RBJSE 2021
Gary Eleinko
Gary Mulnix
Columbine
Bronze 18”h x 20”w x 24“d 2016 Biography I was raised on a small farm in Michigan and started gardening at a young age. My passion for flowers and plants is reflected in my passion for art and sculpture. After completing my art education at Maine College of Art and Lyme Academy of Fine Art I began to focus on botanical sculpture. For many years I worked with the figure in-the-round and botanicals in relief. A few years ago I took the botanicals off the wall and found a new sense of freedom. I have found my voice. Gary had 3 sculptures represented in the 2018 Regional Biennial exhibition. He is an elected member of the Allied Artists of America- and the Shiawassee Arts Council. He is represented by SAC Gallery, Owosso. Visit Gary’s website: Mulnixart.com “I grow columbine in my flower garden. I thought the contrast of fluted forms, flat petals and stamen cluster would make an interesting sculpture.” |
Helen Hierta
Artist Helen Hierta
|
Well tempered
Ceramics 78”h x 60“w x 24“d 2019 Biography As a septuagenarian with a lifetime study of spirituality, creativity, and the natural world, I work with the repetition of simple geometries to create totemic sculptures that rise from the ground in fluid elegance. My work focuses on our capacity for an expansive awareness and unity and is intended to urge the viewer to reflect on the landscape of consciousness. Within my practice the recurring geometries are metaphysical exchanges in both the creation and the encounter, providing for contemplation of how energy is imbued into clay. Each handmade piece is hallowed, like a bead, then threaded onto an iron skeleton. The ceramic shape is its own entity, its own word, yet fitted together completes whole poems. I think of the work as meditation art, where one can aspire to find tonal harmony within self. Helen is a member of National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA); MCAA or Michigan Ceramic Arts Association (Michigan Clay); Inspiration Alcona, Alcona County MI, arts organization; Founder, Huron Artist Residency launching this month with its first Artist in Residence, Ebitenyefa Baralaye www.baralaye.com. She is represented by the Higher Art Gallery, Traverse City and Cappaert Contemporary Art Gallery, Door County, WI. “Well Tempered is a group of 8 sculptural totems that represent the dynamic chakra energy fields — the unseen network of intelligence shimmering within us — and their vibrations of color radiating out as auras. Ancient yogic wisdom teaches the transforming power of Kundalini awakening, energy moving up the spine through the chakras, as an animating force of awareness. My sculptures are meant to evoke the mood and affirm the mystical power of making the invisible visible, referencing the complexity of energy frequencies that emit color tones from individual and collective consciousness.” Follow Helen on Instagram: www.instagram.com/helenhiertaceramics |
John Anderson
Artist John Anderson
|
Shrine for Victims of Extrajudicial Killing (Atone All / Atonal)
wood, twine, paper 96”h x 48”w x 48”d 2016 Biography John James Anderson is an interdisciplinary artist, critic, and curator. His work has been exhibited throughout the United States, and has been covered in The Washington Post, Washington City Paper, The Miami Herald, Miami New Times, and Hyperallergic. In 2010 he began writing for Washington City Paper; his criticism has also appeared in The Washington Times, Art in America, and Sculpture. Anderson has an MFA in Painting from American University, and BFA degrees in Graphic Design and Painting from Iowa State University. “The shrine was conceived the week Alton Sterling and Philando Castile were killed by police. At the time I was preparing work for an exhibition called Re:Formation—a two site exhibition organized/curated by Rocco DePietro and Gloria Pritschet of Gallery Project in Ann Arbor. It was a large exhibition dealing with social and political issues in the run-up to the 2016 election. Their unnecessary deaths made me angry, just as the deaths of Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Walter Scott and Freddie Gray also made me angry. However, it was also clear from the public discourse that this short-hand—this publicly recited roster of victims of extra-judicial murder at the hands of police—did an injustice to the hundreds of other victims there are: the many unknown or forgotten. It’s not convenient in the course of reporting the news to recite all of those other names; there are too many to recite. But I wanted to create some way of