BY KAREN BOSSICK
A Trout Lake, Wash., artist will discuss work that was inspired by Idaho’s Hells Canyon, City of Rocks and other well-known sites during a free livestreamed artist talk at 6 p.m. tonight—Monday, Oct. 19.
Courtney Gilbert, curator of Visual Arts for the Sun Valley Museum of Art, will hold the conversation with Brad Johnson, a multidisciplinary artist from Trout Lake, Wash., near Portland.
SVMoA invited Johnson to create a body of work for its new exhibition “Gem State.” Johnson traveled through the state spending time at well known sites and obscure sites, such as abandoned quarries and restored archaeological sites.
The work, titled “Idaho Survey,” began with photographs and ended as three-dimensional pieces in which the photographs were cut, glued, laminated and glazed to evoke the textures and surfaces of the places they memorialize.
Johnson, who has long been interested in the geology of the American West, was particularly drawn to sites where human activity and geology intersect.
“I think about the differences between what I expected to find in a place and the experience of being there; things that were captured that I didn’t expect; the difference between what I captured and the afterglow of having been there. What do I feel about a place that isn’t exactly in the images?” he said.
In addition to the work Johnson created for the BIG IDEA project, he and Gilbert will discuss work he has made in response to Mount St. Helens, some of which is included in the Portland Art Museum’s current exhibition “Volcano! Mount St. Helens in Art.” Johnson said volcanic destruction created a new canvas on which the interplay between geological and biological forces converted in utterly new, dynamic landscapes.
They also will discuss the connections between his visual art practice and his work with digital technology.
“When Brad and I first started working on this exhibition project, I found the way he thinks about his process and its connections to the history of science fascinating,” said Gilbert. “Everyone who joins us for this talk will come away with a better understanding of Brad’s practice and an appreciation of the widely varying kinds of geological sites we have access to here in Idaho, as well as the histories those sites contain.”
While the talk is free, pre-registration is required to access the Crowdcast link. To register, visit svmoa.org.