Local Photographer Travels to Romania, Lives Daily Life of Peasant Ancestors
For 25 years, local photographer Emily Matyas captured the Mexican spirit and heritage on film while living in Sonora, Mexico. In October, she decided it was time to catalogue her own heritage, a journey that would take her to the distant peasant villages of Romania.
Image “Morning in the Beautiful Room” by Emily Matyas
For Tempe photographer Emily Matyas, her deceased father’s Romanian heritage was always a mystery, a missing piece in the puzzle of her sense of self. In Oct. 2013, she decided it was time to fill in the blanks.
With friend and fellow photographer Kathleen Laraia McLaughlin, an adjunct professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, Emily made her way to the Romanian village of Sarbi, where she would spend 10 days taking self-portraits as she lived the life of her peasant ancestors — wearing the traditional garb, helping with the exhausting chores, and interacting with the locals.
“I decided to photograph myself as if I were my grandmother, as if I had lived there all my life,” Emily said. “You can hear all the stories you want about your relatives, but when you actually go and experience their lives, it is a totally different level of understanding.”
Though Emily admits she often felt like a fish out of water living in a village of outhouses, haystacks and ancient customs, she said the trip helped her understand her identity more fully.
“This experience had to do with belonging,” said Matyas. “I had to find out where I belonged and this trip made me feel complete. If people have questions about their heritage or identity, then these photos may represent a way to find what they are looking for.”
People will have the chance to view Emily’s photographs, along with seven other up-and-coming photographers, during “Home Bound,” an art exhibition Jan. 17 to Feb. 28 at Gilbert’s Art Intersection (207 North Gilbert Road, Suite 201, Gilbert).
“The exhibition looks at the main differences of perspective on what we think of as home,” said “Home Bound” Curator Carol Panaro-Smith. “The work is full of beauty, but also makes us think about our home, experience and heritage.”
Other photographers featured will include LA-based artist Kristin Bedford, whose images of the “Father Divine” religious sect were recently featured in the New York Times, and Daniel Coburn, a Kansas-based photographer whose first book “The Hereditary Estate” is due for release April 14.
“People are bound to home, for better or for worse,” said Matyas. “I would hope that the viewers can take away different meanings of home that support and guide them in their lives.”
A group exhibition, FAMILY MATTERS, revisited explores familial relationships through the vision of photographers who share personal perspectives on their own families whether as documentation or metaphor. Through images they explore intimate family dynamics, cultural traditions, painful and joyful memories, bonds of support and love, as well as challenging issues of illness, prejudice, abuse and addiction.
Artist Talks
Join us for in the gallery for Coburn’s intimate artist talk and a discussion about forgiveness on Tuesday, Oct 28 at 6:30 pm
Come share family stories with Miranda after her artist talk in the gallery on Tuesday, Nov 18 at 6:30 pm
FAMILY MATTERS, revisited features Daniel Coburn’s Domestic Reliquary in which he uses vernacular photographs to represent personal family dynamics. By portraying his own family’s dark history through the use of found images, he speaks about personal struggles, quiet suffering and a gradual healing from the past. Coburn reproduces these images using the salted paper process and then applies paint or sews into the print. He earned his MFA from the University of New Mexico and is currently a professor of Photo Media at the University of Kansas. Daniel W. Coburn
In Karen Miranda’s series Other Histories/Historias Bravas, she reenacts memories from her childhood in which she collaborates with members of her family, often her mother and her aunt, to explore issues concerning her bi-cultural background growing up in Ecuador and the US. She says the images “provide a means for reflection and a search for truthfulness.” Miranda’s act of handwriting her diaristic titles directly onto the print welcomes the viewer into her intimate space and invites us to reflect on our own personal histories. Karen Miranda
Other artists featured in the exhibition include Sean Black, Jess Dugan, Annie Lopez, Marivi Ortiz, Hillerbrand + Magsamen and H. Jennings Sheffield.
Curator: Liz Allen
School of Art
Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts
Mom healing me from my fear of iguanas by Karen Miranda
The opening of Eternal Platinum marks Art Intersection’s third anniversary. Our first exhibition on January 17, 2011 was Out of the Blue: Contemporary Cyanotype Invitational. Once again we went to a traditional process that offers a unique, and distinctive presentation of an image. On exhibition in the North and South Galleries are exquisite works from artists that have not been shown before at Art Intersection.
A platinum print is an exceptionally beautiful and everlasting image presented through a wide range of subtle tones. The creation of a contemporary platinum print, whether from film or digital camera, remains an intimate, handcrafted process. The artist begins by hand coating an art paper with a platinum or platinum/palladium solution, exposing the sensitized paper to ultra-violet light, and then hand processing the exposed paper to create the final, permanent print. No two prints are ever identical.
This exhibition is in conjunction with PhotoTapas, celebrating the art of photography in Arizona during the month of February.