visualizing the volume of victims and honoring them. Four years earlier my family was visiting my Uncle Kenji in Japan. As we toured various historic sites and tourist locations near Tokyo and Kyoto, there were often shrines nearby. For a small fee, tourists could buy a piece of paper and write a wish on it. Some shrines had the wishes already written on the pieces of paper. The monks would later burn the wishes. It was the new year, so tourists might be writing wishes for good luck, or to avoid bad luck. The shrine seemed like a good analogy for what I wanted to accomplish in response to the deaths of these two men—and to the many hundreds of similar deaths. The names of the dead come, with permission, from the website FatalEncounters.org, which has attempted to create a national database of people killed during encounters with the police. It’s not a complete list, but it does comprehensively include people of all races, as well as those who are innocent, non-violent, and/or acting with criminal and violent intent.” Visit John’s website: https://johnjamesanderson.contently.com/ |
John DeHoog
Artist John DeHoog
|
Constructor 2
Walnut, maple, pine, aluminum, steel 19”h x 30”w x 20”d 2020 Biography John DeHoog is a professor in Eastern Michigan University’s School of Art and Design. He has an MFA from Rhode Island School of Design (2000) and a BFA from Northern Michigan University (1996). Most of his work is part furniture and part sculpture, but always shows a strong commitment to craft and traditional processes. John has recently exhibited work at the Muskegon Museum of Art, the Midland Center for the Arts, the Grand Rapids Art Museum, and the University of Michigan Slusser Gallery. He maintains a studio at his home in Ann Arbor. John has been represented in past Regional Biennial exhibitions. “Constructor 2 is a piece I made during the early days of the pandemic. Life at that moment was disorienting and my studio practice was disrupted as well. I didn't have access to my normal array of equipment and supplies, so I decided to start a piece made from bits and pieces of work from the past that I had disassembled and stored. The challenge was to work intuitively, without a formal plan, letting the sculpture slowly evolve. As parts came together, visual connections developed and I tried to make an object that looks intentional, not cobbled together.” |
Ken Thompson
Panel, Form and Arch - Steel
Patinated steel 16“h x 8“w x 4“d 2019 Biography Ken Thompson holds an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Siena Heights University, a Master of Liberal Studies in Sculpture from the University of Toledo and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting and printmaking from Siena Heights College (University), Adrian, Michigan. Ken has been making sculpture since 1978 out of a former car dealership building now turned studio in Blissfield, Michigan. From this facility, he and his assistants also operate Flatlanders Sculpture Supply & Art Galleries and the Midwest Sculpture Initiative. Ken is well versed in bronze casting and metal fabrication but prefers stone carving. The major focus of Ken’s work since 1997 has been on large-scale public sculpture with commissions such as Reclamation Archway for Blue Cross/Blue Shield in Detroit, the Peace Arch for the City of Toledo in honor of the veterans of the Vietnam War, the Korean War Memorial in Toledo, OH, the Centennial Arch in Sylvania, OH and the Community Arch in Canton, MI. Other large commissions include works at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, MI, Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, OH, Children’s Park in Toledo, OH, Copley Chapel at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, Corpus Christi University Parish in Toledo, OH, the LCVA Millennium Project in Adrian, MI, St. Patrick of Bryan, OH, Siena Heights University and the Dominican Motherhouse, both in Adrian, MI, the Ancient Order of Hibernian’s memorial to the Irish Potato Famine, the Port St. Lucie Arch at Florida Atlantic University, Port St. Lucie, FL and the Alumni Plaza, Corpus Christi University Parish, Toledo, OH, Sylvania, OH, Alma, MI, Jackson, MI, Bonita Springs, FL, Saline, MI, Bowling Green State University and Jackson College in Jackson, MI. Most recently, Ken completed the Centennial Mall Sculpture Project at his alma mater to celebrate the university’s anniversary. All told, he has completed well over 70 large-scale public sculptures. In addition to making large sculpture, Ken enjoys doing smaller scale work for gallery exhibitions. He has twenty-nine