; Farnham Gallery, Simpson College, Indianola, IA; Goodall Gallery, Columbia College, Columbia, SC; and Alfred Berkowitz Gallery, University of Michigan, Dearborn, MI.
She exhibits and discusses her work in group and solo exhibitions in galleries, on national and international levels. For further information about her work in the visual arts, please contact her at gretchenjo.beck@gmail.com and you can view her art at www.gretchenbeck.com
Nostalgic Optimism by Georgi Tsenov
Artist Georgi Tsenov is a Bulgarian painter/educator living and working in the United States since 2009. He currently resides in Hancock, MI. He holds a Master of Arts degree from Sofia University in Bulgaria. He has held solo exhibitions throughout Bulgaria, and the upper midwest region of the U.S.. Nostalgic Optimism will showcase 33 of Tsenov’s paintings spanning four years of studio work. The work on display includes landscape and still life paintings, all employing heavy stylization and arbitrary color palettes. The collection of works draws on Tsenov’s formal training, while employing a sense of rebellion toward the medium.
-excerpt from Artist Statement:
My life in this nation has been the culmination of a lifelong journey, and the fulfillment of my youthful dreams. My creativity has been inspired by my exploration of the Northern Midwest. I am energized by the charm of the many small towns, rows of quaint houses, and beautiful harbors, ports, and marinas I have encountered. I was fascinated by my discovery of the local Native American culture. And perhaps above all, getting to know the local people has been my great pleasure. In short, this has been the long journey of a contemporary Eastern European artist. Otherwise stated, the wonderful discovery of America in forms and color. Particularly exciting for me is to share my discoveries through my art with the American viewer.
The Reflection Gallery will be hosting a juried-group exhibition, showcasing the works of FInlandia University Art & Design students. The exhibition will run 11/5-11/29.
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SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
All mediums accepted.
Work must be “ready to hang“, meaning an exhibition solution must be supplied for every work entered.
Drop off work in gallery on Friday 10/30, between 11am-2pm
Artists will be notified of selection by Wednesday 11/4
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An opening reception will be held November 5th at 12:30pm. Artists will be present, and refreshments served.
Small Sequential Suspended_Solo Exhibition from Russell Prather
EXHIBITION DETAILS:
10.01.15-11.01.15
opening reception Thursday 10.01 @ 12:30pm
statement
I make visually volatile renderings of simple forms and ordinary objects. My pieces are made from acrylic paint—in patterns of dots, lines and other marks—applied to transparent sheets of polyester film, aligned and suspended on metal rods. Viewers see a row of 2-dimensional surfaces—like a sequence of cross sections—collectively conjuring a 3-dimensional illusion. Hovering in space, they are viewable from 360 degrees; with no fixed or favored point of view, the alignment of the layers is constantly in flux. As a viewer’s perspective and proximity shifts, these objects gradually and radically transform: viewed askew appearing solid and extended, from the front flattening out like paintings, from the side seeming to fold into space and disappear.
Though schematic or abstracted renderings such as these might seem to privilege the idea of the thing represented, the representation itself is inevitably physical, with its own peculiar set of properties. These pieces shimmer as you approach because light passes through them; they quiver because air does not. Their elusive physicality—impelling viewers to repeatedly reconfigure and reassess what they are perceiving—works to confound the distinction between an idea and a thing. Seeming at once abstract and concrete, absent and present, coming together and coming apart, these pieces strive to give pleasure by disrupting—outstripping, even—our habitual means of making sense of the things we see.
bio
Russell Prather has shown painting and sculpture at the Museum of Northwest Art in Washington State, Yorck Studios in Berlin, the Chicago Art Department Gallery, the Duluth Art institute, Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas, Truman State University in Missouri, and other venues. Prather’s visual art is deeply, if idiosyncratically, influenced by the study of literature, especially the work of turn-of-the-18th century poet and artist William Blake. Prather currently teaches eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth century literary and visual culture at Northern Michigan University, and directs the English department’s Master of Arts program. He has published both art and criticism, including William Blake and the Problem of Progression in Studies in Romanticism.
The Reflection Gallery at Finlandia University is seeking submissions for a time-based media exhibition. Video work must be screen based and single-channel. Audio is optional. Max duration 10 minutes. Submissions may include video art, animation, music videos, short films, experimental, etc.
SUBMISSION DETAILS
Email all components below to: phillip.faulkner@finlandia.edu
TIME BASED SUBMISSION as the subject.
