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Friday, May 9, 2003
Monte del Sol Students' Art Featured
Dottie Indyke
For the Journal
If you go
WHAT: Art by students of Monte del Sol Charter School
WHEN: Opening reception 4-6 p.m. Saturday; show hangs through May 15
WHERE: Center for Contemporary Arts, 1050 Old Pecos Trail, 982-1338
HOW MUCH: Free
In Lyle Shanahan's pictures, a street performer wails into his saxophone and a turbaned gentleman poses in front of his produce stand in an Egyptian market. "When I first started photography, I didn't think I had an interest in people," Shanahan says. "But when you do portraits, it becomes more than a photograph — you form a relationship with people. Now, I'm interested in the documentary aspect of photography."
That his photos are so confident might not be surprising if he were an adult. But Shanahan is 15, one of two dozen ninth- and tenth-graders in Mike Webb's photography class at Monte del Sol Charter School. The culmination of their yearlong study is an exhibition of work, opening Saturday at the Center for Contemporary Arts.
Webb, a professional artist and teacher, has spent the academic year teaching his students all aspects of photography, from composition to film developing, framing to writing a press release.
"I have them do research," Webb says. "They give presentations on particular artists and they make photographs in the manner of those artists. They are going to be so far ahead of other kids their age."
Students have access to cameras and two fully equipped darkrooms, all of it donated, and they are given the option to participate in mentorships with professionals. Shanahan, for instance, has been tutored by portrait photographer Jennifer Esperanza.
The work's worth it
All the training and enthusiasm produce impressive results. With four years of experience and three years of mentoring from photographer, teacher and gallerist David Scheinbaum, Jesse Kohn has crafted pictures that are dramatic and abstract. In one, he focuses on a piano, shot low to create beautiful perspective. Only the keyboard is illuminated, which disappears into darkness. Another piece is of two hands, held close to a heat lamp, captured in sharp silhouette with shafts of light leaking from behind the fingers. Only 14, Kohn understands how to make optimal use of the black-and-white format and, even better, offers his viewers layers of meaning from a single image.
If you go
WHAT: Roxie Paine's "Second Nature" with works by Karin Davie and Susan Silton
WHEN: Through July 6
WHERE: SITE Santa Fe, 1606 Paseo de Peralta, 989-1188
HOW MUCH: Admission is $5 for adults, $2.50 for students, free to SITE members.
Other photos in the show depict the physical world of Santa Fe — landscapes, skyscapes, architecture and the like — and such stuff of teen-dom as skateboards and turntables.
Sam Mauldin shoots trees in soft focus. Manika Callewaert sandwiches images together, as in the close-up vertical photo of her brother superimposed on a horizontal landscape, in which the light from the setting sun illuminates one side of his face. Patrick Reid, who has a home darkroom and works part-time at Feathered Friends, takes intimate portraits of exotic birds. Orie Tasaka-Jupp rides his bicycle around town to scout lone objects, such as trees and light posts, that convey a feeling of loneliness.
"Before this class, I didn't know anything about the print process," Tasaka-Jupp says. "My favorite part is putting paper in the developer and watching (the image) slowly appear. It's so amazing."
Dylan Pommer, a budding photographer, artist and writer, says his interest lies in the realm of invention. "With photography, I like that you're taking something from the real world and creating a whole new feeling from it," he says. For the exhibition press release, he penned what may wind up an entry in a future edition of "Bartlett's Quotations" = "Art is to life as cheese is to a cheese sandwich."
The CCA show will also include painting studies and reverse glass paintings by students in Nancy Sue Sierra's art class.
Webb, 31, has been professionally represented since he graduated from the College of Santa Fe (by Conlon Siegal, Helix and Klaudia Marr galleries); he will be one of five young photographers featured in an upcoming exhibit at the Santa Fe Art Institute
He says teaching children is awesome.
"It's all about empowering them," he says. "When I was young, I never saw art as a viable career. I emphasize that the work they're making is very important, that they're creating culture. I give them the tools and it's exciting to see them light up.
"I think they're tired of computers and video games. They want to build and create and photography is hands-on."
Not just kid stuff
You don't have to be a kid to enjoy the new exhibit at SITE Santa Fe, though it helps if you bring openness and a sense of wonder. I was charmed and amazed by Roxy Paine's work, particularly the botanical reproductions. "Crop," for instance, is a replica of a patch of red poppies, largely made of non-organic materials like polymer, vinyl and Plexiglass, set on a rectangular block of dirt. With casts and paint, the artist has captured every detail, from the yellowing leaves and delicate thorns of the flowers to the stray branches and weeds on the ground.
One wall piece consists of hundreds of mushrooms, each handcrafted of plastic. A terrarium of poison ivy, littered with cigarette butts and gum wrappers, is as authentic as anything real life could offer.
Paine also concocts complex art-making machines that are as fascinating to look at as they are to observe in operation. There are three in this exhibit, programmed to make paintings, drawings and sculpture on a predictable schedule. A labyrinth of stainless steel vats and tubes, conveyor belts, hoses and computer monitors that explode with paint and drip polystyrene like icing on a cake, these are high-tech contraptions with a Rube Goldberg feel. Stick around and watch.
Regardless of whether or not Paine's offerings cause you to consider the nature of nature or the relationship between art and machine, you're likely to appreciate his humor, craftsmanship and, especially, the workings of his imagination.
The exhibit, which also features Susan Stilton and Karin Davie, will remain on view through July 6.