See this archive of Civil Rights-Era Photography

The Whole World Was Watching, Des Moines Art Center

Closing January 6, 2013

Response from guest contributor Deb Anders-Bond

Viewing these photos brought me very close to weeping over the cruelty, bigotry and racial injustice witnessed by photographers during the civil rights protests of the 1960’s. My hope is that those who were not alive during this time will visit the Des Moines Art Center to see these photos and understand the racism of that time which still exists today. Every individual must learn to believe in every human being’s worth, dignity and equality.

Deb Anders-Bond is a recovering photographer currently working primarily in collage. Deb lives in Ames, dreaming that  the beloved weather beacon will once again light the skies over her home town, Des Moines!

18 December 1 Permalink

Drawing Through to the Other Side

Sarah Napier, Mars Cafe

December 2012

Excerpt from Napier’s installation of drawings. Photo: Tim Mitchard

Interview from contributor Jennifer Mitchard

December 13, 2012

Sarah Napier is a 26 year old Iowa native. She primarily works in colored pencil and pen on paper creating innocent, bright, and hallucinogenic illustrations. Her work is currently being shown at Mars Cafe where I sat down with her to talk about her new collection.

A quote from her Artist’s Statement:

Much of the influence for this body of work is from her bipolar disorder. …. Many of the pieces in this set were created as therapeutic works meant to help her express herself through the manic and depressive waves of her bipolar. 

Excerpt from Napier’s installation of drawings. Photo: Tim Mitchard

Jennifer: Tell me a little about your work.

Sarah: My work is therapy on paper, it’s what I did to keep the crazy under control.

How long have you been working on the pieces in this show?

About 6 months but the bulk of it was created over the last 3 months.

What are your ideal working conditions?

I totally watch Rosanne or some other 90’s sitcom and make stuff on my couch. I’m usually by myself…. watching Rosanne.

I’ve noticed an interesting progression from your older, more innocent pieces compared to these. Can you explain this evolution?

6 months ago I had a manic episode and drew throughout the whole thing. My art evolved quickly over that time. You can still see the old stuff in it but it’s darker and has more depth now. My collages are new and were brought on by a project I was working on before the manic episode.

Napier’s “Pixelated Girl Face (self portrait)” Photo: Tim Mitchard

Which piece is your favorite and why?

Pixelated Girl Face, self portrait. I don’t know where I got the energy to do that one. I haven’t been able to do a piece like that again. It was a piece that was how I felt when I made it. I felt like it represented what I was feeling.

What do you want people to take away from your work?

I want to make people happy and have fun with mental disorders.

Do you have any major influences? Now or past?

My bipolar definitely affects my work. Being raised in a bible camp, it is hard to break away from happy things and present something to the public that isn’t all butterflies.

I wouldn’t want my family to come and see this. My grandma is not allowed.

What do you feel like your work is about?

Memories and feelings about them. Trying to recall childhood feelings of discomfort. You know when you’re little and you feel awkward in a situation? Like that.

How do you see your work evolving?

That’s the problem with bipolar. I’m sure it will, but I have no idea how or why. I can’t plan it.

I’ve noticed that your work has a lot of repeated imagery. What do these images represent?

The arrows are the flow of emotion, they direct you up and down, like the polarization of my disorder, they are pixelated and not smooth. I like to break things apart.

The girls were different versions of me on different days… However the little girl inside of me wanted to dress up.

Space is everything. It’s the most imaginative thing I can think of, there are so many possibilities out there that we don’t even know about yet.

Excerpt from Napier’s installation of drawings. Photo: Tim Mitchard

What are your plans for tonight?

Writing my artist statement and I need to make dinner, I bought macaroni and cheese. I’m lazy.

Meet the artist from 6-8pm on Friday Dec. 14 at Mars Cafe for her opening reception.

Jennifer Mitchard is an artist, photographer, graphic designer, and writer, living and working in downtown Des Moines. She is the co-owner of JeTim Art Photography and a designer at RAYGUN. She studied Art and Writing in Central Iowa and Northern California. Find her work at www.jenmitchard.com.

