inFLUX
an Exhibition of Dance

inFLUX seeks to exhibit artwork pertaining to and inspired by all forms of dance. inFLUX is a national juried exhibition that will be at the Coconino Center for the Arts, the cultural hub of the Flagstaff community, from May 23 – August 15, 2009.

WORLD DANCE WEEKEND

The final weekend of activities and events with inFLUX!

World Dance Festival Performances
Saturday, August 8, 7-9pm ($5 donation)
World Dance Festival Performances

World Dance Festival Workshops

Saturday August 8th

1:00 Tango with Earl Duque ($5.00 donation)
2:00 Serbian dance with Jennifer Radakovich
3:00 Hip-hop/jazz/funk with Ryan de Pinto

Sunday August 9th

1:00 Beginning poi spinning with Pam - materials provided
2:30 Tahitian and Samoan dance with Jennifer
3:15 Country Shoddish dance with Pam
4:00 Brazilian Drumming with Sambatuque

Artist Profile: John Waddell

John Henry Waddell's earliest memory of sculpting was in 1929 at the age of eight. Since then, much of his life's pursuit has been in the realm of creating and understanding art. By the age of 30, Waddell had received a BFA in Painting & Sculpture, an MFA in Art, a Masters of Art Education and had held numerous one-man exhibitions and was an instrumental part of the art community in Chicago. In 1957, Waddell and his wife, Ruth Holland Waddell, move to Tempe, AZ where Waddell accepts the position of Head of Art Education at Arizona State College (ASU).

Though spending only a few more years in the academic setting, Waddell's artwork continues to flourish throughout the years. Here we are, some eight decades after that first significant sculpture and he is still going strong, sculpting daily and making his mark in the art world as prominently as ever.

Currently living and creating art on his 25-acre ranch in Cornville, AZ, Waddell is still sculpting the human figure as his primary subject. The process of creating a life sized bronze figure, such as those seen in inFLUX, takes hundreds of hours. This lengthy process can take place over a period of time spanning many months to many years. During this productive time, both artist and model undergo a creative process and bonding experience. Waddell notes in John Henry Waddell the Art and the Artist, "Often as they lose their self-consciousness, I will ask them to move for me, to dance, to show different moods in their gestures. Gradually the complicity evolves, they become involved in the process of creation."

When an artist spends this much time with their craft, it is not surprising that their mind develops analogies, insights and conclusions that others may never have arrived upon, "When one feels something in music it enters the senses through the ears and the bodily kinesthesis of dimly remembered ancient dances from deep in the genesis of creation. In sculpture it enters through the eyes and through the hands which have been shown to occupy such a large part in the neurological chartings of the brain - all the senses pulsating in receptiveness to the spatial overlay of the multitude of images in a work of many levels and long duration." This bodily connection to his art is apparent in Waddell's work.

Some of this multifaceted connection to his dancing and moving figures may stem from his years of experience dancing with Human Nature Dance Theater. Both John and Ruth danced with Human Nature and still hold strong bonds and friendships with its dancers. Currently, among a host of other projects, Waddell is sculpting Jayne Lee, one of the principal dancers in Human Nature.

His work in inFLUX shows the depth of his dedication and love of dance through this broad body of work. Viewers who come to the exhibition will see six life-sized sculptures, 14 small and medium sized sculptures, and a dozen works on paper and canvas.

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John Waddell's sculptures are now on display in the new exhibition, inFLUX: an Exhibition of Dance at the Coconino Center for the Arts.

Artist Profile: Lola Serkland

This month, Gallery Director, Jillian Asplund interviews ceramic artist, Lola Serkland. Serkland is currently showing 2 works of art in inFLUX, one of which won the prestigious Juror's Best of Show Award. Serkland shows her work regularly at the Artists' Gallery in downtown Flagstaff.

JA: Have you had a lifelong interest in the arts?
LS: As a child my favorite pastimes were with paper, paint, glue, scissors, and clay. Drawing came easily too, but I never thought about art as a serious course of study.

JA: Is ceramics your primary medium? What other media have you worked with?
LS: I pursued fashion design and patternmaking as a career, but with a nagging sense that I wanted more art. After retirement in 1997, I took ceramic, painting and drawing courses at a small university in North Dakota. . . just for fun. I was hooked! When my husband retired in 2001, we wished to live in the Southwest. Flagstaff was the clear choice after viewing the ceramic facility at NAU.

JA: You recently attended NAU, can you tell me a little about your experience there and what made you decide to go back for a degree?
LS: I wanted to take all the ceramic courses available, repeatedly. That meant that I had to work the fine arts degree program, no problem, I loved it. What a great experience to work with every kind of kiln, clay and glaze recipe, various techniques, plus visiting artists every semester. The energy from other students was contagious. The degree program required experience in all media, but clay held the greatest attraction.

JA: Both of the works you are showing in inFLUX are figurative, would you say that this is the subject you are most interested in interpreting?
LS: Figures often show up in my work. I like the challenge of working out recognizable proportions, creating a mood or feeling, and lastly, the magnetic response of viewers to human likeness.
Abstractions appeal to me. They allow the mind to wonder, seek, invent. I base abstract shapes on the figure, the spiral, or pure intuition. Lately, in response to being a co-op member at The Artist's Gallery, downtown, I am making small sculptural objects that can function as a jar or box.

JA: Who are your top 3 artist influences?
LS: The sculptor, Henry Moore, is a big influence on my figurative abstractions. His use of "holes" or negative space and passages through the sculpture appeal to me. Arthur Gonzales is a ceramic sculptor who makes very earth, narrative figures. A two-week workshop with him has challenged me to find "story quality" in my figures or vignettes. Another artist, with a more subtle influence, is Isamu Noguchi. I find his work to be strong, contemplative, direct and uncluttered. He also uses passages through abstract sculptures.

JA: What are your top 3 non-art influences?
LS: Beside the influence of artists, that of nature is uppermost. Watching seeds sprout, grow into beauty, food, or a forest, snorkeling in a coral reef, gazing at the clouds, walking in the woods, all take me out of my rational self and into a feeling, intuitive state. Reading philosophy, psychology, and layman's science leads to more wonder. Clay, being so malleable, allows me to express the images and thoughts that enter my wandering mind, almost. It's a good life.