This is Viz City, KLCC’s Arts Review program.
At Maude Kerns Art Center, five local women artists have collaborated on a show they call “Interbeing.” The artists are Mary Garrard, Donna Henderson, Jan Lintz, Teresa Myrmo, and Susan Thomas.
These colorful, attractive works are all mixed media and all abstract. As I’ve talked about before, when looking at abstract art, pick a few that draw you for some reason. Then just stand quietly in front of the art and clear your mind.
Don’t try to see an elephant or an iguana in the shapes because that’s not the point. If the artist had wanted an elephant or an iguana, she would have drawn one for you.. Instead, let all that go.
Just be there and let the colors and shapes dance in front of your eyes. Be sensitive to what emotions gentle or deep come to the surface. Catch yourself as you start to smile, then look closer at that part.
Inside an abstract artwork are little corners and alleyways, passages of paint that make a secret place for the eyes to hide. Maybe there is a quick upward rise for the heart to take flight. Perhaps a strange shape draws your attention to a mysterious symbol. A line of dots may move your attention around and through the labyrinth of the art and back to center again to show you something you didn’t see before.
Abstract artists work in the field of time, memory, and emotion. Nothing is what it seems to be. One gesture suggests one thing and the next line might point to its opposite. Colors have thoughts and contrasts have love and hate holding tensions between them.
Participating fully inside the world of abstract art is a subtle pleasure. It’s one most people honestly just don't get, but it is so well worth the effort to develop.
This is Sandy Brown Jensen for KLCC.
