Art by Mike Pavol
The past informs us each and every day. Lessons over time teach us, if we are so attuned, to not repeat the same mistake twice. To evolve is to grow as a person, leaving all personal baggage at the station’s departing platform. I know today I am not the young neophyte to the world as I was when I graduated from high school in 1969 or from graduate school in 2003. Thank goodness. If you do the math, I received my master’s degree serendipitously on my 52nd birthday. As a Thursday’s child, I’ve always had far to go.
This early March blog is about the mark we make and leave, passing it on to others to carry the torch.
Today, the former curator of the Art Association of Harrisburg of seven years, Rachel O’Connor, is using her art education everywhere she goes. She left her imprimatur indelibly stamped on the culture of art at the venerable institution on Front Street. In fact, the AAH calendar of exhibits through year’s end is under her insight and coordination. Art lovers take heart, Rachel is now sharing her expertise as the director of education at Carlisle Arts Learning Center (CALC) and teaching art history at Messiah University.
She handed the torch to Nate Foster, whose rise through the ranks has been noteworthy, to say the least. From drawing instructor to gallery sales manager, Nate is now the newly designated director of exhibitions under the tutelage of CEO Carrie Wissler-Thomas. He recently assembled the winter members-only show.
New to the gallery walls is “Repetition and Adaptations/Ordinary Life, Up Close.” At first glance, it seemed to me like a long title, but then isn’t life just that–repeat and adapt/ordinary or not? Nate shared that he added his own special seasoning to the mix for the just-opened exhibit. In fact, the show is a two-parter interpreted by artists Mike Pavol and Kathleen Joffrion, who are stylistically on the opposite end of the spectrum. The exhibition is an invitational, the first one of the year, which opened on Feb. 23 and runs through April 4.
Perhaps “polymath” might be the best term to describe Philadelphia-based artist, Mike Pavol, one of the artists featured in AAH’s exhibit. He has a bachelor of arts in architecture, an interest in manipulating scale and pattern and a referential reclamation of childhood memories regarding his father’s fascination with creating 3-D constructs from salvaged items, which adds up to a permutable equation artistically. In other words, the moving parts are far more than the sum. Pavol prods and pushes the envelope of execution to new artistic heights.
“Light Circle Variant” is, in part, at least from where I am sitting, a physical manifestation of the theories Joseph Campbell put forth decades ago in his life studies of mythologies and comparative religions. A unique interpretation of the journey of mankind down through history is represented in a multi-layered board or visual tour-de-force both colorful and all encompassing. Prominent overlaying images produce a sense of double vision, adding extra depth. Thought-provoking works such as this comprise Pavol’s portion entitled, “Repetition and Adaptations.”
At the opening reception, Pavol summed up his art philosophy by saying, “I am in the world and in that regard, all facets play a role. The more I work as an artist, the more I now understand my father.” Again, “illustrating” our past yields a great influence on our passage.
On the main floor, “Ordinary Life, Up Close” stirs the souls of all who subscribe to the life aquatic as captured by Louisiana transplant, painter Kathleen Joffrion. Having spent 40 years of life on the bayou, she is no stranger to harnessing imaginative images from her formative years as a native.
Art by Kathleen Joffrion
Her exhibit’s body of work is divided into three distinct parts. Vibrant colors pop off wood panels in “Wetlands,” detailing life on the salt marsh along Louisiana’s Gulf Coast. Represented in a potent palette of brilliant blues and orange is an up-close portrait of a crab common to the region entitled, “Gulf Coast Blues.” Her rendering is anything but common, finding extraordinary beauty in the ordinary.
“Outsides” shows Pennsylvania’s fanciful flora, while “Genus & Species” shines a spotlight on Joffrion’s experiences as a fashion illustrator, graphic designer and teacher of typography. She shared, “I am inspired by nature and my surroundings no matter where life finds me.”
Behind the scenes, the new gallery assistant at the AAH got her feet wet the whole way up to the second floor in pulling out works of the late Li Hidley and Wei Peaden to balance out the upstairs show. Lending two capable hands to Nate Foster, assistant Alanna Barton, using paintings from the past, leveraged art from yesteryear to tip the seesaw balancing modern-day images from Mike Pavol in the upstairs gallery.
The personal journey we take should be one of constant growth, learning and evolving. One of the greatest joys of living is the anticipation of what the new day will bring. Our past wisely teaches, the present gives us special moments to capture and savor, and the future is all that we make it.
Nevermore
The night was foreboding, and chills ran up and down my spine as I was led down a long tunnel. Blindfolded, my captor took me by the hand. The solitary light burned through my shrouded eyes as I gazed upon a room of exposed bricks. In front of a group of conspirators, I was anxious to bare my soul before the unspeakable took place. Premature burial entombed alive, or strapped to a buzzsaw, horrors envisioned ran through my fevered imagination. What took place next was a fate worse than death. Surrounded by 10, they cast me upon a throne as their pre-determined torture began. I was to “sit and pose as a model” for two hours straight. I screamed loud enough to raise the dead!
Portrait of Bob MacGinnes by artist Nina Mantione
The above paragraph is a fictional account of what was truly a great experience for us. I just wanted to make sure you were reading this as I lived it. A night we will long remember as a fun and unusual outing with a group of uniquely, highly individualistic artists and their portraits proved providential. Bonafide art icon Julie Riker led the portrait drawing class held at Mechanicsburg’s Art Center in the basement on a recent Tuesday night. My artist wife, Jana, was my captor and the list of co-conspirators included John McNulty, one of the seven Lively Artists, joined by fellow practitioners of the graphite gang and pastels posse. The roster also featured Paul Nagle, Dave Leber, Mary Depalma, Nina Mantione, Kathy Tristan, John Hassler, and Bill Klaiber.
The class was so advanced in their portrayals, one would be hard-pressed to declare any portrait better than the next. All demonstrated adroit skills bringing a surfeit of talent to paper and canvas. At the halfway point, one hour in, the subject (me) felt for certain the task was complete and the challenge met head on or in profile. However, the next 60 minutes brought greater detail, texture and heightened drama. This den of 10 brandished art with aplomb. Gracious to a fault, they confessed I was a “model citizen.” Poe might argue that point. Nevermore!
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