When art instructor, Paul Bridenbaugh deeply engages in a mental process through meditation, he achieves a state of mind with no ideas and no thoughts, breaking him free from all traditional meanings usually associated with paintings.
Bridenbaugh, art instructor/art gallery coordinator, is one of the many artists involved in the Skyline College Faculty Art Show.
The Faculty Art Show is comprised of fifteen faculty members, all bringing their own unique specialties to the show.
For Bridenbaugh, his latest works demonstrate the practice of meditation, which develops into his two abstract paintings on display at the show, Ka and Mental Earth.
“I can’t say I know what my work means,” Bridenbaugh said. “They came to have symbolic meaning for myself.”
He explains how these paintings are about inner space, rather than looking out into the world. Inner space meaning one’s emotions comprised through the body, thoughts, and soul.
“I’m totally enjoying making these paintings that are about nothing,” Bridenbaugh said, “All artists have a process where they go into themselves and find things there.”
For art and photography instructor, Arthur Takayama finds himself in a dark, yet humorous state when dealing with his artwork.
Takayama said, “My work is intentionally open-ended, unanswered questions, which forces you to think.”
The work on display by Takayama is a sculpture and a few photographs of hands. He explains how his photographs are aimed at showing the process and technique, rather than focusing on the actual subject matter.
“The sculpture asks a lot of questions, provokes a lot, but there is no conclusion,” Takayama said.
“It allows the viewer to make interpretations and that’s the fun part,” Takayama said. “I consider my work humorous from my point, but no one else’s because the artwork itself isn’t humorous, it usually looks very dark.”
Some artists like art instructor, Ilana Crispi, take a more serious approach to their work. The work she put into the show was one ceramic wall piece that includes 25 small separate boxes.
“My inspiration came from a few different places,” Crispi said. “I wanted to incorporate narrative into the piece and then also take something like a temporary, digital image and translate it into something much more archival like a ceramic piece.”
The narrative of her piece is dress up and putting on costume, it was created in a way where the work can be rearranged without disturbing the narrative.
Tiffany Schmierer, associate professor of ceramics, also uses narration in some of her work as well. Her three-dimensional sculpture collages are made of clay, which is glazed and fired several times.
“I start my work with a basic theme,” Schmierer said, “I come up with different imagery and symbols then combine them together to form more elaborate pieces.”
Much of Schmierer’s work has a lot of texture and ideas behind her artwork, leaving the viewer with various interpretations. One very interesting piece titled Ask again later could relate to a lot of people. The title comes from the magic 8 ball, which is one of the many game pieces involved in this sculpture.
Schmierer said, “I had a lot of game imagery and memories from my past that came together through this piece.”
Art instructor, Michael Pauker has also included some collage work in the show.
“Sometimes I simply start piling things on top of other things on a table,” Pauker said. “Then there comes a moment when a light bulb goes off and I think ‘yes’ and then I’m off and running.”
Pauker is striving for a new sort of freedom. He is currently working on a series of large oil paintings of human figures.
Human figures plays a huge role in the work that art instructor, Jody Keane does as well. Even though she hasn’t been able to get into her studio as much as she likes, Keane gets most of her current work done when a model is available for her.
“I don’t like to revisit my work a lot,” Keane said. “I feel my work has more life and personality if I’m working quickly, it’s hard to get that enthusiasm back if I go back to it six months later.”
Keane is very anxious to get back into her studio. She wants to start doing figurative paintings, work with a model at least once a month, and do some still life work as well.
One art instructor by the name of Eileen David doesn’t feel human figures are necessary in her urban landscape paintings.
David said, “If people are in there, the viewer goes straight to that person and begins creating a narrative about that person.”
David enjoys exploring the streets of San Francisco looking for places that seem to be overlooked, places with pattern and amazing lightening. Location is very important subject matter for David.
Overall, the Faculty Art Show is a success. The artists involved were very happy with the turn out.
“I always love seeing what everyone does for the show,” Schmierer said, “There’s a great amount of diversity with different approaches, different materials, and different styles. We’re a really lucky and strong faculty.”