Vinyl Frontier: Emily Longbrake, Adam Antonio Montoya, Bill Jamison
Despite its urban sprawl Phoenix is surrounded by natural beauty. Vinyl Frontier’s immersive panorama brings these landscapes back into the heart of the city through the perspectives of three Arizona transplants. These artists share a common, intrinsic relationship with the outdoors that was developed from childhood and is reflected in their art practices. The sweeping line work of a mountainside, the disorienting relationship between a desert sky and ridgeline, and the complex contours of singular rocks and sticks are each presented through digital abstraction and commercial techniques. This contrast between subject matter and process reflects the artists’ own complex relationship to the natural world.
Emily Longbrake (top row) is a creatively omnivorous artist from Palmer, Alaska. Although she has studied ceramics, printmaking, and design, Emily is happiest when combining past experience with a new medium or technology. Despite its wide breadth, her work often employs the patterns, repetition, and fragility inspired by internal and external landscapes.
Adam Antonio Montoya (middle row) was born and raised in Salt Lake City, where he was surrounded by the vistas, histories and stories of the American Southwest. Montoya received his BFA in Printmaking from the University of Utah and an MFA from Arizona State University. In Phoenix, he is continuing his explorations of the oddities, subtleties and grandeur of the American West’s desert lands.
Bill Jamison (bottom row) is a structural engineer turned ceramic & mixed media artist from Anchorage, Alaska who received a BFA in Ceramics from the University of Alaska Anchorage and an MFA from Arizona State University. His work represents a pursuit to reconcile various dichotomies of self through an exploration of contrasting processes and materials.
Drawing Near, Jessica Palomo
“By definition trauma cannot be represented. But it can be approached, moved and transformed. This is not cure; it is poiesis: making.”
– Griselda Pollock
My work is a response to the grief of losing a loved one, a trauma that can overload and fracture the conscious mind, causing a shattered emotional state. Through abstraction and mark-making, I explore the dynamics of this ruptured reality that place identity and emotion in a liminal, ambiguous space.
By rendering only a handful of distinct organic forms, the eyes rest merely for a moment before plunging into a sea of textural marks. These expressive involuntary marks do what language cannot, intuitively creating a passageway to concealed memories, recording a trace of their complexities through drawing, and ultimately logging the intricate and multifaceted sensations of suffering in hopes of creating a truer empathetic connection. These drawings speak from the body, connecting, sustaining, and transmitting traumatic impressions with each varied gestural mark. The overall encounter is ambiguous in form and liminal in space, fluxing in perspective, and never providing a sense of clarity.
Jessica Palomo is a phoenix-based artist who works in drawing and sculpture to investigate uncomfortable situations. Palomo has an MFA from Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ., and a BFA from Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX.
She was the artist in residence at the Palazzo Rinaldi in 2011 with a solo exhibition in Noepoli, Italy. Palomo has shown her work extensively in Arizona, Texas, as well as several other places nationally and internationally.
Baggage, Rachel Goodwin
We are consumed by an overwhelming vastness of objects and products within the contemporary world. Adverts for new clothing, decor and countless other goods are inescapable in our ever changing purchasing climate, demanding endless participation. Considering our constant inundation with low priced fashion trends and alluring interior design showrooms, I’m convinced that priority is given to vanity and societal expectations.
The vicious cycle and societal pressures to participate in this phenomenological cultural exchange seem insurmountable. Facades of pristinely considered attire make up for lack of genuineness. Perfectly placed pillows and wallpaper take priority over authenticity. Experience is replaced with expense. Presentation is everything. Personification is given to inanimate objects that surround our walls and fill our closets, yet empty our pockets. But are we fulfilled?
BAGGAGE is a one of a kind retail store to be navigated. It examines the display of objects themselves and their greater intrinsic meaning within today’s consumer culture. Ordinary objects become elevated by multiplicity of forms and a positioning within a familiar designed space. Consumers are offered the opportunity to confront their purchasing patterns, pondering what their requirements for ownership might be.
Rachel Goodwin works predominately through abstracted soft sculptural works along with cast ceramic objects, which examine ideas of consumption, display, and self-perception within today’s vast purchasing climate. Billowy fabric forms reference the human figure to reveal style and accessorizing combinations one is offered through daily clothing selections. By presenting uniquely designed ceramic objects in mass production, her work comments on consumer purchasing patterns and trends that are found in popular department stores and advertisements alike. Ultimately, Goodwin analyzes how individuals interact with consumer objects that are inherently empty, yet full of intrinsic value.