one-person shows and numerous group exhibitions and many awards to his credit. He has been represented in Past Regional Biennial exhibitions as well. “I have always had a fascination with buildings and bridges, as well as, the columns, posts, beams and arches that support them. I come to this world from a tradition of craftsmanship. I prefer to use materials that convey strength. I have always felt that good art should be well made and that there is no excuse for poor craftsmanship. I see each sculpture as a 'clean sheet of paper' that presents new opportunities to discover solutions. Beyond content and suitability, my sculpture concentrates on the fundamental issues of form and how negative space defines it, as well as, the techniques employed to create it.” www.kenthompsonsculpture.com, www.flatlandersculpture.com |
Kirk Roda
Stringleaf Thicket (Treehorse Herd Series)
Steel, resin, polymer, raffia 30“h × 24“w × 48“d 2021 Biography Kirk Roda is a Detroit area sculptor who currently lives in Oxford, Michigan. He graduated from Eastern Michigan University where he received a Fellowship to earn his Master’s Degree in Sculpture. His sculpture reflects his interest in satire and surrealism with a dash of elegant classical influence thrown in for good measure. He juxtaposes natural elements by using found objects, steel, clay, and polymers to create rhythmic compositions that convey feelings of whimsy with elements of surprise. Kirk’s many exhibitions include those held at the General Motors Design Center Art Gallery in Warren, Michigan and the University of Michigan. He has won multiple awards for his work including awards from the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center Annual Art Show. His sculpture is found in many private collections in the U.S. and abroad, and several public collections including the outdoor sculpture collection on the campus of The University of Toledo in Toledo, Ohio. Kirk has been in past Regional Biennial exhibitions and a member of Collected Detroit Art Gallery (https://www.collecteddetroit.com/), Detroit, MI.“My Treehorse series is an exploration of pure fantasy that highlights hierarchy, social role, and status within groups, as well as the important part the individual plays within those groups. Each uniquely created treehorse wears adornment that defines the position one plays within that tribe/society. I find each herd fanciful, emotive, and whimsical with a sense of movement and narrative. I attempt to create a fragile tension, like that of a wobbly newborn deer, demonstrated by the juxtaposition of their twig-like legs and weighty bodies, combined with varied expressions to create a dynamic social group. A little information about treehorses. Treehorses don't seemed bothered by gravity, they've never know predators, and they sing to communicate (more than birds, but less than humans). It's not quite opera, but more like barber shop quartet chords. They're surprisingly more plant-like than one would expect, and they spend a large amount of time, in the first part of their lives, growing in the ground as a plant that looks surprisingly like celery or fennel. What appears as a tail is actually a left-over root from the time they grew in the ground (equivalent to our belly buttons), their legs are the stalk/stems, and their bodies are the bulb-like area near the ground. Basically, a small upside down version of how you typically see a treehorse. Every once in a great while, one of the treehorses from a clan will start to develop bud-like pod flowers (or catkins) on their "tails". This simultaneously occurs in other treehorse clans in the territory. When this happens it's time for "The Gathering"... a huge migration-like meeting of all the regional treehorses. Even treehorse clans that don't have anyone who's developed bud-pods will travel to the gathering to participate. As the clan "herds" (actually referred to as a "thicket" of treehorses) travel, they sing/hum/hoot/shout their "family song" that announces their arrival. The Gathering is a wonderful time of song, laughter, reuniting with friends, exchanging of ideas, and merrymaking, that culminates in the pollination dance. A dance where the few that have developed bud-pod flowers dance together at the center of all the dancing treehorses so that their root-tails might brush against one another to be pollinated. The huge dance is a great cocoughiny of pounding legs and raised voices that can last for days. Afterwards the individual clan thickets of treehorses return to their home grounds which they refer to, (as best can be interpreted) as "cradel-gardens". There the bud-pods are shaken off on a patch of fertile soil so that a few of them might sprout into new treehorses. A single member of the thicket is always standing over the new seedlings, constantly singing to them, as they begin to sprout and grow. |
