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Einstein said, “Time is relative”, meaning that as the sun, the moon and the planets of our solar system naturally move forward, so does time. As a result of the earth’s rotation, or the speed of the ground beneath our feet, and according to your specific whereabouts on the planet, time is slightly different for each one of us. This phenomenon applies to mechanical devices as well as to our own inborn internal “clocks.” In fact, there are several atomic clocks located throughout the world that measure Cesium atomic energetic conditions, which can calculate the accuracy of time right down to the millisecond.

All of our cellphones, computers, Mickey Mouse and Rolex watches and Cuckoo clocks are linked to these super time pieces. As earth’s population grows and our lives become more and more complicated and demanding, we find ourselves no longer in tune with our inherent clocks, disconnected with nature and moving faster and faster in a race with time. For this juried exhibition we asked artists to submit work in any media that relates to the subject of time, such as the beginning, middle and end, to good and bad times, to time clocks, time out, and time machines, to back then and to the here and now, for which Carl Sagan once said, “That we’ll never come again, is what makes life so sweet.”

Featured Artists

Domonique Alesi
Luis Alves: collage
Christine Anderson
Peter Arakawa
Francesca Azzara
Randall Cleaver
Sam Caponegro
Chris Ernst
Alison Hooper
Robert Eustace
John Folchi

Darlene Foster
Richard Gessner
Dustin Gramando
Rita Herzfeld
Linda LaStella
Erin Malkowski
Brian McCormack
Heidi Nam
Ruth Parker
Sharon Paster
Charissa Schulze
Addison Vincent

“BLM” by Joanne Devine

“BLM” by Joanne Devine

Dreamtime Dancers – Animation by Brian McCormack

Erin Malkowski ”The Vastness of Space and the Immensity of Time” sand and tyvek

Erin Malkowski ”The Vastness of Space and the Immensity of Time” sand and tyvek

Luis Alves: Collage “Walking with Dinosaurs” “La Prarie” Triptych  handmade collage

Luis Alves: Collage “Walking with Dinosaurs” “La Prarie” Triptych handmade collage

Luis Alves: Collage “ “Walking with Dinosaurs” “Aveeno” Triptych handmade collage

Luis Alves: Collage “ “Walking with Dinosaurs” “Aveeno” Triptych handmade collage

Luis Alves: Collage “Walking with Dinosaurs” “Origins” Triptych handmade collage

Luis Alves: Collage “Walking with Dinosaurs” “Origins” Triptych handmade collage

Luis Alves: Collage “ “Walking with Dinosaurs” “Aveeno” Triptych handmade collage

Luis Alves: Collage “ “Walking with Dinosaurs” “Aveeno” Triptych handmade collage

Francesca Azzara “Driving Through Town” encaustic and mixed media on canvas

Francesca Azzara “Driving Through Town” encaustic and mixed media on canvas

Christine Anderson “Fenced #38” photograph

Christine Anderson “Fenced #38” photograph

John Folchi “Dumpster section “#12”  oil on canvas

John Folchi “Dumpster section “#12” oil on canvas

Ruth Parker “Field of Devotion” photograph

Ruth Parker “Field of Devotion” photograph

Robert Eustace “Lament of the Black Sun” Ikonic mixed media construction

Robert Eustace “Lament of the Black Sun” Ikonic mixed media construction

Addison Vincent “Time is Fleeting” acrylic, ink, modeling paste and acrylic gel medium on canvas

Addison Vincent “Time is Fleeting” acrylic, ink, modeling paste and acrylic gel medium on canvas

Domonique Alesi “Incoherent Wisdom” mixed media with LED light

Domonique Alesi “Incoherent Wisdom” mixed media with LED light

Charissa Schulze “ Tempus florae” graphite, pochoir, (watercolor stencil on found paper)

Charissa Schulze “ Tempus florae” graphite, pochoir, (watercolor stencil on found paper)

Peter Arakawa “Time Capsule 1” mixed media assemblage  “Time Capsule 2” mixed media assemblage

Peter Arakawa “Time Capsule 1” mixed media assemblage “Time Capsule 2” mixed media assemblage