Despite its urban sprawl Phoenix is surrounded by natural beauty. Vinyl Frontier’s immersive panorama brings these landscapes back into the heart of the city through the perspectives of three Arizona transplants. These artists share a common, intrinsic relationship with the outdoors that was developed from childhood and is reflected in their art practices. The sweeping line work of a mountainside, the disorienting relationship between a desert sky and ridgeline, and the complex contours of singular rocks and sticks are each presented through digital abstraction and commercial techniques. This contrast between subject matter and process reflects the artists’ own complex relationship to the natural world.
Emily Longbrake (top row) is a creatively omnivorous artist from Palmer, Alaska. Although she has studied ceramics, printmaking, and design, Emily is happiest when combining past experience with a new medium or technology. Despite its wide breadth, her work often employs the patterns, repetition, and fragility inspired by internal and external landscapes.
Adam Antonio Montoya (middle row) was born and raised in Salt Lake City, where he was surrounded by the vistas, histories and stories of the American Southwest. Montoya received his BFA in Printmaking from the University of Utah and an MFA from Arizona State University. In Phoenix, he is continuing his explorations of the oddities, subtleties and grandeur of the American West’s desert lands.
Bill Jamison (bottom row) is a structural engineer turned ceramic & mixed media artist from Anchorage, Alaska who received a BFA in Ceramics from the University of Alaska Anchorage and an MFA from Arizona State University. His work represents a pursuit to reconcile various dichotomies of self through an exploration of contrasting processes and materials.
Drawing Near, Jessica Palomo
“By definition trauma cannot be represented. But it can be approached, moved and transformed. This is not cure; it is poiesis: making.”
– Griselda Pollock
My work is a response to the grief of losing a loved one, a trauma that can overload and fracture the conscious mind, causing a shattered emotional state. Through abstraction and mark-making, I explore the dynamics of this ruptured reality that place identity and emotion in a liminal, ambiguous space.
By rendering only a handful of distinct organic forms, the eyes rest merely for a moment before plunging into a sea of textural marks. These expressive involuntary marks do what language cannot, intuitively creating a passageway to concealed memories, recording a trace of their complexities through drawing, and ultimately logging the intricate and multifaceted sensations of suffering in hopes of creating a truer empathetic connection. These drawings speak from the body, connecting, sustaining, and transmitting traumatic impressions with each varied gestural mark. The overall encounter is ambiguous in form and liminal in space, fluxing in perspective, and never providing a sense of clarity.
Jessica Palomo is a phoenix-based artist who works in drawing and sculpture to investigate uncomfortable situations. Palomo has an MFA from Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ., and a BFA from Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX.
She was the artist in residence at the Palazzo Rinaldi in 2011 with a solo exhibition in Noepoli, Italy. Palomo has shown her work extensively in Arizona, Texas, as well as several other places nationally and internationally.
Baggage, Rachel Goodwin
We are consumed by an overwhelming vastness of objects and products within the contemporary world. Adverts for new clothing, decor and countless other goods are inescapable in our ever changing purchasing climate, demanding endless participation. Considering our constant inundation with low priced fashion trends and alluring interior design showrooms, I’m convinced that priority is given to vanity and societal expectations.
The vicious cycle and societal pressures to participate in this phenomenological cultural exchange seem insurmountable. Facades of pristinely considered attire make up for lack of genuineness. Perfectly placed pillows and wallpaper take priority over authenticity. Experience is replaced with expense. Presentation is everything. Personification is given to inanimate objects that surround our walls and fill our closets, yet empty our pockets. But are we fulfilled?
BAGGAGE is a one of a kind retail store to be navigated. It examines the display of objects themselves and their greater intrinsic meaning within today’s consumer culture. Ordinary objects become elevated by multiplicity of forms and a positioning within a familiar designed space. Consumers are offered the opportunity to confront their purchasing patterns, pondering what their requirements for ownership might be.
Rachel Goodwin works predominately through abstracted soft sculptural works along with cast ceramic objects, which examine ideas of consumption, display, and self-perception within today’s vast purchasing climate. Billowy fabric forms reference the human figure to reveal style and accessorizing combinations one is offered through daily clothing selections. By presenting uniquely designed ceramic objects in mass production, her work comments on consumer purchasing patterns and trends that are found in popular department stores and advertisements alike. Ultimately, Goodwin analyzes how individuals interact with consumer objects that are inherently empty, yet full of intrinsic value.