PHILIP BULLER

"I apply paint, remove paint - creating and obscuring forms. A form must be fully realized before it can be obscured. The ambiguity of a blurred image often encourages me to reach below a literal interpretation of form.

When this happens, it is less possible to grab onto a specific image and I am then compelled to remain within the realm of experience rather than the realm of reproduction. In this process my own engagement as a viewer guides me toward receiving the image rather than identifying it by naming it or placing it in a psychological or historical context.

What makes this process so challenging for me is that the evolution of the paintings themselves seems to resist conscious intention, and yet my desire is to access my own direct experience of them. I have faith that the meaning, if there is any at all, will emerge in it's own time, leaving me with an awareness that the work cannot be hurried. When the painting is resolved, I feel as though something has arrived, like a fruit in an orchard, visible as an organic thing. In such moments I know that the painting is itself the meaning.

When I am engaged in the painting process, I am of course conscious of the sensations, thoughts, and associations. But rather than following them into the quagmire of willful, even enthusiastic intention toward constructing a certain meaning, I try to instead wait to be touched in a certain way; my feelings have to be stirred. Anything could spark deep feelings, but at this time, the human form seems to be the most direct pathway.

On those occasions when immersion in my intuitive experience is not working, when the whole process becomes most maddening, I am grateful to rely completely on the discipline of my painting practice. When I don't know what to do, I simply deepen my commitment to applying paint to canvas." - PHILIP BULLER -



☁ PHILIP BULLER

GRACE WESTON

GRACE WESTON is an award-winning photographer who works in her Portland, Oregon studio creating narrative imagery with staged vignettes that combine humor, wit and psychological tension. She constructs her sets as well as fabricates and finds prpops and characters to adress the dilemnas, illusions, joys and fears that at once seem so personal, yet are universal.Grace is also known for bringing her meticulous attention to small product and food photography.


☁ GRACE WESTON

KEITH CARTER

KEITH CARTER is an internationally recognized photographer and educator. Born in Madison, Wisconsin in 1948,he holds the endowed Walles Chair of Art at Lamar University Beaumont, Texas. He is the recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts Regional Survey Grants and the Lange-Taylor Prize from The Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University. In 1997 Keith Carter was the subject of an arts profile on the national network television show, CBS Sunday Morning. In 1998, he received Lamar University's highest teaching honor, the University Professor Award, and he was named the Lamar University Distinguished Lecturer.

Called "a poet of the ordinary" by the Los Angeles Times, Mr. Carter's haunting, enigmatic photographs have been widely exhibited in Europe, The U.S., and Latin America. They are included in numerous permanent collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the George Eastman House; the Museum of Fine Arts of Houston; and the Wittliff Collection of Southwestern and Mexican Photography at Southwest Texas State University.

☁ KEITH CARTER

STREET QUEEN

☁ STREET QUEEN

JOSHUA WATTS

Originally from the United States, JOSHUA WATTS received his undergraduate degree in printmaking from Bradley University and an MFA in Fine Arts at the University of South Dakota. During his academic study and beyond, he has continually created and exhibited his work across the U.S. and internationally, including venues in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Venice, and Dubai.

In 2007, Watts conducted a series of visiting artist workshops at facilities from South Dakota to the east coast over the course of six weeks. Five schools participated in all, including: Grandview College in Des Moines, IA, Bradley University in Peoria, IL, University of Buffalo in Buffalo, NY, George Mason University in Washington, DC, and East Carolina University in Greenville, NC. At each institution, monotype printmaking techniques were demonstrated to students, who worked with his assistance to create work using the methods demonstrated.

Since 2008, Joshua Watts has been a Visual Arts Professor at Zayed University in Dubai, UAE. Teaching printmaking and many other studio art courses, he continues creating his own work while promoting the aesthetic, conceptual, and expressive growth of students in his classes and workshops.


☁ JOSHUA WATTS

JULIE BLACKMON

JULIE BLACKMON
BORN Springfield, MO, 1966

☁ JULIE BLACKMON