To Heal and Repair

We have completed our first week of ART YARD Summer Session 2021 on zoom. Teaching Artist Reg Lewis has led participating artists on amazing artistic, emotional and intellectual journey as we embark on the ART YARD Year to Heal and Repair. The art work created thus far has been eclectic, thoughtful and moving. The dialogue during the session and daily critiques has been profound and quite inspirational.

Zahir shares his meditative approach to becoming peaceful during critique.

Reg summarizes: “Today, Day 4 of ART YARD Summer Session 2021, the participants continued to develop artworks that reflect the theme of healing and restoration. The session centered on learning a mindfulness approach to the art making process as participants incorporated a mind quieting observation strategy to create “focused” still life portraits. The task inspired many relaxed still life portraits and representations which also had meditative qualities.

Shhh works (mostly still in progress) by Karla, Jacob, August, Eden, Marilyn, Thea, Sigrid, Sarah, Robin, Reg, Zeke and Meridith:

This calming mood of art making came in sharp contrast to the previous three classes which focused on students creating artworks that required intense personal reflection. Day 1 and Day 2 required participants to tap into the mental and emotional extremities they have experienced in their lives (especially in light of the last year and a half of the pandemic). They were not easy or simple tasks.

The Day 1 objective required the participants to locate and identify the places of darkness, depression or difficulty that they have known. Before beginning, the art of Francis Bacon was examined to exemplify an artist whose body of work drew heavily from those places of darkness and torment.

Francis Bacon, Study after Velázquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X, (1953)

Kevin shares his work in progress

Kevin Anderson, A Place of Pain

Nayarit Tineo, A Place of Pain 1

Sarah Gumgumji, A Place of Pain

Thea Adams Bey, A Place of Pain

Zeke Brokaw, A Place of Pain

Robin Grant, A Place of Pain

Sigrid Dolan, A Place of Pain

Meridith McNeal, A Place of Pain

August Levenson, A Place of Pain

Karla Prickett, A Place of Pain

Akash Wilmont, A Place of Pain

Jacob Rath, A Place of Pain

The Day 2 objective leaned to the opposite direction of the first day by asking the participants to represent places where restoration, healing (and/or happiness) resides. Many students reflected on how difficult it was for them to readily locate that place which served as an indication of the complexities we have faced from 2020 until now. Either way, the participants dug deep to reveal those places. The art of Peter Doig served as the inspiration from which the participants could draw.

Peter Doig, Country Rock (Wing Mirror), 1999

Jacob Rath, A Place of Healing

Karla Prickett, A Place of Healing

Thea Adams Bey, A Place of Healing

Sigrid Dolan, A Place of Healing

Sarah Gumgumji, A Place of Healing

August Levenson, A Place of Healing

Robin Grant, A Place of Healing

Reg Lewis, A Place of Healing

Nayarit Tineo, A Place of Healing

Meridith McNeal, A Place of Healing

Marilyn August, A Place of Healing

Zeke Brokaw, A Place of Healing

The Day 3 objective asked the participants to combine the work of the first two sessions to reflect how those opposites coexist in their current lives. The art of Mark Bradford was shared as a focal point for this day’s objective. Ultimately, the results from all three days were extraordinary as they featured deep, personal reflections and representations.

Mark Bradford, Helter Skelter I, 2007, mixed media, 144 x 407 7/8 in. on canvas

Thea Adams Bey, Opposites Coexist

Reg Lewis, Opposites Coexist

Robin Grant, Opposites Coexist

Nayarit Tineo, Opposites Coexist