EXHIBITING ARTISTS
Dick Arentz
Scott B. Davis, courtesy of Etherton Gallery
Joy Goldkind, courtesy of Tilt Gallery
Charles Grogg, courtesy of Etherton Gallery
David Johndrow
Stan Klimek
Andrea Modica, courtesy of Tilt Gallery
Jean-Claude Mougin, courtesy of Tilt Gallery
Keith Schreiber
RYAN GALLERY
This year begins an expansion of our gallery program to include the representation of artists who will be shown in Ryan Gallery. The East Gallery has been renamed the Ryan Gallery and will serve as the space for presentation of works by the represented artists. During Eternal Platinum in the Ryan Gallery, with platinum prints, are the following artists:
Michael T. Puff
Ryuijie
Terry Towery
In the future we will show the works of additional represented artists with prints produced in the darkroom using processes including cyanotype, gelatin silver, kallitype, etc.
IMAGES FROM THE OPENING
Below are the incredibly nice parents of Charles Grogg, standing in front of one of four images by Charles.
Jim and Carol standing in front of work by Dick Arentz. Carol worked through much of last year to curate this show. She worked directly with the artists, as well as two Arizona galleries to bring this work to Art Intersection. Thank you Carol for a great job. Also, thank you to Tilt Gallery and Etherton Gallery for making this work available to Art Intersection.
Two close friends of Art Intersection, David Emitt Adams and Rosie Shipley. Rosie will be the juror for our upcoming student photography exhibition, Emerge. Thank you Rosie. David was the juror for last year’s Emerge exhibition.
Randy Efros, well know photographer and arts patron joined us. One of his images hangs permanently at Art Intersection.
Mark and Becky Godfrey and Chris Palmer and Tammy Cowden never miss an opening. Mark’s company Parker Madison is the marketing firm for Art Intersection. Both Chris and Tammy have had their work on exhibition at Art Intersection in the past.
Jamie Fitzgerald, Debra Wilson, and Alan Fitzgerald in the Ryan Gallery. Debra works behind the scene at Art Intersection making sure the bills are paid and the business pieces stay organized. Jamie practices acupuncture nearby at The Healing Point. Alan, well we’re not sure what he does, but he drinks most of the coffee.
James Hajicek and Mary Kay Zeeb discussing the platinum process. Jim taught the non-silver curriculum at ASU, and was a professor there for over 30 years. Mary Kay teaches, and is an instructor for the Italy Workshop.
Neil Miller and Marilyn Miller never miss an opening or event at Art Intersection. As always Neil has his camera around his neck, but tonight it’s different, he is shooting with an infra-red flash and filter. He will co-instruct the upcoming infra-red workshop.
North Gallery with Dick Arentz and Keith Schreiber.
South Gallery with Scott B. Davis, Charles Grogg, David Johndrow, Stan Klemick, Andrea Modica, and Jean-Claude Mougin.
Ryan Gallery with Michael T. Puff, Ryuijie, and Terry Towery.
Each year Art Intersection invites artists to submit work for consideration in Light Sensitive, a national juried exhibition of analog photography. This annual exhibition celebrates the traditional methods of making images in the darkroom. Past work has included c-prints, platinum, cyanotype, gelatin silver, gum bichromate, wet plate collodion tintypes, and other printing processes. While the final print must be made using analog techniques the use of computer generated digital negatives/positives in the creation of the print is acceptable.
In our May exhibition Art Intersection presents the work of emerging student talent ranging from high school to graduate students. We are dedicated to supporting students in their educational pursuits of self-expression through photography and congratulate each student for their unique vision and dedication to their craft. Through a jury process Art Intersection selects a variety of work from the photography students at high school, college, and university educational institutions across Arizona.
Art Intersection celebrates all forms of visual art with this juried exhibition from Arizona artists. Artists submit images of their work ranging from sculpture, photography, painting, ceramics, mixed media, artist books, and more in this juried exhibition juried by the Art Intersection curatorial staff.
No Strangers – The Art Intersection Creative Community embraces the diversity of Art Intersection alliances. This eclectic exhibition combines work from Art Intersection members and collaborating artists. This exhibition celebrates a very special part of our growing community, our members, staff, and faculty.
Exhibit your work by sharing your portfolio and view the work of other members in the Art Intersection members’ portfolio sharing event. Each member has a table space about 3′ x 6′ to show their work. Viewing is open to the public.
Fifty-two pieces of original art found new homes as a result of the Annual Silent Auction at Art Intersection. Throughout the two weeks prior to the actual event on Saturday, December 1, the work of artists who generously donated the pieces were on display in the North and South galleries. Sometimes a silent auction can be a less than cohesive array of work, however many visitors commented on the extraordinary quality and professionalism of this exhibition.
On Saturday evening, it was great to see so many people show up to support Art Intersection. We could not have accomplished this without our community of artists, members, volunteers, and art enthusiasts who made the event a success.