Include:
-A link to download the work (youtube, vimeo, dropbox)
-ARTIST
-TITLE
-DURATION
-DESCRIPTION
-PORTFOLIO LINK (if available)
DEADLINE 3/29 11:59ET
The Finlandia University Reflection Gallery hosted a group exhibition from 12/5/14-1/30/2015. The exhibition served as a fundraiser for the gallery, in that ALL works were priced at $25, with $5 of every sale going to the gallery. The gallery invited submissions in all mediums, from the entire copper country community. “Price Point” continued the tradition of melding Finlandia creatives, with the extended artistic community. This was a great opportunity to expand one’s art collection, pick up a holiday gift and support the local art community, all while getting a fantastic deal on a unique item. Purchased works were available for pick-up prior to the holidays to ensure delivery of any gifts. The opening reception was held December 4th at 12:30pm. Artists were present, and refreshments served.
Contributing artists included: Kellan A. Ehrich, Paige Emily, Phillip Faulkner, Phyllis Fredendall, Levi Grannis, Angie Kilpela, Joyce Koskenmaki, Ashlee Kranz, Haley Neri, Robert Obaga, Gina Paulson, Mark Siminski, Abigail Tembreull, Victoria Wallace, Shelby Winter, and Deidre Yseult.
PASSWEIRD
PASSWEIRD_ illustrations from Matthew Carlson
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The Finlandia University Reflection Gallery will be hosting “PASSWEIRD”, a solo exhibition showcasing the work of illustrator Matthew Carlson. The work will be on display November 6th– 28th.
On display will be a series of illustrations completed for the project passweird.com, a collaborative effort between Carlson and web developer Cody Peterson (Portland, OR.) The site will randomly generate you a distinctive and ‘weird’ personalized password. In addition to the full color illustrations, the website will be on display offering an interactive component for the audience.
Matthew Carlson is a creative working out of Omaha, Nebraska. He is currently employed at design firm Grain & Mortar. He has lent his services to an abundance of projects ranging in scope from apparel design, business branding, event promotion, and the non-profit sector. His skills as a talented illustrator have landed him clients like Google, RedBull, and Springboard for the Arts.
Carlson holds a Bachelor Fine Arts degree from the University of Nebraska Omaha, where he studied painting and drawing. In addition to design work, he has been heavily involved in the Omaha Arts scene, both exhibiting in, and curating shows at a variety of venues. In addition he also works freelance under the moniker Plaid Mtn.
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courtesy of: http://codyjamespeterson.com/blog/passweird/
“… a few weeks ago I realized that a dumb domain I bought last year was about to expire. This was around the same time I was thinking a lot about domain squatters. Rather than just let it expire or keep squatting on it, I decided to make it a real, despite the fact that it should not exist. Introducing Passweird, a website that generates passwords “too gross to steal”. I contracted Omaha illustrator (and great dude), Matt Carlson, to illustrate a bunch of super gross things, created a simple Sinatra app, and launched it.”
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Printmaker, Dorothy Anderson Grow, from Traverse City, Michigan, exhibits her work in universities and cultural centers throughout the state. Her last exhibition was at The Traverse City Art and Design Studio. The show titled “Symmetry” had 22 of her latest pieces hung on 4′ x 8′ panels in groups of three showing related themes. Her next scheduled show will be in October at Finlandia University in Hancock, Michigan. Grow is a native of neighboring Upper Peninsula city, Marquette. She also shares in a common Finnish/Scandinavian heritage. Grow holds a Master of Fine Art from Michigan State University, a Bachelor of Arts degree from Baylor University, and taught at Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City, Michigan.
Dorothy Anderson Grow has this to say about herself and her work:
“I am one of a few printmakers in Northern Michigan. I work from my home studio using Akua water-based inks on my Takach etching press. I have a darkroom where I process my Imagon etching plates. I became a full time printmaker about fifteen years ago. In undergraduate and graduate school, I studied various forms of printmaking, but I was committed to be a non-objective acrylic painter. Then, I rediscovered printmaking and the many creative options it presents me. I approach my work as problem solving. The great thing about printmaking is that I can work on several related pieces at the same time, diversifying the outcomes. I create one-of-a-kind, hand-pulled prints, never editions. My prints cannot be duplicated due to the multiple layering that make up each finished print.”
“My intaglio prints are created with bold colored shapes and flowing lines forming large graphic compositions. Yet, a closer look reveals multiple layers and entangled forms. They compel the viewer to examine and become involved in the work. Printmaking allows me the freedom to experiment, be innovative and to take risks. The process is full of surprises and unintended outcomes. It is this sense of discovery I wish to pass on to the viewer.”
“My work begins with an abstract drawing or photographic image. After I create the original image, it is transformed into an etching plate. Using my intaglio etching press, I print a series of three or four hand inked etching plates. I proceed to diversify the final outcomes by printing varied layers of monotypes and collage materials onto each print.”
“I choose to compose non-traditionally. I want the viewer to experience a new dimension and a unique perspective. The two-dimensional space is usually a simplified symmetrical or centered composition. From that point, I am free to experiment and create a third dimension by formulating an interaction between the overlapping elements. It is the layering of etching plates, monotypes and collage that create a final form that transcends any single layer.”
Reflection Gallery 
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