13 December Permalink

Saying Goodbye to the Giant

Benjamin Entner’s Ego Sum, Fluxx Gallery

November 2012

Experimental video response from Rachel

6 December Permalink

Watch out for the Identity

Projecting Identity, Anderson Gallery Drake University

November 9 - December 14, 2012

Left: Marina Abramovic/Uly’s “Rest Energy” Right: ManYee Lam’s “Cocooning”

Review by Rachel

November 28, 2012

When I went to visit the Projecting Identity show at the Anderson, I was alone. Had the whole joint to myself and my leisure. It was a Sunday afternoon and I walked straight to the back, passing a handful of makeshift viewing rooms for each of the videos in the group show. The video behind the last curtain was titled Microcosm and was not looping. I found the remote, pushed play and watched from beginning to end.

The imagery was overwhelming. It was life, death, very big things and the very small. Digital bodies were morphing in and out, back and forth from flesh to bone. The music was some sorta dramatic film score set to a metronome of frantic typing.  From the point of view of God, you’re looking down on revolving chaos. A digital landscape collaged of scenes from the virtual role playing game, Second Life. It was like trying to see everything at once. 

Gary Hill’s “Wall Piece”

I left Microcosm and was engulfed by the stillness of Marina Abramovic/Uly’s Rest Energy. At first, I saw no movement. A man and woman were leaning away from each other, steadied by a bow and arrow. You can hear them breathing. Abramovic’s lover is aiming an arrow at her heart. The action breaks when they start to slowly release the tension being pulled on the bow and arrow. Then the video loops and again they fall back into position.

I moved slowly through each viewing station. You are either faced with a body or a collection of bodies. Behaviors include talking about cultural expectations, throwing oneself against a wall, primping in a public bathroom and trying really hard to make yourself vanish.  The intention is to consider identity. Question who you are you and what makes you that way. After being assaulted by a strobe light in the Gary Hill video, I laid on a pile of pillows in the ManYee Lam video installation.

Nate Young’s “Untouched”

It’s a cave in the middle of the show. Two videos are playing at once. Cocooning repeats faster than the Self-Combing Woman narrative. I recommend laying down on the pillows for awhile. Read the subtitles describing the lives and decisions these old Chinese ladies faced being “spinsters” in the “old world”.  It was the highlight of the show for me. You watch Lam build a cocoon around herself just like a silk worm would. The old ladies talk about how their choices set them free from the norm but still locked them in another restricting way of life. It made me think that we have to become specific eventually. Our specifics make up our identity.

Drake students and Lenore Metrick-Chen curated this show. They also wrote responses to the videos chosen which are provided to you in an excellent publication designed with invisible pages. I appreciated their insight after seeing the show. Projecting Identity closes Decemeber 14th. May you have your own dedicated Sunday afternoon at the Anderson before then.

28 November Permalink

Studio hopping during Art 316’s Open House

Art 316 Open House

November 2, 2012

This was found in the Chadwick and Bergstrom Furniture workshop.   Photo: Jennifer Mitchard

Review by guest contributor Jennifer Mitchard

November 20, 2012

Art 316’s Annual Open House is a dizzyingly busy event. The five story building is full of artist studios of all varieties; painters, sculptures, graphic designers, architects, potters, and furniture makers are among those who work at Art 316. Many of the artists working in the building are among the most successful in Des Moines, Alex Brown and Ron Wagner being the most familiar to me.

The first thing I noticed upon entering the event was that I couldn’t see very many finished pieces on display. I quickly felt reminded that it was not an art show but simply an open studio. Initially I felt at loss but as I moved through the building, I found more and more great work on display.

Joseph Hansen’s paintings hung in his studio during the opening   Photo: Jennifer Mitchard

Joseph Hansen, an oil painter, had a full display of his work hung on the walls of his studio. Joe grew up in Iowa but relocated to Los Angeles for 11 years (painting the whole time) before moving back to Des Moines a couple years ago. His abstract color paintings are layered with texture. They reminded me of old concrete walls that have been painted over and over again but the paint keeps chipping. Subtle and stark color shifts intermingle on his canvases creating an interesting and safe composition.

Illustration by Ron Wagner   Photo: Jennifer Mitchard

The studio of Ron Wagner hosted more than just his wonderful illustrations. In addition to his hand drawn storyboards, there were other artists on display. Like Tyler Walpole’s realistic illustrations and Adam Van Wyk’s digital work. Adam was also giving a demonstration of digital storyboarding by drawing on a Wacom monitor.

