Featured Artists
Fred Rodger, “I’m Wonderin Where the Lions Are”
Give a brief description of your upcoming show. And what might have inspired it.
I was inspired by a personal desire to explore the elements of art-making . Things like color, texture, line, and shape, for example, to create works with a sense of balance, variety, and harmony. I know it sounds rather technical and dry, but normally I work within a theme. These works do not necessarily promote a theme. These works vary in subject matter.
How have you expanded existing themes/ideas for which you are best known/or if this body of work is a great deviation from your norm, what inspired this new approach?
The works represent my desire to explore and experiment with various media from graphite drawing to painting to incorporating metal leaf collage. In some cases I simply wanted to return to my roots as I began my career by looking closely and using a pencil to record what I saw.
Stylistically and/or technically, what do you hope collectors notice in your new work?
I hope viewers appreciate the use of a variety of art-making materials I used to create the works including abstract qualities as I played with distortions of some of the subject matter.
Add any additional info that might interest the viewer.
They all represent ideas that simply popped into my head at the time I created them. When I finished a work, I put it aside and moved on with another idea. There is no real theme leading from one work to another ………. I may have completed a drawing, put it aside, and moved on to something else. I took chances. That has not always been comfortable for me, but this quote hangs in my studio………. “If all your fears understand what you’re doing, you’re not being creative.”
Artist Statement
Ok, the title of the exhibit seems odd. I understand that, but it made sense to me. Normally, I have a theme that holds the work together. Not so this time, as some works are traditional and some are experimental as the compositions play with texture and color. A few paintings are even graphite drawings, as I was inspired to return to my roots as an artist, since I spent the first few years of my artistic life learning the skills associated with seeing and drawing.
“I’m Wondering Where the Lions Are” is the title of a song sung by Bruce Cockburn. I forgot how much I liked that song, and one day while working in my studio it came across the radio. I stopped working and simply sat and listened. I never really understood the song, but I liked it and it moved me. I figured it was the perfect song to describe a body of work that I really liked, but didn’t understand why I was doing it. I just wanted to create and put together a series of work I liked doing.
There is no specific theme to these works. It is simply about creating individual works I wanted to do at the time just like I enjoyed listening to “Wonderin’ Where the Lions Are” for the sheer joy of listening to that song in the moment. I hope you enjoy the paintings and drawings as much as I enjoyed doing them and all the while we can wonder where the lions are.
Biography
Originally from Pittsburgh, Fred Rodger considers Lititz, PA. to be his childhood home. Little did he know at the time, but his long-time friend, David Brumbach, would have an impact on his life. Brumbach, an accomplished artist himself, died in 1992 at the age of 42. Before his death, David said to Fred, you have talent, but you don’t use it. At the time Rodger was teaching biology and coaching wrestling at an area high school. His friend’s death was an awakening for Fred as he realized that we have only a limited time on earth, and we have one chance and limited time to accomplish whatever it is we’re going to do.
Fred began taking art and art history classes. He now holds a BS degree in biology from West Chester University, and both Bachelor and Masters degrees in art from Millersville University.
After 33 years of teaching art and science, Rodger left the teaching profession to pursue a career as an artist. He still enjoys teaching and teaches art history on a part-time basis, but spends most of his time painting. His studio is located in his home which he shares with his wife (also an artist) and their Jack Russell terrier, Gizmo. Currently, when he’s not teaching or creating art, he enjoys bicycling, traveling, and tooling around on his classic BMW motorcycle. But, for the most part, art-making became an obsession and a turning point in his life.
Fred has participated in several group and solo exhibitions throughout Southeastern Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New York. He received one of his first recognitions in 1993 after his first solo show at the Lancaster Graphics Gallery when he was featured in Lancaster County Magazine as one of Lancaster’s Extraordinary People.
Kristen Woodward, “Natural Consequences”
Give a brief description of your upcoming show. And what might have inspired it.
My exhibit is entitled Natural Consequences because the paintings address issues of animal welfare and environmental stewardship; they also explore natural metaphors for human relationships. But my paintings are also somewhat abstract, so the intent is to be lyrical rather than illustrative or didactic.
Birds and animals living near me inevitably end up in my paintings. For instance, there are always families of geese in my yard since I live right on the Schuylkill River. And inevitably in the spring when the pairs bond and have goslings, a large male will frantically flap his wings and honk in middle of the road to bring traffic to a halt, allowing his family to safely cross the road. He is territorial, and can be a bit of a jerk. While I understand the instincts that drive him, I often find myself personifying his actions and extending them to people in my life.
How have you expanded existing themes/ideas for which you are best known/or if this body of work is a great deviation from your norm, what inspired this new approach?
I wouldn’t say this new work is a deviation from my normal painting, but it is one facet of a larger body of artwork dealing with predator-prey relationships. The paintings for this show are primarily done in encaustic, and for me the medium necessitates certain technical and formal decisions. For instance, working with melted wax and oil based pigment requires me to paint rather quickly. The paint is really never wet or dry; just hot/liquefied to a honey consistency, or cooled.
Stylistically and/or technically, what do you hope collectors notice in your new work?
I hope they see I’m walking a line between narrative storytelling and abstraction; I hope they see I’m trying to speak to something larger than myself….I hope they see empathy, and of course I hope they see technical accomplishment! (Artists do have big egos, after all.)
But most of all I hope it opens the door to a conversation. It may be cliché to say, but I purposely strive for a level of abstraction or ambiguity that encourages the viewer to walk away from my work with questions rather than answers. The work that most inspires me keeps me coming back, feeling I haven’t seen it all in the first viewing. It’s a dialogue.
Add any additional info that might interest the viewer.
A long time animal shelter volunteer, I currently serve as a volunteer Board member of Humane PA. Lancaster’s Human League is a partner member of the organization.
Artist Statement
“The encaustic medium is a primitively seductive material. I’m drawn to it for its associations with ancient codices- the medium of pharaoh’s scribes and bees… Aromatic when warmed, working in beeswax is a rich sensory experience. Encaustic’s unique physical qualities of transparency and opacity play with the eye, for what is revealed is also obscured. Generally speaking, my imagery explores mankind’s ‘true nature’ in the physical and spiritual sense. These works are intended to be evocative of a state of being, and are not necessarily didactic in their storytelling. They include human and animal relationships to express ideas of stewardship, companionship, and destruction. Throughout the works animals, fruits, and figures intermingle with ancient weapons and technological wonders.”
Biography
Kristen received her BFA degree in Printmaking from Syracuse University, and her MFA in Studio Art from Clemson University. Her mixed media works combine painting and printmaking, and often utilize found collage materials. Woodward is currently a Professor of Art and Department Chair at Albright College teaching painting, and printmaking, and team teaching cross-disciplinary courses on Latin American graphic art, and women in the arts.
Her own artworks are in numerous permanent collections including the Federal Reserve Bank, Sexton Industries, The Shearwater Corporation, The Cottonlandia Museum, Wachovia Bank, Adams State College, Lockhaven University, Cooper University Hospital, and the Center for the Study of Political Graphics of Los Angeles. She is also the Resident Curator for the Artists2Artists.net. Kristen lives in Reading Pennsylvania with her husband and five cats, and exhibits her work across the country.