With the funds raised we will to continue to showcase the work of all levels of artists, showing the best photography and related art forms. Specifically, these contributions will offset future exhibition costs and finance our yearly student exhibition, Emerge, which showcases work from several local high schools, community colleges, and universities.
To everyone who “paid it forward”, please accept our heartfelt gratitude. We strive to continue to be a place where you can learn, create, and exhibit.
On October 25, 2012, the Zelma Basha Salmeri Gallery Award was awarded to Art Intersection, an educational institution and gallery, for expanding the scope and quality of the arts in Gilbert, Arizona.
The following is reprinted from the Arizona Republic:
“At his third annual Breakfast with the Arts on Thursday, Gilbert Mayor John Lewis extolled the importance of the arts amid the increasing importance that science and technology are receiving in education and economic development.
His theme was Connecting Arts to the Community: Full S.T.E.A.M. Ahead, a slogan that adds arts to STEM, the acronym for science, technology, engineering and mathematics that is being promoted in schools.
“When we think of STEM, that’s a good thing. When we put the ‘a’ in STEM, that’s even greater,” Lewis told a gathering of Gilbert’s artists and arts educators and volunteers.
An accompanying slide show highlighted the town’s arts community, including Art Intersection, the Gilbert Art Walk and the Hale Centre Theatre.
Lewis also presented 10 awards, some named after prominent town families.”
We know how difficult it is to have a meaningful dialogue during an exhibition’s opening so we hosted a gallery talk for Word Up: artists using language, to discuss the work in the exhibition.
John Risseeuw and Dan Mayer, educators and artists from the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at ASU led the conversation. John and Dan talked about the history of the Fine Printing and Book Arts Program at ASU and also shared a lot of interesting historical references to the art of fine printing.
There were several other exhibiting artists in attendance, including Karla Elling from Mummy Mountain Press, Linda Smith from Picnic Press and current student, Rosalind Shipley along with ASU alumni, Peter Bugg. For more photos of this exhibition visit our facebook page.
The opening reception for WORD UP: artists using language and Abstracted by J. Barry Thomson kicked off our fall season programming block of Art & Language.
In the galleries you’ll find so much interesting work, plan to stay for at least an hour. In additional to three galleries full of a variety of media, you can come into the east gallery and spend some time looking at-and yes- handling, a wide variety of artists’ books.
Here’s a link to our Facebook photo album where you can see images of the opening and selected pieces from the exhibitions.
Please visit our website to look at our fall line-up of classes, lectures, workshops and MORE!
Tags: gallery, exhibition Posted in Event Recaps |
Comments Off on WORD UP: artists using language / Abstracted by J Barry Thomson
“I know there is strength in the differences between us. I know there is comfort, where we overlap.” ― Ani DiFranco
The doors of Art Intersection opened in January of 2011 with a belief that in order for human creativity to flourish – it being perhaps one of our most important saving graces – nourishment is required on many fronts. In order to support the creative spirit of all those individuals within physical range of its facilities and programming, a well-equipped and well-staffed facility was made available to any and to all who wanted to engage in further developing their own creativity.
This exhibition celebrates a very special part of our growing community, our members, staff, and faculty.With our membership, we wanted to create a lively atmosphere for interesting dialogue and networking, a place to share work, and to learn not only from the stellar faculty and staff but also from each other. Through group critiques, one on ones with our curator and special member events we have begun forging a true creative community.
The staff and faculty of Art Intersection are also committed artists and feel honored to have their work intersecting with the work of the members in this inaugural exhibition devoted to learning, creating, and sharing. For more images visit our Facebook page.
Hundreds of people turned out for the opening reception of All Art Arizona on Saturday evening, June 2nd. There were many opportunities for the public to engage with the artists and for connections to be made within the community. One artist, Lynn Thomson, was exhibiting her iphoneography abstract images for the first time in a gallery setting. She enjoyed the interaction with her audience and the feedback they provided. She was impressed at the opening with the way the variety of work came together and flowed through the space.
Overall, the opening for All Art Arizona was a huge success. The event was a wonderful beginning of a 2 month-long celebration of all forms of art, and an important cultural milestone for Gilbert and the East Valley Community.
The curatorial staff selected 76 works from over 300 that were submitted. It was a difficult process in that we not only wanted to open this exhibition to a wider range of visual media than usually exhibited, but we also wanted to include the largest possible range of levels of experience from student artists to accomplished masters in one exhibition. The gallery features a multitude of different mediums from, painting to drawing, fibers, mixed media, photography, and sculpture.
All Art Arizona is a testament to Art Intersection’s commitment to being a truly professional exhibition space of the highest order while at the same time creating opportunities for artists of all experience levels to be able to complete their artistic process which includes the final stage of bringing their work before a public audience.
Now showing through July 28, 2012, Tuesday through Saturday from 10am-6pm. Free and open to the public. For more pictures of the opening visit our Facebook.