Adam Van Wyk demonstrating digital storyboarding   Photo: Jennifer Mitchard

Chad Owen’s graphic design studio had a great catalog of his designs cleanly displayed. He told me that the work he was showing that night was part of a design a day project he publishes on his blog. One of many that caught my eye was a two color print with a photo of an old dilapidated house with a yellow typeface overlay reading “Bless This Meth”. This piece in particular brought some unwanted attention online he told me. All of his pieces were clean and interesting. They presented a wide variety of subject matter from innocent child-friendly to corporate to dark and snarky.

Excerpt from Chad Owen’s Design a Day project   Photo: Jennifer Mitchard

The large range of work at the Art 316 Open House made it a great event and I look forward to attending in the future to see what these great Des Moines artists are up to.

Jennifer Mitchard is an artist, photographer, graphic designer, and writer, living and working in downtown Des Moines. She is the co-owner of JeTim Art Photography and a designer at RAYGUN. She studied Art and Writing in Central Iowa and Northern California. Find her work at www.jenmitchard.com.

20 November 1 Permalink

Photography Through an Altered Lens

Sourced, Steven Vail Fine Arts

November 1, 2012 – February 25, 2013

Show promotional

Interview by guest contributor Lori Brookhart - Schervish

November 15, 2012

Many surprises awaited my first visit to Steven Vail Fine Arts and the gallery’s latest exhibit, Sourced: the world-class artists and their contemporary photographic works displayed in a Des Moines’ East Village gallery and the attendance of local artists, Jeremiah Elbel and Phillip Chen, professor of drawing and printmaking at Drake University.

Chen’s 31x46-inch relief etchings titled, “My Father and Dillinger” (2011), embodies the show’s objective, which transcends the medium into an multilingual expression that “challenges us to see, or not see, what elements have been appropriated in the creation of the works,” states the exhibit’s program essay. “Photography is no longer solely about recording moments in time, it becomes a component of artistry and virtuosity.”

Professor Phillip Chen talks with a Sourced attendee in front of “My Father and Dillinger,” 2011. Photo by Amy Allen

Such components that appear in “My Father and Dillinger,” according to Chen, manifested into an abstract portrait of his father through the subconscious of the infamous bank robber, John Dillinger. Chen’s father was a food server for Dillinger, and though the two likely never knew each other intimately, the piece became a commentary of Chen’s own uncertainty of “not fully knowing” his father that led him to contemplate such a personal relationship through heirlooms and a sedated image of a bank robber on a flat black background.

Chen’s established and recognized career include works exhibited in museums such as the Brooklyn Museum in New York, the Carnegie Institute Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, and the Des Moines Art Center.

“I like the company I’m in,” says Chen of Sourced. “It’s quite gratifying to be included with artists I’ve studied and looked at for decades, like John Baldessari.”

Sylvie Fleury’s “Giulietta,” (2010). Chromogenic C-print, 15x19.75 inches, Photo by Amy Allen

The remarkable company also includes pieces by pajama-clad American painter and director Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Basquiat); American abstractionist Donald Sultan; Spanish collage artist Carmen Calvo; American figurative artist Eric Fischl; American regionalist Joe Andoe; Brazilian visual artist Vik Muniz; Argentinian heliographer Graciela Sacco; American Pop artist Mel Ramos; Des Moines artist and media critic Jeremiah Elbel; South African figurative artist Nicky Hoberman; American digital artist Brian Alfred; American painter and printmaker Jane Dickson; and Swiss Pop artist Sylvie Fleury.

Works range from a thirteen-color screenprint to a monotype, plus lithographs, digital prints, mixed media, and more, which all firmly cement the notion that photography is beyond a captured moment of realism.

Kudos to Steven Vail for again bringing internationally acclaimed artists to the walls of a Midwest gallery that can inspire and provoke art-lovers old and new.

A writer and editor, Lori covered the Des Moines music scene before venturing out to Los Angeles. She continued to write about music but quickly fell in love with the vibrant art scene after being exposed to a diversity of painters, sculptors, and muralists and the creative energy of Venice Beach. After a series of events, Lori moved back to Des Moines after graduating from Mizzou with a journalism degree and a minor in art history. Her favorite artists include Frida Kahlo, Alberto Giacometti, Henry Moore, Tarsila do Amaral, and Henri Matisse. 

15 November Permalink

Moberg celebrates 10 years with large group show

Moberg Gallery 10 Year Anniversary Exhibition

October 12 - November, 24 2012

Installation shot of the anniversary show. 

