The Past & Future Retold: Surreal Collage & Celestial Sculpture New Art at Coast Highway Art Collective, Opening Reception June 4
An opening reception at the Coast Highway Art Collective in Point Arena is scheduled for Saturday, June 4 from noon to 3:00pm to showcase a collection of art work by Sharon Nickodem (collage), Donnalynn Chase (collage) and Mark Chase (objects d’arts). This month-long exhibit is all about what could be and what was created by these three local artists. Antique photos collide with new ideas, metal is shaped into new worlds, and digital images are crafted as future visions.
Nickodem started her artist life as a photographer, but once she discovered collage she was smitten. Her collages include materials taken from magazines, her own photos, collected mementos, the written word from old books and post cards, combined with other media. Sharon says “The assembled image may recall a past event, a dream or a fantasy. The collage process brings a deeper, more personal interpretation to my subjects.”
First, Nickodem assembles collage materials in the traditional analog manner. Next, she scans the composition and reworks it on her computer, adding layers and additional elements until she creates the desired result. Lastly, she prints the final piece on high quality archival paper. The result is an integrated image where the elements flow together, telling a story.
Collage came naturally to Donnalynn Chase through her obsession with collecting books and all kinds of ephemera. Hunting for that perfect old book or antique ephemera has been one of her favorite things to do. She often feels like a historian or librarian of valuable papers and findings from the past.
For over a decade, Donnalynn has primarily used antique & vintage images and ephemera in her art work. As an artist, she feels entrusted to bring old ephemera, etchings, and papers back to life in a new expressive way or keep them safe for the future. She loves the challenge of incorporating her collection of “stuff” into her art.
Donnalynn is a traditional cut & paste collage artist. A unique quality of her art work is that she incorporates original paper materials in her artwork, not digital copies. When you purchase or are gifted a piece of her art, you are also getting an authentic piece of the past that is made new.
Mark Chase is self-taught artist who has been influenced by years of working in aerospace industry with precise and articulate requirements. Brass, bronze or copper and beautiful minerals are the dominate materials in his objects d’ arte. Antique celestial models and instruments inspire the majority of Mark’s work.
All of Mark’s art is one-of-a-kind design embodying the marriage of art and science. He started to make armillary spheres when it became apparent that he couldn’t afford to purchase authentic specimens to grace his own growing collection. This exhibit showcases several of his artifacts that could be a solar system discovered in the future or viewed as a historic specimen.
The show runs June 3-27. The Coast Highway Art Collective is located at 284 Main St, Point Arena, the little red building with the big yellow sun. The Collective is regularly open Friday-Sunday from 11:00am to 4:00pm. More information is at www.coast-highway-artists.com, or contact Ling-Yen Jones via the website above.
