“Faces of the Frontier"an exhibit of new paintings by John Deering
- Ongoing: until Saturday, April 24, 2010
- Monday: 10:00am
- Tuesday: 10:00am
- Wednesday: 10:00am
- Thursday: 10:00am
- Friday: 10:00am
- Saturday: 10:00am
- Where: CANTRELL GALLERY, Little Rock
- Cost: Not available
- Age limit: Not available
Cantrell Gallery will host an Opening Night Reception for “Faces of the Frontier” by John Deering, Friday, March 5, from 6-8:00 in the evening. The public is invited to come and meet the artist. Refreshments will be served.
John Deering does art for the "Perspective" Cover for the Sunday edition of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. As Chief Editorial Cartoonist, Deering has won numerous state and national awards. He is a nationally syndicated Editorial Cartoonist, as well as, the artist for two comics, "Strange Brew" and " Zack Hill ".
“Faces of the Frontier” is an exhibit featuring paintings of American History. Deering made these comments about this exhibit:
“American History has always been fascinating to me. I remember my sister, Marilyn telling my brother and me that we needed to think of the people and events from the past as something real, not just words or pictures in a book. As family histories go, I’m sure mine was probably average, but I consider myself fortunate for a couple of things; first, my older relatives had a great deal of pride and reverence for where our combined families had come from and what they had experienced, enough to recount all of this in family stories I heard many times, second, one of these relatives, my paternal grandfather for whom I’m named, was like a bridge to the past. He was born in 1883. As a kid, I asked my father something like, " How old is Grandpa, anyway?" I must have already had quite a fascination with history, because I remember doing some quick math after my father's reply, and thinking ‘Grandpa was born just seven years after Custer's Last Stand!’ My grandfather, John William Deering had moved to Walla Walla Washington with his family at age three from the family home back in Georgia. Around 1890 or so, he and a younger sister hid on the roof of a shed while a group of Native Americans "flew by" on horseback. I recall German immigrants who helped settle the Texas Hill country and Revolutionary War-era privateers on one side of my family, and Blackfoot Indians from Montana (the Grizzle family) on the other.
I have always loved painting representational subject matter. I have painted a wide variety of subjects, but I always seem to gravitate back to American History. I enjoy the fact that a historical scene can contain landscape and figure painting, animals, even elements of still life. I enjoy the research that goes into a painting, so I think some of the same things that drew me to political cartooning are the things that fascinate me about painting from history, and vice versa. My grandfather lived to the age of 91, and died in 1974. A lot of what I learned about history, and most importantly, the desire to learn, is things I inherited from him. I also learned that there could be a big ‘disconnect’ between what we read and actual history. A lot of the family stories I heard made me aware of this. And so, in trying to capture an event such as the Gettysburg Address, I try to achieve a sense of being there, of seeing all of the people in the crowd as real, three-dimensional people. I think that looking beyond the iconic images we've formed and trying to build bridges to the past is a way to better understand who we are.”
“Faces of the Frontier” will continue through April 24. Gallery hours are Monday through Saturday, 10-5:00. Please contact Cindy Scott-Huisman, cantrellgallery@sbcglobal.net or (501) 224-1335, for further information, or if you would like to have an image from this exhibit to use in publicity.
This event was posted March 10, 2010 and last updated March 10, 2010
