Four artists from the Tri-Lakes Edition coverage area have work on display in the 2016 Small Works on Paper touring exhibition, sponsored by the Arkansas Arts Council.
Warren Criswell of Benton; James Berg and Janet Gade-Malone, both of Hot Springs; and Thad Flenniken of Royal are among the 37 artists chosen for the exhibit, which is on display in the Art Building A Gallery at Hendrix College in Conway through Feb. 26.
Following is a brief look at these local artists:
Warren Criswell
“I’ve been in several of the Small Works on Paper shows and won a purchase prize last year for my print The Secret Sharer,” Criswell said.
“In their 2010 retrospective, I had an oil on paper. This year, my linocut Two Transients was chosen,” he said.
“These two bums, who have a strange resemblance to me and my childhood friend Ray Durrance, apparently are very distrustful of each other in their old age, are huddled under a bridge, where I always figured we’d end up, and may yet, while the city collapses around them,” Criswell said in explaining his piece of art. “But I think the real subject is transience itself.”
Primarily a self-taught painter, Criswell, who was born in West Palm Beach, Florida, is also a printmaker, sculptor and animator. He has had more than 40 solo art exhibits in the United States and one in Taiwan. His work has also been included in more than 70 group exhibitions across the country and in Germany and Taiwan, and is represented in the permanent collections of many institutions.
James Berg
This marks the first time Berg has had his work selected for the Small Works on Paper exhibit. He titles the artwork, which is a mixed-media piece, Road to Shreveport.
Although Berg, who was born in Kansas, does not have a degree in art, he studied art at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. He said he always wanted to be an artist.
“When people would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I already was there,” he said. “I’ve been making art ever since I was born.
“Back then, all artists worked together. I learned from them, and they learned from me.”
Berg works in a variety of media — drawing, graphics, mixed media, painting and sculpture.
When asked what his favorite medium is, he said, with a laugh, “Whatever strikes me.”
Janet Gade-Malone
“I am really thrilled to be in SWOP once again,” Gade-Malone said. “I have been in this show many times, and it is always an honor to be selected to have my art shown and help support the Arkansas Arts Council.
“The piece that I have in the show is made up of three images to make an altered digital photograph. I combined a rose with a photo of a pond, along with a butterfly, to make the final image with Photoshop. The name of the piece is Rose and Butterfly.”
Gade-Malone, who was born in Chicago, describes herself as a “photographer, a collector and an artist.” She received a certificate from The New York Institute of Professional Photography in 1997. She is a full-time artist and works from her home in Hot Springs.
Thad Flenniken
“It is always an honor and privilege to be part of the SWOP,” said Flenniken, who retired in 2014 after 40 years as an art instructor at National Park College (formerly National Park Community College and prior to that, Garland County Community College) in Hot Springs.
“I try to enter just about every year, and this will be my fifth time since 2003 to be part of this exhibit, as well as being in the 10-year traveling exhibit,” he said. “I have worked with the Arkansas Arts Council for many years in my past position and have enjoyed the experience immeasurably.”
Flenniken calls his artwork that is in the show Eye Count. It is a mixed-media collage and reflects his ongoing theme of “women’s genetic role in the procreation of generations and their issues of equality.”
“As a maker of images, I take liberties with emerging archeological/genetic evidence and contemporary, cultural, female equality to create symbolic reflections of these concepts,” he said. “Women (archeological/genetic Eve) carry the traceable marks from generation to generation, and their forms often appear within my work, along with symbols of the genetic code. Other forms necessary to complete an idea may include found objects and human marks (direct evidence of humanity); question marks (mysteries/queries); time lines (sequential squares or rectangles/generational evolution); circle forms (cycle of life); flower or plant forms (rebirth/renewal); the colors black, white, red, brown, yellow (the races); and arrows (time movement). All can reoccur, as compositional entities suggest, from one piece to another, evolving and changing much like our own species has.”
Since his retirement from National Park College, Flenniken said he works in the studio as much as possible and has five pieces in progress. He holds degrees in art from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
Kati Toivanen, professor at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, served as guest juror for the Small Works on Paper touring exhibition. She chose 40 works for the exhibit.
The Small Works on Paper exhibit is free and open to the public. The Hendrix gallery is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The exhibit will travel to eight more locations after Hendrix College. The schedule is as follows:
• March 4-30, Arkansas Tech University in Russellville, with an opening reception set for 2:30 p.m. March 9 in the Norman Hall Art Gallery;
• April 1-30, the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville;
• May 6-27, the University of Arkansas Community College-Fort Smith;
• June 4-9, the Searcy Art Gallery in Searcy;
• July 19-Aug. 27, the Delta Cultural Center in Helena;
• Sept. 1-29, Arts Center of the Grand Prairie in Stuttgart;
• Oct. 6-26, the University of Arkansas at Monticello; and
• Nov. 2-28, the University of Arkansas Community College at Hope.
For more information, call the Arkansas Arts Council at (501) 324-9766, or visit www.arkansasarts.org.