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 rossing he
 oundaries
Paintings by Gaylen
Stewart
and Poetry/Text/Music by Steve Scott
A collaborative and multi-disciplinary, art project.
The
Ohio Arts Council helped fund this project with state tax dollars
to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural
enrichment for all Ohioans.
gaylen@gaylen.com
and/or thescotts@ttns.net
We appreciate your comments |
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The Esther Allen Greer
Museum, University of Rio Grande,
Rio Grande, OH 45674. Jan-Feb 1998 |
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All images copyrighted ©
1998 by Gaylen Stewart
Poetry/Text/Music copyrighted © 1998 by Steve Scott
tatement
This project explores themes connecting the
spiritual and the natural, symbols and objects, images and text, sound and
perception. We are interested in the processes and patterns that emerge
from the overlap of our interests, concerns and working methods. We desire
to create art that will cross boundaries artistically and intellectually.
An ongoing exchange took place between
California and Ohio throughout the project. Ideas for poems, random
word-groupings and text/thoughts were mailed, as well as were ideas shared
for the imagery that would develop from these sources. The poetry grew in
many directions-- chance poems, digital textual rearrangements and more
traditional forms. The imagery evolved: manipulated, projected, printed,
painted, reworked and layered. Tape loops of background tracks were
created to accompany the audio portion. Steve, accompanied by his
daughters, recorded the bird songs that later were slowed, staccatoed,
patterned and merged with the instrumentation. Later, words were added to
the tape loops and songs/sounds.
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| Trumbull
Art Gallery, Warren, OH 44482 Feb-Mar 1998 |
Since some of Steve’s poetry was derived
from a 19th century botanical textbook, plant and floral imagery were
reproduced from my personal photographs and photocopies that he mailed to
me. I copied sections of Steve’s text methodically onto the paintings
from his typed pages. I felt that this exactitude brought his words in
more direct contact with the paintings. I made transparencies of Steve’s
poetry and botanical images, then manipulated, distorted and combined them
with diagrams, gum prints and bird pictures and adhered them to the
painted surfaces, printed fabric, metal pieces and photographs.
As an installation, the overall developing
pattern of the project is enlarged by each person’s individual
viewing process and unique interpretation. Individualized “mapping”
from painting to painting expands the boundaries of the project through
rearrangement of context and personal associations. This adds an
interesting, social/cultural dimension to the work.
Through this project we found similarities exist
in the manner that we both combine several media in order to express our
artistic vision and in the use of autobiographical imagery and reliance
upon experiences from a wider frame of reference-- “art historical”
and/or “multi-cultural.” These parallels culminated in a project
that challenged us artistically and intertwined our disciplines into a new
form that neither of us had previously, fully envisioned.
