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Art Artistic journeys into night
Objects and images associated with travel become metaphorical reminders of life's ultimate destination in a new Dunedin exhibit.
By LENNIE BENNETT
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 9, 2003
[Dunedin Fine Art Center]
Unmarid Eitharong, Journey, graphite on paper, 1991.
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DUNEDIN -- Well, pilgrim, choose the journey or the destination at the Dunedin Fine Art Center's exhibition that ruminates about and rummages through several centuries and some two dozen artistic psyches to explore the deeper meanings of departure and arrival.
Curator David Shankweiler describes "Journeys" as "a very large version of a kid's room, a high level toy box," and the mix of genres, some more artifact than art, are packed into the Entel Family Gallery as if waiting to be discovered in the attic of a very organized and discerning grandmother.
A wood strip canoe built by Ken MacHan and a Nieuport 11 model airplane assembled by Carl Porter dangle above your head; beneath them rests a helmet used by Russian MiG pilots to survive high altitudes, all literal instruments of travel.
More of the objects are metaphorical. Michael Mick's Star Journey is a ceramic pod carved with cuneiform that could be a celestial map from a lost civilization. Ovoid and primal, with a glaze that looks as if it had been singed hurtling through the Earth's atmosphere, the vessel sits like a serene and mysterious alien under glass.
The point made collectively, and by each item in its own way, is that humans have a predilection for moving on, and antique toy cars and trains remind us that the allure of a journey begins early.
Cecil Dick, The Lost Hunter and the Little People, oil on canvas, c. 1960, from the collection of Deborah and Alan Kynes.
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Death summons its own modes of transportation, such as Timothy Tyler's Purong Elang Septembre, an exquisitely crafted Indonesian "soul boat" in the form of a bird that acts as a conduit between this world and the next. Jack Nichelson's meticulously crafted car from an early 20th century Southern Pacific Gas train is at first glance a whimsical work of craft with its tramp art roof. But a closer look shows it to be funerary carriage, its cargo an oversized arm encased in a worn denim sleeve, an homage to the tramps and drifters of that era, along with things needed in the afterlife: a fat stogey and crate of oranges. Even a fragment from a 15th century altarpiece shows God, with a determined look and a beckoning hand that seems to say, "Let's Go!"
Robert Hodgell, Trojan Horse, ceramic and iron, from the collection of William R. Hough and Co.
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As a group, the objects are more evocative than the paintings and drawings, probably because even mental journeys take on dimensions. The two standout pieces in this show are a ceramic and iron Trojan Horse by the late Robert Hodgell and Harriet Bell's Riding to China, a large-scale sculpture in the folk art tradition.
James Skvarch's etchings have the charm and fantasy of a Jules Verne tale. And the watercolors and sketches that fill the journals of James and Jan Hagenbuckle during their travels through South America and the Galapagos Islands are reminiscent of an era when a journey was a leisurely progress.
For every example of a journey as ground gained, there is one that speaks to things lost along the way.
Harriet Bell, Riding to China, wood and metal.
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Cecil Dick's paintings of his Cherokee heritage and its ancient myths probably could have happened only because an "Anglo" started a small school for American Indians that became the noted Santa Fe Studio, an irony of cultural collaboration.
An early 20th century Gelede mask of carved wood from Nigeria is topped by an airplane, a power symbol that replaced the leopard in that culture as Western influences melded with ancient African rituals. A series of photographs by Rodger Kingston, part of his series "Along the Right of Way" taken from train windows over 15 years, are in the tradition of Robert Frank, a melting pot of American beauty and pathos.
Including Unmarid Eitharong's monumental graphite self-portrait with his newborn twins could be considered a stretch, but every parent who takes in the artist's martyred posture can relive all the uncertainties and anxieties at the beginning of the parental road. Besides, it's simply one great work of draftsmanship.
The Dunedin Fine Art Center has installed an exceptional children's component to "Journeys" in the adjacent David L. Mason Children's Art Museum, with computer stations and interactive games and activities designed by curator Todd Still, including a 1950s Airstream trailer loaded with old National Geographic magazines that kids can cut up and assemble into a journal.
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The late Michael Mick, a ceramic artist who, near the end of his life, turned to assemblages of found objects that resembled boats (one of them is in "Journeys"), left a large collection of his work and that of fellow artists. It will be on view and for sale at the Dunedin Fine Art Center, with proceeds going to his estate, beginning Monday. For information, call the center.
Timothy Tyler’s Purong Elang Septembre (wood, copper and ceramic, 2001) is among works in “Journeys” exhibit at the Dunedin Fine Art Center.
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Art review
"Journeys" is at the Dunedin Fine Art Center, 1143 Michigan Ave., through March 2. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday. Admission to the arts center is free; admission to the children's museum is $4. (727) 298-3322.
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