Larry Zdeb
Temple
Mixed media 13”h x 11”w x 7“d 2017 Biography Larry has an associate’s art degree from the Oakland Community College in Michigan. He is an award-winning artist with work that has appeared in over a hundred shows locally and around the country. His art is in major European and domestic collections. Additionally, he has been selected as a juror in numerous annual student Michigan Scholastic Art Awards. He is represented by The Art of Custom Framing, Troy, Michigan Follow Larry on Facebook: Larry Zdeb Art Group “My sculpture is based on a piece of vintage wood with a plastic covered photograph, fasteners and a water gauge.” Visit Larry’s website |
Artist Larry Zdeb
M. Saffell Gardner
Artist M. Saffell Gardner
|
Lost Kings
Welded steel 37½“h x 17“w x 17 ½“d 2019 Biography M. Saffell Gardner holds BFA and MFA degrees in painting from Wayne State University. A master painter, sculptor, mixed media artist, muralist, videographer, art historian, curator, lecturer and educator, he teaches at private colleges and community colleges. Mr. Gardner has participated in arts mentoring programs. Saffell’s sculpture Lost Kings was accepted into the 2021 Regional Biennial Juried Sculpture Exhibition at the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum and his sculpture Sankofa was in the 2020-2021 Chelsea Sculpture Walk. In 2015 Saffell was awarded a Kresge Fellowship. In 2014 he was invited to have a survey exhibit at Gallery 9338 Campau. He has also participated in Artprize in 2014. He was invited to participate in “The Venice Biennale 2013”. Saffell co-curated “Vision in a Cornfield” for the Museum of Contemporary Art, Detroit. In 2000, he was selected as the Chivas Regal Artist in Residence at the Charles H. Wright Museum, Detroit. A commissioned painting Door of No Return is in the Charles H. Wright Museum’s permanent collection as a result of the residency. His commissions include a painted receptacle for Detroit’s “Pretty City” project as well as major commissions for the COBO Center (now TCF) and the Detroit Public Schools. His work is in the permanent collection of The Henry Ford Hospital, Blue Cross Blue Shield, DMC, Total Healthcare, The Federal Reserve, Chicago, Renaissance High School, Southeastern High School and Detroit School of the Arts. He has exhibited throughout the United States, Brazil and Ghana, Africa. “My sculpture Lost Kings is my thinking historically about what happened to kings of past tribes or Dynasties. How did they come and go throughout history? Did they make laws for the people or just themselves? What happens when wars are won or lost? Were the kings included with the loot?” Visit Saffell’s website: saffellart.com |
Marcia Polenberg
Blues Man
slips, glazes on multifired terracotta 17"h x 20”w x 12"d 2020 Biography Marcia Polenberg received a BA cum laude from CUNY Brooklyn College where she also did graduate work in painting. She holds an MFA from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. She has taught at the University of Michigan, Flint, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Central Michigan university, Mott CC, Barton County CC and College for Creative Studies. Her works in clay, mixed media, drawings and paintings have been widely exhibited at many venues including Marshall Fredericks Sculpture Museum, Muskegon Art Museum, Grand Valley State University, Scarab Club, Jesse Besser Museum, Saginaw Art Museum, Birmingham-Bloomfield Art Association, WSG Gallery, Clay Gallery. Her works have won many awards, most recently the established artist award for her sculptures from the Michigan Ceramic Artists Association exhibition at Grand Valley State University. She is currently exhibiting works at Birmingham-Bloomfield Art Association, Detroit Artists’ Market, Scarab Club, Lawrence Street Gallery and will be exhibiting an installation in a 50th Anniversary invitational at the Midland Center for the Arts projected for fall 2021. Online article about solo exhibition about Marcia’s art: http://www.annarbor.com/entertainment/artist-marcia-polenberg-throws-a-birthday-party-with-her-solo-show-at-clay-gallery/ “Bluesman-a portrait of a male African American blues musician in which I seek to express his pain, loneliness and solace in the deeply felt music he plays” Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/polenbergramsay |