Heidi Nam “Juncture of Phases” collagraph

Heidi Nam “Juncture of Phases” collagraph

Sam Caponegro “Pop” print of watercolor and ink on paper

Sam Caponegro “Pop” print of watercolor and ink on paper

Sam Caponegro “Beach Club” print of watercolor and ink on paper

Sam Caponegro “Beach Club” print of watercolor and ink on paper

Sam Caponegro “Cabana Lady” print of watercolor and ink on paper

Sam Caponegro “Cabana Lady” print of watercolor and ink on paper

Linda Vonderschmidt-LaStella “Time Passing” porcelain

Linda Vonderschmidt-LaStella “Time Passing” porcelain

Alison Hooper – “Sand Forest”  photograph

Alison Hooper – “Sand Forest” photograph

Darlene Foster – “All the Comforts of Home” photography montage

Darlene Foster – “All the Comforts of Home” photography montage

Randall Cleaver “Waffling Cuckoo Too” found object

Randall Cleaver “Waffling Cuckoo Too” found object

Dustin Gramando “Rock of the River” mixed media

Dustin Gramando “Rock of the River” mixed media

John Folchi “Pavement Series #78”  oil on canvas

John Folchi “Pavement Series #78” oil on canvas

Chris Ernst “Time (Passage)”  acrylic on canvas

Chris Ernst “Time (Passage)” acrylic on canvas

Sharon Paster “Door”  oil on canvas

Sharon Paster “Door” oil on canvas

Rita Herzfeld “Progress” (Integration)  acrylic and ink on paper

Rita Herzfeld “Progress” (Integration) acrylic and ink on paper

Rita Herzfeld – “Growth”,  graphite on paper

Rita Herzfeld – “Growth”, graphite on paper

Artists Statements

John Folchi
1 – “Dumpster Section #12”  – oil on canvas, 36 x 26, 2015, $700.00
2 – “Pavement series # 78” oil on canvas, 20 x 24, 2015, $550.00
3 – “Pavement series # 79” oil on canvas, 20 x 24, 2015, $550.00
Statement
These paintings depict the effects of decay, deterioration and rust on physical materials.  The lines on the pavements and streets are faded, chipped and worn by use and the elements. The sides of industrial containers are warped and weakened by weather and use. In effect, time changes the structure, shape and form of these objects. The paintings, oil on canvas, are an attempt to convey the ravages of time on the industrial landscape, and reproduce in paint the texture, feel and touch of age.

Robert Eustace
“Lament of the Black Sun” Ikonic mixed media construction  Dimensions: 14 1/2” H x 12 1/2” W x 3” D, 2015 Price: $4295.00

Statement
I have always been interested in various notions on ‘time’, whether it be that of ‘cyclical time’ (represented by the circle) and based on a primordial and fixed procession of the passing of hours, days, seasons, lifetimes through the repetitions of life’s meaningful rituals. Next, the advent of a new forward thinking, historically conscious idea of’ linear time’ (represented by the straight line and traversing from point A to point B). In essence, linear time+ progress (forming the onslaught of modernity) helped to pulverize the organic tranquility and order necessary to sustain the ancient cyclical ritual cultures. As a young artist growing in sacred consciousness, I discovered the idea of’ existential time’ through the seminal writings: ‘The Meaning of the Creative Act’ … and the autobiographical ‘Dream and Reality’ … by the early-mid 20th c. Russian philosopher, Nicholas Berdyaev. For Berdyaev, ‘existential time’ (represented by a singular point-or in the case of my piece: ‘Lament of the Black Sun’ -the star) = the moment of the invasion of eternity (even a small droplet) into the nominal space/ time flux. It is a timeless moment that liberates and sets forth possibilities free from the tyranny of time. It is the place where all true creation originates.
‘Lament of the Black Sun’ signifies a number of possible meanings for me. For one, a type of invisible architectural model of the cosmic clock-now breaking down, in a state of collapse, somehow gone awry. Many attentive folks today would concur that we are presently caught in a time of tremendous upheaval and ever accelerating, confounding change -whereby the once familiar and reassuring signposts, long forever considered immovable in the imagination, are now quickly being uprooted and replaced with a whole new and different set of reality. The apocalyptic account of ‘Rev. 6’ graphically portrays this unsettling change occurring in the heaven lies … (the sun blackened … the moon blood red … the stars falling from their places in the firmament. .. the earth groaning). Conversely, beginning during the late 20th c., we now find ourselves in the midst of a major paradigm shift-an entire age slipping away and morphing into a whole new exciting, yet unexplored age-or the end of the 2000+ year (cycle) reign of Pisces defined as (the age of belief-lies and deception) transitioning through strange and unfamiliar currents of the still approaching age of Aquarius (the age of knowing-transparency and expansion). Like the myriad of complex points of connection that mark the the birth pangs of some hundreds of years transition from the Middle Ages to the Modern Age … the ride through the initial winter of the 21st c. looks to be ‘a bumpy one’ that will eventually find its calm and purpose in the mid -late 21st c. Spring shall yet blossom as humankind enters the midst of’ a golden age’! Everything is constantly in the state of: birth-death-decay-rebirth-renewal …. Two sensitively skilled hands delicately pluck the single string-sounding ‘the divine monochord’ … the sound … the reverberating cosmic drone … drama of the universal symphony …. signifying upheaval, yes-but also: perfect balance, universal harmony and magnificent perfection-in the heavenlies (macrocosmos) and in the latent depths of the human soul (microcosmos).

Erin Malkowski
“The Vastness of Space and Immensity of Time” sand & Tyvek, 48”x 25¼”  2013 $850.00
Statement
As an artist/explorer my work seeks to lessen the distance between “out there” and “down here”, what exists out in the vast cosmos I want to be able to hold in my hands. I continuously investigate materials that support this underlining desire and as a result, my studio practice expands to include: graphic design, book arts, paper making, printmaking, and fiber arts.

