Local Artists Show the Creative Process
On Friday, Nov. 15 from 5-7 p.m., the PVCC Fine Arts program held their opening reception for the Process = Progress: Peeking Behind the Curtain of Creativity art gallery in the V. Earl Dickinson Building. Inspired by this fall’s One Book Program, the gallery had the processes of the works on display alongside the art pieces, with inspiration from the book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance demonstrating the themes of perseverance through passion and determination despite hard times.
Chairperson of Visual and Performing Arts Fenella Belle invited local artists to “show their work” in various different forms such as design boards, storyboarding and smaller scale models of the pieces they accompanied. “I think the assumption which viewers of art make is that the piece they’re viewing was made by magic, and showing the creative process is also important to appreciating a work of art,” she said.
Going beyond the face value of what someone sees on a canvas and bringing it to life by adding the background of the artist’s inner thoughts while creating their work isn’t something that often happens in professional art, but it can help with the understanding of a piece from seeing the labor and thought process it took to create the finished piece. Artwork in many different forms were explored for the gallery, from watercolor to pen and ink sketches, murals, gouache on paper, fiber art, and mixed media sculptures made of discarded metal boxes and newspapers.
One artist, John Hancock, explained the full process of his work. He showed his combination of watercolor, pencil and ink sketches, as well as photographs he took to draw inspiration from his surroundings. “I was planning different versions of what I might do. I don’t know if my piece will end up as a single, double, or triple panel until later on. I don’t always know, but I’m always planning,” he said.
He showed how he considers the breaking up of negative space in an attractive way, drawing out panels and trying out different layouts of the preview sketches to find what he likes before painting a full sized piece. Sometimes, though, it could be a last minute swap of panels that makes the final cut. “Improvisation, experimentation, the accidental versus the highly planned,” he said, describing how it could either be a very deliberate layout, or something that came to mind right before it goes on display.
His pieces on display reflect quiet moments in the rolling hills of the Shenandoah Valley, with watercolor sketches of wide frames of the landscape paired with close-up detail oriented sketches featuring fruits hanging off trees and branches covered in snow. The art gallery is open to the public through Jan. 18 and is located on the third floor of the V. Earl Dickinson Building. Many of the works are available for purchase, and details are available upon request from emailing Fenella Belle at fbelle@pvcc.edu.
