by Bob Bahr, PV Arts Council member The trio of artists now showing at the R. G. Endres Gallery, in the Prairie Village Municipal Offices, stimulate the mind in very different ways. It's highly unlikely that a visitor could see this show, on view until May 4, and not be pulled in by at least one of the approaches presented. Bryce Holt believes that artists are storytellers, and the majority of the pieces by him on display are inspired by books in the Old Testament. His straightforward, graphic approach leaves the viewer with the not-so-simple task of connecting the images with some knowledge of the scriptures. The sheer size of his acrylic paintings fills the eye with bold statements. From left: "Mama I'm Coming Home," by Bryce Holt, acrylic, 48 x 36 in.; "Dice Game," by Bryce Holt, acrylic, 48 x 36 in. David Coss makes three-dimensional pieces that utilize laser-cut wood to create intricate shapes of light and shadow. Some of the pieces feature wood stain or acrylic paint, but all feel like Steampunk machines from an era before metal contraptions. He speaks of blending old and new, technology and woodworking, but the balance between organic shapes and streamlined precision offers even more to ponder. What will you see in his work? "Hoot," by David Coss, wood and stain, 28 x 52 in. Carol Kiefer Johnson brings an obvious knowledge of art history to her acrylic paintings, with passages of thin paint application contrasting with rich and colorful patterns in cloth, wallpaper, or other pictorial elements. Klimt-like women lounge with both common and uncommon pets, with a sense of abundance creating a feeling of calm and comfortable luxury. "Open Window," by Carol Kiefer Johnson, acrylic, 36 x 36 in. Remember--it's easy to visit the exhibition. It's a mere stroll through the municipal building on Mission Road. The current show featuring these three artists will be on view at the R. G. Endres until May 5, but a choice selection of pieces from the three artists is on view and will stay on view at the Meadowbrook Park Clubhouse until July 6.
Bob Bahr is a member of the Prairie Village Arts Council. He has written about visual art for several national magazines. He lives with his family in Prairie Village and paints a variety of subjects. He wishes there were a NYC-style bodega in the Shops. by Bob Bahr, PV Arts Council member There are no humans in Janice Schoultz Mudd's paintings now on display at R. G. Endres Gallery, in the Prairie Village Municipal Offices, but human fingerprints are all over all the paintings. Her paintings of aerial views of coastlines show land and water but also harbors, street grids, and other signs of civilization. And that concept--civilization--seems to be the lens through which much of her artistic vision is projected. When a sailing ship is shown navigating waters near modern seaside developments, old and new collide. Additionally, Mudd depicts such scenes by utilizing images from Google Earth. Schooners and satellites have little in common except that they both represent achievements of civilization. "The Horse,"acrylic with collage, 24 x 24 in. Likewise, the image of the Uffington White Horse, a prehistoric earth sculpture in England, features prominently on another Mudd piece titled "Horse" that seems based on satellite imagery. And while "Red Light Camera" was inspired by an incident with a toll bridge in New York, the piece sits well beside her satellite imagery. The viewer might be tempted to read more into the bits of ephemera attached to the canvas in a dance of paint and collage, but sometimes a smashed bottlecap is just a smashed bottlecap. "I was crossing the Tappan Zee bridge and got caught by a red light camera," Mudd recalls. "I was thinking about something else and didn't exit to pay the toll, and all the lights went on in this big structure above me. So that painting is about the experience of it all--there's roadmap information, and that bottlecap, because you have drinks while driving, and all the trash, all the things you bring with you when you are on a road trip." "Red Light Camera," acrylic with collage, 36 x 48 in. A trio of paintings depicting planets and moons may seem devoid of a human touch, but the imagery was inspired by photos taken by the Hubble telescope, and one of the paintings features inscribed shapes of constellations. "I was just so amazed by all the images out there in space and how beautiful they were," Mudd says. "I was enamored with the colors from the filters they were using on the photos. Also, I was thinking about how we came to be. Did we get here by accident? I do believe that we were invented by God, but I really started thinking about that. in one that have all the constellations. How did those people of ancient civilizations, from South America to Egypt, navigate? How did they see all this stuff? When they looked at the