October 28 – November 26, 2022

Holi Moli – Beginner’s Mind

Tracey Adams, Al Carter, Ken Hale, Judith Foosaner
Susan Hyde Greene, Richard James, Sarah Klein
Anne Marchand, Tom Nakashima, Sam Tchakalian,  Martin Webb
Students from Forest Grove Elementary School in Pacific Grove

The current exhibit, “Holi Moli, Beginner’s Mind,” is born out of assumption that at its source, all art-making is based in the longing for transcendence. As well, that transcendence is often achieved a kind of unknowing, or beginner’s mind.  Originally, “naive art” was any form of visual art that reflected a fresh and innocent vision of the world and was created by a person who lacked or rejected traditional understanding in portraying those objects. The genre is now widely recognized and can include a range of mediums, styles and motifs – from child-like scribbles with classical references to the art and poetry of antiquity to pure abstraction in painting and drawing.

One of the primary sources of creativity is uncertainty. In some sense, creativity is to leave the door open to the unfamiliar, a door into the dark. It is to rely on uncertainty and the unsure footing of a kind of a profound unknowing.  Darkness supports our vital unsteadiness, the way we are not actually standing on anything. For artists and photographers, the dark – or the unknown – is what must be traveled and discovered. It is the job of artists to open doors, step into the dark and invite in deities, the unacquainted and the unaccustomed.

The activity of creativity is sometimes called the condition of mind that is without – without assumptions, without prejudices, without prized views, without the story we happen to have about how life should be at the moment – even our stories about art and creativity. At that intersection possibility occurs.  Approaching art from not knowing can be profoundly seditious to our usual habits of mind.  It is to examine the assumption that say “you are like this” or “I am like that.” Beginner’s Mind is to move in the absence of such thoughts.  It is to reach into the dark.  If we stop deciding beforehand what the next moment should be – exerting all our life energy trying to will it into existence – the next moment might arrive larger, more surprising and alive than any of our ideas about it. Art relies on uncertainty inviting us into the imagination, a realm where our inner and outer lives can begin to correspond.  – Robert Reese, Carl Cherry Center for the Arts

Artist’s Statement: Tom Nakashima

“Pink, Gray Mobius Strip”
Tom Nakashima
Pulp Painting on Handmade Paper
$5000 (unframed)

“As a small child, I would follow my dad’s instructions, twisting a strip of flat paper so that it entered into the 3rd dimension. Next, I would draw a line down the center that ran eventually on both sides.Then came the magic — inserting a scissors into the line, I cut it in half revealing a single circle with an additional twist.

This Mobius Strip is one of two made at Pyramid Atlantic in Maryland as a collaboration with Master paper maker, Helen Frederick. She made the paper base and I drew the image using thread and ketchup containers filled with pulp paper.” – Tom Nakashima, 2022

Artist’s Statement: Anne Marchand

Anne Marchand was determined to  become an artist as far back into childhood as she can remember. She painted figurative portraits of all she knew and when not painting, took photographs. It wasn’t until she moved to Washington, DC in the late 70’s that pure abstraction slowly made its way into her art. “We were traveling to New Mexico a lot then, and the influence of landscape and mythology of the Native Americans compelled me to turns towards abstraction. That’s the time when landscape space as a container of energy became an abstract theme in my work.” she says and continues, “A combination of landscape, mythology and architectural abstraction evolved during the 80’ and 90’s. In 2000, pure abstraction became my focus working with blocks of color shapes and gesture.”

“Space of Love”
Anne Marchand
Mixed Media on Canvas
$5500 

Artist’s Statement: Susan Hyde Greene

“Paper Doll Memories”
Susan Hyde Greene
Mixed Media on Paper
$900

“I remember, as a child, sitting on the floor of my room with my friend carefully cutting out doll shapes in a fold so that when we opened it we had a paper chain of dolls to dress and play with.  I never lost my fascination with the idea of paper people and, as an artist, this childhood art form has found its way into my art work. I have made numerous versions inspired by my childhood memories. Several years ago, I photographed some of my standing figures in black and white then explored cutting them up and creating a series of mixed media pieces which I called Cutting, Sewing Speaking. Paper Doll Memories is from this series. I love the idea of using children’s art for inspiration for its seeming simplicity and directness.  As for all dolls, the question remains what really is the fascination of creating an alternate likeness of ourselves, as in this case out of paper?”  — Susan Hyde Greene 2022

Ms. Boston’s Class – Forest Grove Elementary School