The Shadow
This exhibit demonstrates what happens when two different media and styles connect. Viewers will find patience, persistence, deep thought and a good bit of playfulness in “Commonalities.” The exhibit opened Tuesday July 23 and continues through August 30 at the AHACC in Clifton Forge, VA. Admission is free.
Even a cursory exploration of these works by painter Tammy Deane and sculptor Peter Pittman, demonstrates shared aesthetic similarities. “We live in a time that makes it convenient to focus on our differences. Political, racial, gender and socio-economic dissimilarities are threatening polarity. When we were putting together the show with two completely dissimilar mediums, we were pleasantly surprised that a study of the work reveals unexpectedly delightful congruencies. A deeper consideration of these pieces reveals even more. Study the line, shape, shadow, color, texture, and emotion behind the works of these two artists and discover your own observations.”
PETER PITTMAN, Sculptor
“I do my work, whether sculpting, weaving, or painting outdoors in the open air. The distractions that interrupt the flow usually have something to add, influencing the piece in progress. Therefore sunshine, shadow, wind, sun, sometimes a passers-by—human or otherwise—all play roles. Being open to stimulus while in the process of manifestation has become an essential part of my art. Allowing things to change, to end differently than first conceptualized, has revealed more beauty and magic than I’ve felt possible without.
“These stick and vine pieces are kinetic works of balance and patience. I don’t use adhesives or fasteners when creating the “Machines.” Sticks and twigs, limbs and branches are sometimes manipulated while living and left to grow, then eventually cut free into graceful arches, circles, and radical angles all waiting to be incorporated with what nature’s path provides. Vines of jasmine, wild grape, kudzu, and ivy find their way into intuitive, reactionary forms arrested in time. “
There is more than a touch of whimsy in many of these pieces by a man who “grew up finding faces in tree knots and learned at an early age how to add branches to the family Christmas tree to make the loblolly pine look thicker.” He seems to have never lost his “inner child’s” capacity to “make something out of nothing.” The meaning and thought behind many of these sculptures– particularly the standing towers- has deepened and grown to reflect contemporary issues, but other pieces are just pleasure and curiosity about the forms he can create. All constructions are joined with drilled holes, dimples and carefully fitted pegs. Many of them respond to gentle touches to move and swing about as mobiles. Others are designed to sit on an end table, bookshelf, hang on a wall…the possibilities are broad, and the materials are carefully chosen to suit the mass and form.
Sturdy, sometimes heavy vines, give his baskets burly, wild, and distinctive shapes, from cocoons to slippers– even one that is “Knot a Basket.” Pittman’s work is designed for interaction. In the “Nest” series there’s a total shift of scale to his real estate for feathered folk. These “nest houses” are delicate, ethereal —but sturdy enough to be appealingly real. Several have taken on temporary residents while under construction, sitting outside on a deck or in the yard. Subjects in the “twig” pieces are imaginary, some referential, even whimsical reminders of what can happen when a line takes on a third dimensional and grows a shadow. (Don’t forget to enjoy the shadows on the wall, as they are integral parts of his creativity.)
Near the center of the gallery are two large pieces that interact with one another as well as visitors. Look up, then “read” these from bottom to top. “The World as We Know It” tells a creation story with man’s arrival and all those implications near the upper third. “Timeline” also reads from the bottom up. If you get stuck with the interpretation, feel free to check out the line drawings on the wall nearby. Just walk behind the towers, read, and turn back to the sculpture–all will be clear in a moment. You can walk gently between them into the back of the gallery and figure out the third tower, “Concept/Conclusion” and you will soon figure that one out, too. If you step back, you will see how the swirls and lines echo Tammy Deane’s painting on the back wall. Don’t forget to look for another nest.
Pittman delights in sharing his works with young and old alike. He has been a guest in physics classes to demonstrate some of the principles involved in structural integrity and balance. His demonstrations as he creates seemingly simple sculptures illustrate what might otherwise seem like dry theory. Ecologically Pittman strives to be responsible in what and how he “harvests” his materials. He has a firm grasp on the tensile and flexibility capacities, and subtle shades of his unconventional materials–wood and bark. From pittosporum to black cherry, azalea to pathway twig, all are familiar friends in his hands. He easily identifies many of the varieties of vine and branches that might look the same to casual observers. It’s good for people to know that materials can be found in a backyard or on a nature walk if one looks respectfully, gathers them carefully and with permission. When twisted, connected, and linked together in Pittman’s sculptures, nature’s already beautiful materials can take on new meanings and delight.
“As an Advertising Creative Director and Designer, I am analytical yet also free spirited. I am equally visual, verbal/ data driven and strategic with communication. The combination has proven to be useful and earned National and International Industry awards, including the Best in Show at the London International Film Festival.
“Now, as a painter, these contrasting philosophies provide limitless potential for expression in the world of fine art. My abstract paintings, made with layers of oil, acrylic, cold wax, and occasional bits of ephemera, are an expression of how I see the world–rich in layers and nuance. Like a language in paint, I seeks to simplify reality and reconstruct my experience of seeing more than one idea at once. My aim is to present a pattern or configuration of the parts of the work: the color, the layers, the mark making, textures, and gestures where the whole is greater than the individual components.
“It’s fair to say that these days I am pre-occupied with our complex interlocking network of broken systems. Our penchant for binary logic, and our choices between black and white, red, and blue, good, and evil, coax us deeper into a well of ignorance filled with disregard for the limitless shades of gray. This ‘pick a style’ of thinking invisibly leads us into profound cultural ignorance and immeasurable social injustice. I hope to introduce the idea that it is possible to hold many contrasting thoughts simultaneously…
“What do I hope to achieve with this series? A new way of seeing and experiencing an image by taking apart and re-constructing reality that might offer a new way of seeing. When the viewer is allowed to relax and take in all the elements of these paintings at once, the result, hopefully, is a calm and serene configuration. The organic shapes work in harmony with architectural geometry. The resulting mix of lines and splatters is a language of sorts that evokes a malleable narrative of cooperation and empathy.
“Sometimes the process of painting is almost more impactful for Deane than the finished work. “I love being in that ‘Flow State’ where I’m just ‘in the zone’ and painting is as physical a function as it is a cerebral discipline. What I am searching for is that place where my academic knowledge is completely balanced by the magical, playful intensity of the child, who paints intuitively. The newer, more colorful paintings are a step in this direction. I seem to be in a real color phase and people love color. The big swings of the brush, the energetic marks, along with some fine bits of nuance, seem to be pushing the artist to a place where the intellectual and physical aspects of painting merge and painting can be ’the best drug of all’.”
COMMONALITIES,