Mark Bleshenski
Artist Mark Bleshenski
|
Maize
Glass bottles, flameworked, re-purposed wood (with Shi Sugi Bahn finish) 12“h x 32“w x 12“d 2019 Biography Mark Bleshenski began working in his Grandfather's stained glass studio while still in high school. While attending Michigan State University in the Human Environment and Design program, he spent a summer at the University of London, completing an essay on stained glass windows around England. He was also exposed to a gallery exhibition of contemporary stained glass windows by top artists in the field. It changed his perspective on the possibilities of the medium. After graduating college and some work experience, he launched a stained glass studio and created artwork for architectural installations around Michigan. Driven to experiment with his materials, Mark would fill his kilns with glass and fire it up to see what would happen. During this phase, he fired painted glass, created fused and cast glass artworks, and incorporated it into architectural installations and sculptures. One of those early experiments germinated into working with glass bottles as sculptural elements today. Mark has been represented in past Regional Biennial exhibitions. He is a member of Studio 23. “I draw inspiration from my observations of nature. My experimentation with repurposing glass bottles continually leads me in new directions. As I worked with the glass in the torch, I began to see shapes happen that make me think of wind or water currents pushing leaves and vegetation, causing them to bend and flow and undulate. Attempting to mimic nature in my work, I imagined the leaves of the corn stalks in the farm fields around my home, rows of them blowing with the breeze. Waves flow through the crops as the air passes over, sometimes gently, other times with great force. My objective with Maize was to capture a moment. To see and feel that movement, that wave, that moment.” Visit Mark’s website: http://bleshenski.com Follow Mark on Facebook.com/mbleshenski, Follow Mark on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-bleshenski-4b765440/ |
Mark Chatterley
Artist Mark Chatterley
|
Relationships during a pandemic
Clay, chain, metal plate 91”h x 14”w x 14”d 2020 Biography Mark has over 30 years’ experience in figurative sculpture. He is nationally and internationally recognized. He has a Master of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Fine Arts from Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI and attended Northern Michigan University. He is a member of Michigan Ceramics and represented by Button Gallery, Miller Gallery, River Gallery, and Sleeping Bear Gallery. Where Do Ideas Come From? New ideas come from past ideas. Combined, chewed up, and reformed. We are all made up of past experiences and beliefs. That makes each one of us unique, all creating from different places in our lives. Building on past ideas is how we explore and grow as artists. I think that is why a lot of artists work in series. You start with an idea for the first piece and when the work is done a new idea pops in that will bring you to the next piece and the next. It is setting up rules to work within and explore from there. For instance, what material to use? How big should it be? Should it be figurative or abstract? That sort of thing. These are decisions we make all the time without really thinking about them. The "anything goes" attitude with art can be overwhelming with too many directions to go in. I find I personally have to set limits or rules to work with. I had a professor who painted the same still life over and over again for years. At the time (a lot younger) I couldn’t see how it could keep his interest in the subject. But as I got older I realized the previous pieces were a springboard to the next painting. Changing the color, playing with the light, looking for a different way to view the still life that was his play and challenge. And I admire that in his work ethic and his exploration. For me art making is exploring, both physically and mentally Discovery is different. You can set up Ideas to make a discovery. A friend patron of mine works at the FRIB at MSU. He smashes electrons together in an isotope beam. I asked him what he was hoping to make with all of his machines. He said he wasn’t making anything, he just wanted to see what happened. Art making can be like that. You put ideas together to see what happens. Visit Mark’s website: chatterley.com Follow Mark on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chatterleysculpture |