sky, how did they differentiate all those stars?" When Mudd sees the world from different or unusual perspectives, she wonders how humans engaged in their environment. An aerial view may be Mudd's way to ponder how early inhabitants of Earth survived winters and found food. "A painter is a visual person," she says. "You see these things and you think about them. I'm more fascinated in the internal workings of the mind and the way that life experiences combine with the world that we live on, and how it all comes out in the wash. There's no big message. I take it from a factual point of view. This is what happened. This is how things changed. It's more historical and the way that people think and respond and live, largely due to circumstances." From left: "Searching for the Blue Moon," "Cadmium Night," and "Breakthrough," all three are acrylic with collage, 40 x 30 in. Part of the fun of taking in a Mudd painting is examining all the elements of her collages. As long as something is relatively two-dimensional and capable of being affixed to a canvas, it is fair game. "I have boxes of things," Mudd states. "I collect things all the time. I never know what I might want to use or what's important. People see me and they think I lost a contact. No, I'm just looking for interesting things on the ground, in a parking lot, interesting shapes or something that could be representative of something in a painting. It's somewhat indiscriminate." Or perhaps simply instinctive. Mudd doesn't seem interested in nailing down the meanings of her paintings too tightly, but to pretend that she isn't making an artistic statement would be a serious mistake. Even when the meaning of a passage in one of her paintings seems mysterious, it is succeeding, based just on that very fact. Artists make you think about the world and human experience. Mudd does that in ways both straightforward and oblique. Mudd's work is part of a group show on view in the municipal building on Mission Road until March 1. "Fissure,"diptych, acrylic with collage, 60 x 40 inches each Bob Bahr is a member of the Prairie Village Arts Council. He has written about visual art for several national magazines. He lives with his family in Prairie Village and paints a variety of subjects. He wishes there were a NYC-style bodega in the Shops.
by Bob Bahr, PV Arts Council member It's always fun to ponder what an artist is saying with her or his art. Is that a horse from a cave painting? Is that guitar exploding into bright colors a celebration of…what? Who are these squirrels bearing gifts? It's fun, but possibly doomed. Artists often don't want to say, or don't completely know why, they chose this motif or that material. The show currently on view at the R. G. Endres Gallery, in the Prairie Village Municipal Offices, offers plenty of chances for the visitor to contemplate the vision three very different artists present. Amanda McCollum prints her digital art on 9 1/2" x 9 1/2" canvases, offering portholes into her vision of charismatic animals, handsome humans, and Art Deco flourishes. The saturated colors of vibrant flower blossoms hint at the mood or personality of models bathed in colored light in some pieces. Birds, in other pieces, suggest peace, predation, prettiness. Squirrels bear gifts of nosegays, foxes and wolves lounge in beauty. The effect is old, new, modern as a digital device and classic as a Tiffany window. Heather L. Lowe muddies the waters separating abstract art and representational painting, turning a wolf into a flurry of colorful confetti, confronting the viewer with a white canvas with vertical slashes and smears that are quite possibly birds on a wire. An imposing trio of large canvases seems utterly abstract until one notes the suggestions of water ripples in one piece, and the unmistakable triangles of sailboats bent in the wind. Janice Schoultz Mudd paints with acrylics, but affixes every manner of things onto the surfaces of her paintings. Sometimes these elements, ranging from a smashed bottlecap to small crescents of rubber, from wires to molds of the textures of who-knows-what, are meant to depict something; other times, they are merely the right element to enhance Mudd's compositions. Coastlines and harbors emerge, street blocks are suggested, ancient boats/dragons offer dangers in her map world. Each piece offers much food for thought. So feed your mind. It's easy to visit the exhibition -- it's a mere stroll through the municipal building on Mission Road. The show featuring these three artists will be on view until March 1. Bob Bahr is a member of the Prairie Village Arts Council. He has written about visual art for several national magazines. He lives with his family in Prairie Village and paints a variety of subjects. He wishes there were a NYC-style bodega in the Shops.
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