Review by Alissa

October 23, 2012

Woe unto you if you needed a parking space along Ingersoll this past First Friday.  There wasn’t one to be had, and if you followed the swarm of people, you found that it led you right to Moberg Gallery, where Des Moines’ self-proclaimed “Corporate Art/Public Art/Residential Art” mecca was celebrating ten years of operation.  The event was a festive one, with artists and patrons alike enjoying the ubiquitous free wine and flowing conversation.  To say the least, the soirée was a success, but this reviewer always prefers to head back to the gallery the morning after, when all is calm and the art can be approached quietly and considered thoughtfully. 

As usual, Moberg puts on a visually pleasing exhibit, with a myriad of large-scale pieces dominating the gallery.  On this particular occasion, around 45 artists represented by Moberg have contributed to the show.  There will be some who grumble that they do not find this collection is shocking or thought-provoking.  However, there is something to be said for a gallery that has been open, family run, and commercially viable for a decade.  And let’s be honest, for as many people as there are who are looking for risk-taking work, there are just as many who are seeking something they find beautiful and well-created to hang above the mantle or in the lobby.

TJ Moberg’s “Double Fault”

So while there may be few true surprises, the show is nicely curated, with some fun interplay between pieces and styles — my favorite being Frank Hansen’s “Pink Foot Lay Down with Boob” juxtaposed against a more subtle nude by Catherine Dreiss. The gallery has found an organic way to display the divergent styles of the artists included, and the viewing experience flows well.

John Phillip Davis’s “Come to My Lonely”

Among the more memorable pieces shown are “Double Fault” by TJ Moberg, a large bullseye composed of tennis balls; the mixed media piece “Garden in the Sky” by John Siblik; the enormous “Come to My Lonely” by John Phillip Davis; and the tiny graphite-on-paper jewel, “Moon and Trees #1” by Bill Teeple.

The show, up through Saturday, November 24, is worth a walk-through at the Ingersoll gallery.  Moberg plans to open a Chicago location on December 1, 2012 at 2707 W. Lawrence in Lincoln Square.

24 October 1 Permalink

Look closely, deciphering a web of structure

Susan Chrysler White, Olson-Larsen Gallery

October 12, - November 24, 2012

Largest wall piece, paint built up on and between many layers of glassine. 

Review by guest contributor Benjamin Gardner

October 18, 2012

Susan Chrysler White’s exhibition at Olson-Larsen in Valley Junction includes a dazzling amount of work, ranging from framed works on glassine (a translucent paper, typically with a neutral pH), works on canvas, and three large floor to ceiling chandelier sculptures of paint on Plexiglas.  The works are successful in asking the viewer to look closely—not only for meaning, but to decipher how individual marks are made and form the intricate web of structure. 

Some works function on a direct bilateral symmetry that is linked to a number of visual traditions; paintings from Buddhist and Hindu traditions come to mind as the most direct reference.  Bilateral symmetry also has a strong reference to biological form and White has contemplated this in her work, including direct references to insects and leaves.  The paintings that have bilateral symmetry are necessarily complex with layers of glassine helping to create an encaustic-like depth—without the inward, receding space, their evenness could have the tendency to make them appear flat and singular.  It is the sign of a good painter that can be mindful of the 2-dimensional surface and simultaneously understand illusionistic space and the feeling of depth in flat, plastic painting. 

HISTORY, Acrylic on canvas with plexiglass and mixed media, 39 x 34

The paintings and works on paper that break away from an overall bilateral symmetry are visually much stronger, as they function with a different sort of visual balance—dialectic relationships between active and passive, gestural and flat, pushing out and receding in tandem on the picture surface to create a dynamic tension between each aspect.  All should take note of this in White’s work; it is a great example of how visual balance between two disparate ideas strengthening the impact of both. 

Susan Chrysler White hard at work installing sculpture near the front window at Olson-Larsen.

The large, hanging sculptures in the exhibition are engaging as forms but could benefit from more spatial complexity—-this, in part, could be due to limitations of the space.  Each hanging piece is close to human size, but at an uncomfortable ‘in-between’ in relation to human scale; or rather, how they feel compared to our bodies as viewers.        

