Durango’s Studio & Gallery to open ‘Still/Unstill’ exhibit

Steven Subotnick’s artist statement for Studio & Gallery’s newest show, “Still/Unstill”: “My work uses varied imagery – from cartoon to pure textural abstraction, unusual editing techniques and carefully structured sound design to make human vulnerability, conflict and history concrete and to convey a deeply personal aesthetic experience to viewers. I approach my filmmaking as a form of animated inquiry similar in intent to poetry and essay writing. The structure of my work is concentrated and condensed. I use intuition, associative thinking, metaphor and the poetry of color, mark-making and texture as my primary tools. For me, animation is a form of active and reflective engagement that transforms thought and emotion into images and sounds. My films have explored non-objective imagery, stories with unusual characters and animation based on actual historical events. While covering a wide territory of content, I have worked to create my own ‘language’ of animation forms.” “Still/Unstill” will open today (Friday).

Courtesy of Steven Subotnick

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Steven Subotnick’s artist statement for Studio & Gallery’s newest show, “Still/Unstill”: “My work uses varied imagery – from cartoon to pure textural abstraction, unusual editing techniques and carefully structured sound design to make human vulnerability, conflict and history concrete and to convey a deeply personal aesthetic experience to viewers. I approach my filmmaking as a form of animated inquiry similar in intent to poetry and essay writing. The structure of my work is concentrated and condensed. I use intuition, associative thinking, metaphor and the poetry of color, mark-making and texture as my primary tools. For me, animation is a form of active and reflective engagement that transforms thought and emotion into images and sounds. My films have explored non-objective imagery, stories with unusual characters and animation based on actual historical events. While covering a wide territory of content, I have worked to create my own ‘language’ of animation forms.” “Still/Unstill” will open today (Friday).

Courtesy of Steven Subotnick

Jeff Wise’s artist statement for Studio &’s “Still/Unstill”: “My sculpture is rooted in balance, with great respect for materials and their inherent textures. I try to elude the grasp of gravity, allowing rocks to fly and metal to flow like water. I interpret visual gestures found in nature and astronomy, such as swirling galaxies and the rhythmic movement of birds and fish.”

Courtesy of Jeff Wise

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Jeff Wise’s artist statement for Studio &’s “Still/Unstill”: “My sculpture is rooted in balance, with great respect for materials and their inherent textures. I try to elude the grasp of gravity, allowing rocks to fly and metal to flow like water. I interpret visual gestures found in nature and astronomy, such as swirling galaxies and the rhythmic movement of birds and fish.”

Courtesy of Jeff Wise

From Kelsey Ward’s artist statement for “Still/Unstill”: “This particular animation was made to show what it is like to create art with depression. People tend to idealize the ‘tortured artist,’ that when we are at our lowest we create our best. Yes, the pieces we create can be beautiful, but to the artist (or at the very least myself), the piece holds those emotions.”<br><br><br><br><br><br> When we look at the work after it is done, all we can see are those low points. The audience may appreciate what has been created, but we only see the pain that inspired it.”

Courtesy of Kelsey Ward

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From Kelsey Ward’s artist statement for “Still/Unstill”: “This particular animation was made to show what it is like to create art with depression. People tend to idealize the ‘tortured artist,’ that when we are at our lowest we create our best. Yes, the pieces we create can be beautiful, but to the artist (or at the very least myself), the piece holds those emotions.”<br><br><br><br><br><br> When we look at the work after it is done, all we can see are those low points. The audience may appreciate what has been created, but we only see the pain that inspired it.”

Courtesy of Kelsey Ward

Courtesy of David Holub<br><br>From DGO editor David Holub’s artist statement: “I like playing with context. When Trump speaks in context, he often sounds like a buffoon or a madman or an overly confident simpleton. Taken out of context – though still his words verbatim – then put in the voice of a young child, Trump suddenly ... makes perfect sense. A certain kind of humor also relies on context – or lack thereof. Sometimes, knowing little about the who/what/where/when/why of a premise amps the absurdity, whimsicality or irony. Ultimately, there’s no right way to pick up a sleeping hitchhiker.”

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Courtesy of David Holub<br><br>From DGO editor David Holub’s artist statement: “I like playing with context. When Trump speaks in context, he often sounds like a buffoon or a madman or an overly confident simpleton. Taken out of context – though still his words verbatim – then put in the voice of a young child, Trump suddenly ... makes perfect sense. A certain kind of humor also relies on context – or lack thereof. Sometimes, knowing little about the who/what/where/when/why of a premise amps the absurdity, whimsicality or irony. Ultimately, there’s no right way to pick up a sleeping hitchhiker.”

