November’s First Friday featured a collection of shows that celebrated both the individual and collaborative spirit.
The Ivy Tech John Waldron Arts Center, Pictura siaand Blueline Gallery siaall welcomed multiple artists for First Friday.
Ivy Tech Community College presented the works of their fine arts students as well as the larger collections of Phyllis Westfall and Kristy Hughessia. Hughes said all the prints in this show are works she has done since January.
“Most of it has been exploring new mark-making and the way material works and, more recently, has more to do with specific content instead of just aesthetic qualities,” Hughes said.
Hughes graduated with her master’s of fine arts from IU two years ago and said she has recently discovered the root of her creative impulses.
“A lot of how it looks has been the same, figuring out how to make the work, the making of the work,” Hughes said. “Recently, I’m discovering why I make work a specific way and what specific things stand for what. Now I’m a lot more conscious of what I’m doing and why I’m doing it."
PIctura Gallery continued a showcase that began in October, “Never Too Close,” which is a collection of works by Czech photographers Roman Franc, Gabriela Kolcavová, Vojtech V. Sláma and Ondrej Žižka.
In their Brick Gallery, Pictura welcomed Bloomington native Richard Koenig to showcase a collection of photographs with a historical inspiration behind them.
Koenig said the show, “Contemporary Views Along the First Transcontinental Railroad,” began as a potential video project, a break from the more conceptual studio work that had taken much of his time.
“I was looking for something new to do, and I wanted to do a video on railroads and how they might be a 19th century solution to 21st century problems in terms of fuel efficiency and things of that nature,” Koenig said.
The railroad provided a nice template for landscapes, especially around the more desolate, abandoned areas, Koenig said.
The practice of photographing the human story without the actual people present was one Koenig said he wanted to emphasize throughout this project, as he learned so much about the human side of the rail process through his research.
“The thing I liked most is the abandoned rail line where they moved it for a better line,” Koenig said. “I like taking landscapes along those places the best. In those spots, it’s easiest to imagine I’m in the 19th century, watching the Irish build one side of the line and the Chinese on the other side.”
Blueline Gallery played host to “RIOT,” a show featuring 10 artists displaying smaller pieces. Izzy Jarvis, one of the exhibiting artists, said the show provided an interesting change from her normal artistic practice.
“This show allowed me to experiment with more simple imagery and smaller scale,” Jarvis said. “Instead of using really charged, complex imagery in my normal work and heavy use of black, in this show I’m using only colors — no black — simple, two-layer images that are within the size of a sheet of paper.”
Jarvis said her inspirations were less classic and more contemporary.
“I was drawing on simple, graphic imagery, thinking about illustration versus fine artworks,” Jarvis said. “The works in particular I made tonight were inspired by punk T-Shirt and band imagery.”
Another of the artists, Ryan Irvin, said he appreciated the subtle regulations involved in this show.
“Sometimes limitations are good for artists — it’s just less decisions you have to make.” Irvin said. “My work is kind of all over the place. It’s a lot of painting, a lot of collage, some are kind of sculptural. It doesn’t matter what material I’m using, it’s all about restraint, not going too far with it, keeping it simple. This is the key for me.”