Overall, there are some interesting conceptual overlaps in White’s exhibition—if one is willing to mine a little deeper than the visual symmetry.  These works all point towards excess and extravagance.  Coupled with the visual relationship to biological forms and the Rorschach-like ambiguity of form, the works can lead a viewer into a complex psychological territory.  It is a great contribution to contemporary painting in Des Moines.    

Benjamin Gardner is an artist living and working in Des Moines, Iowa.  He is also an Assistant Professor of Art + Design at Drake University where he teaches drawing classes as well as courses that explore personal identity theories, existentialism, and ideas of place, space, and living.  Additionally, Ben spends a lot of time growing food, looking at the sky, and reading about folklore and superstition.  He maintains a website that collects artist’s writings (Methodsofbeing.com) and the first book from his independent publishing company Wrenwood Press will be released in June 2012.  You can see Ben’s studio work at benjaminagardner.com. 

22 October Permalink

The Art of Family Tragedy and How to be Amazing Anyway

Amy Putney Koenig’s “Shapeshifter”, Thee EYE

October 2012

Installation shot of Shapeshifter Photo: Jennifer Mitchard

Review by guest contributor Jennifer Mitchard

October 10, 2012

Amy Putney Koenig is a collage artist and painter who always knew of the tragedy in her family. It wasn’t until recently that she knew all of the sad details of the tragedy. Her Aunt Susan died at the age of 12 after being involved in a car accident and receiving poor medical care. This tragedy forever bruised her family. When Amy stumbled across documents detailing the event, she naturally began collaging with them. Old medical records, letters, photos, etc. became the inspiration and materials for her new show at Thee Eye.

Installation shot of Shapeshifter Photo: Jennifer Mitchard

The first half of Amy’s show is nostalgic and heavy. Upon entering the gallery, you’re presented with a huge shrine of sorts, to Susan. Her girl scout uniform, medical records, photos, a large poster with chilling details of the deadly incident, etc.

Installation shot of Shapeshifter Photo: Jennifer Mitchard

At the center of the room, a vintage medical table is piled with dried flowers, skulls, hair, and bones. There is a pile of bones in the corner. The collages are like dreams of sad memories. The pain that this one terrible event brought to her family is heavily documented in the materials for her work, arranged precisely for the viewer to experience. The kinds of things that are taboo, no one wants to see or remember, that’s what Amy works with. She created beautiful alters of worship out of her family pain.

Amy’s old and painful collages juxtapose her bright, modern paintings. This is “How to be amazing anyway”

Installation shot of Shapeshifter Photo: Jennifer Mitchard

With a show and several works about her late Aunt and other family members, Amy included some paintings about herself and her own ways of dealing with tragedy. These paintings have uplifting messages of self-knowing and feminine strength. One large painting, a map of her tattoos, has large writing at the bottom: “Strive to be true of heart and fleet of foot. Face your fears each day- be honest and loving, fearless and bright. Honor your temple.”

To me, Shapeshifter is about honor. Amy honors her Aunt who died too young and the family left behind, including herself.

See her show at Thee Eye in the East Village through Oct. 27.

Jennifer Mitchard is an artist, photographer, graphic designer, and writer, living and working in downtown Des Moines. She is the co-owner of JeTim Art Photography and a designer at RAYGUN. She studied Art and Writing in Central Iowa and Northern California. Find her work at www.jenmitchard.com.

15 October Permalink

Art without a Voice

Janet Hart Heinicke’s “Derivatives, Examining Ideas Found in the Natural World” 

Michael Wilson’s “The Horreum, ut Sacellum” (The Barn, as a Chapel)

Ankney Art Center

October 3 - November 29, 2012

Heinicke’s “Sunshine Through the Trees by the water hole” (detail)

Review by Chad

October 9, 2012

            The Ankeny art scene can only be described with one word: anemic. Unfortunately, the Ankeny Art Center has done little to change this reality, refusing to take advantage of the documented momentum in the Greater Des Moines Art Scene. For example, instead of aligning themselves with First Fridays, The Ankeny Art Center chose to open their newest exhibit on a Thursday evening, Janet Hart Heinicke – “Derivatives, examining ideas found in the natural world” & Michael Wilson – “The Horreum, ut Sacellum” (The Barn, as a Chapel) on display through November 29, 2012. Because of this, my daughter and I pulled into an empty parking lot on Friday night, discovered a dark building, and were forced to make a second trip on a Saturday morning just to view the exhibit. Umm…thanks for making it easy AAC!

9 October Permalink