“In the Utah desert, a sand hill had several perfect little circles etched in the sand. Closer inspection showed tiny pieces of grass that were blowing in the wind creating circles. This is the impetus for (the sculpture) ‘Inscription.’ It reflects the magic of the invisible forming tangible marks in the world,” says Sandra Butler in her artist statement for “Still/Unstill.”

Courtesy of Sandra Butler

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“In the Utah desert, a sand hill had several perfect little circles etched in the sand. Closer inspection showed tiny pieces of grass that were blowing in the wind creating circles. This is the impetus for (the sculpture) ‘Inscription.’ It reflects the magic of the invisible forming tangible marks in the world,” says Sandra Butler in her artist statement for “Still/Unstill.”

Courtesy of Sandra Butler

From Stacey Sotosky’s artist statement for “Still/Unstill”: “We each change over the course of time. Throughout life, we grow in many ways. However, we are contained by our ONE existence, ONE chance; confusing and unsteady at times but synchronized and harmonious at others. Our essence continues on, hopeful that if we just keep going, magical, blissful, joyful moments will happen in our time ahead. Shadow Study analyzes 2D performance space and postproduction methods that play with time and chance. My process was inspired by the work of Merce Cunningham’s Chance Method, which opens time-based art to the possibility of serendipitous occurrence.”

Courtesy of Stacey Sotosky

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From Stacey Sotosky’s artist statement for “Still/Unstill”: “We each change over the course of time. Throughout life, we grow in many ways. However, we are contained by our ONE existence, ONE chance; confusing and unsteady at times but synchronized and harmonious at others. Our essence continues on, hopeful that if we just keep going, magical, blissful, joyful moments will happen in our time ahead. Shadow Study analyzes 2D performance space and postproduction methods that play with time and chance. My process was inspired by the work of Merce Cunningham’s Chance Method, which opens time-based art to the possibility of serendipitous occurrence.”

Courtesy of Stacey Sotosky

Courtesy of Stacey Sotosky

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Courtesy of Stacey Sotosky

Courtesy of Stacey Sotosky

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Courtesy of Stacey Sotosky

Courtesy of Stacey Sotosky

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Courtesy of Stacey Sotosky

May

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May

Maureen May wants you to interact with Studio &’s newest show.

“Still/Unstill” will kick off with an opening reception tonight at the gallery.

Curated by May – an artist and one of Studio &’s owners – the exhibit will include 16 artists who all have their own ideas about what the show’s theme means – pieces will include still works, kinetic works and even animation and text scrolling on LED screens.

“I’ve just always loved interactive and moving media, so that’s how I came up with the show,” May said. “I knew there are a lot of artists out there and locally who work in both moving and still media, so I invited them.”

And with this invitation came a certain level of freedom of interpretation of the show’s theme, May said.

“I had to step back and let it flow because I didn’t want to put too many restrictions on the artists,” she said. “My vision of the show has changed quite a bit. When you agree to collaborate or to curate a show, which to me is a collaboration, you kind of have to give and take. ... It’s turned into the artists themselves sort of being co-curators.”

“Still/Unstill” will feature both local artists – including Studio &’s newest owners, Carol Meckling and Peter Hay – to artists from across the country.

“What’s cool is I have two animators from the East Coast: Gina Kamentsky and Steven Subotnick. I invited them because I saw their work online and loved it,” she said. “Steven Subotnick has an amazing sense of humor in his (work), and it’s all hand-drawn and I love his line – his linework is gorgeous.”

The idea of “Still/Unstill” is something May has been thinking about for a while, and it was classes she took in Durango that helped seal the deal for the theme.

“I’ve been wanting to do this for a couple of years at least because I’ve studied animation at Rocky Mountain Animation Lab with David Tart,” May said. “I love moving media; I love working with movement.”

Rocky Mountain Animation Lab will be represented in the show, too, with the inclusion of Tart and Kelsey Ward.

“David’s going to show an award-winning piece, ‘The Story of Animation.’ That will be good– it will sort of be an educational piece to help people understand what it takes to create an animation and use of it in film,” May said.

And Ward, who graduated from Fort Lewis College last year and is currently teaching beginning animation classes at the Lab, will be broaching the subject of depression in her work.

Along with artwork on display, local dance troupe 20Moons Dance Theatre will be performing throughout tonight’s opening reception – and May will be wearing a pair of shoes created by Mervin Stilson for the show: two more layers to the “Still/Unstill” theme.

The show will be filled to the rafters with art – May’s not even sure she’ll have room for her own work, “Which is totally fine,” she said, adding that the eclectic mix of artwork is what makes this show so unique.

“What’s cool is I could have invited a hundred artists and they all could be doing something different. It blew me away how much moving media there is out there,” she said. “Of course, you could have a list a mile long of animators, and each one could be so different from the next, and I love the way they interpret their medias, and also I love the way that some of these artists who don’t necessarily work in moving work have interpreted the title of the show.”

katie@durangoherald.com