In recent work, I am especially drawn to a new process that allows me to manipulate and participate in creating my own “big bangs” by combining powdered pigment and baking soda with vinegar and infusing that reaction into sheets of handmade paper. Combined with this new process, I adapt from Ukrainian folk art traditions such as the use of thread, color symbolism, and natural dyes to create work that is simultaneously celestial and tangible, both immense and intimat

Dustin Gramando
Rock Of The River” 15” x 12”, Mixed Media, 2015 $350.00
Statement
When creating a painting I do not want to merely capture an image with paint, but create a living image. I aim to recreate the color, texture, movement, and even the emotions from the day and time I visited the location. By encapsulating the point in time paint, the moment can be re-lived and shared. In the common photograph you can’t add extra emotion or color, you can’t exceed the boundaries to go beyond a normal landscape. When making these paintings I give the viewer a glimpse into my life not just my art. The most important aspect of these paintings is the correlation between emotions and time. I have always been one to let my emotions run with me, although these paintings are taken from nature I want the viewer to understand how I was feeling at that point in time. I may add shadows, amplify colors or create a central point of focus to express my mindset and share the moment as a whole with the viewer. I add sculptural elements to bring the image off of the canvas and towards the viewer, it breaks the barrier between two and three dimensional space and pulls the viewer into the same frame of time as myself during the initial viewing.

Darlene Foster
“All the Comforts of Home” photography montage, 2012, 16” x 20”, $300.00
STATEMENT
I captured this image (minus the car, moon, and birds) in Eatontown, NJ while driving
home from a trip to Atlantic City. The old motel signs always conjure nostalgic
memories of childhood family vacations and, since they are fast disappearing, I try to
document the ones I run across. I added the rising moon as it seems that was the time
of day my father would always begin looking for a place to stay the night during our
mood I needed, it was still missing something. I began digging through old family
photos and found my father’s beloved 1949 Plymouth that he restored in the early
1970’s. Perfect! Just the element I needed along with the color TV, phones and pool
for “All the Comforts of Home”.

Luis Alves: collage
“Walking with dinosaurs” triptych hand made collage, each panel 18” x 20”
is entitled: “Aveeno, La Prarie and Origins” 2015, $450.00 each $950.00 for the set.
STATEMENT
Media and Art exert powerful influences over all of us through continuous, evolving processes of reflection and creation. They shape our hopes and fears, our notions of beauty and ugliness, our ideas about the primitive and the civilized, our conceptions of the honorable and the shameful. My work uses juxtaposed images to comment on the deep and delicate role the media plays in the shaping of our complex lives, identities, and consciousness. Each collage is hand-manipulated with the goal of transformation as a way of commenting on, satirizing or criticizing the source material.

Ruth Parker
“Field of Devotion”  Silver Gelatin print  16” x 20” 2015  $950.00
STATEMENT
‘Photography allows us the unique experience to see the world through another’s eyes- if only for a fleeting moment. It allows us to share with others that which is gone forever in an instant if not captured through the lens. In this way, we become connected to one another through a precious shared visual experience.’

Statuary in a field in Pennsylvania captures feminine grief  through the ages.

“So much working, reading, thinking, living to do. A lifetime is not long enough. Nor youth to old age long enough. Immortality and permanence be damned. Sure I want them, but they are nonexistent, and won’t matter when I rot underground. All I want to say is: I made the best of a mediocre job. It was a good fight while it lasted. And so life goes.”  -Sylvia Plath

Sam Caponegro
“Beach Club” print of watercolor and ink on paper 18” x 22,” 2015, $125.00
“Pop” print of watercolor and ink on paper 18” x 22,” 2015, $125.00
“Cabana Lady” print of watercolor and ink on paper 18” x 22,” 2015, $125.00
Statement
A Year by the Pool in Hollywood, Florida
When we were young, we spent so much TIME frolicking by the pool having so much fun
Then we filled our adult time with the business of work, raising families, chasing a dream
And now we are older and we once again are filling our TIME frolicking by the pool
Sam is a retired teacher who spends his time between Somerset, New Jersey and Hollywood, Florida
Biography
Sammy Caponegro is a local artist influenced by the glorious water of Hollywood, Florida and its colors, music, and people.

Chris Ernst
“Time (Passage)” Acrylic 12” x 12” 2015 $150
STATEMENT
I strive to recreate mechanical works while allowing the artist’s hand to have a strong influence.  Pop culture and original sketches form the basis for a majority of my paintings.  Punk, hip hop and skateboarding are all huge influences.  I prefer complementary, synthetic colors and intense lines. I love it when a piece strikes the balance between a childhood memory and my contemporary, personal twist. The mood I aim for is somewhere between modern and nostalgic.

Heidi Nam
“Juncture of Phases” Collagraph 22″ x 22″ 2015 $500

Charissa Schulze
“Tempus florae” Graphite and pochoir (watercolour stencil) on found paper
25 panels, each 9 x 10 in. / Approx. 54 x 58 in. total, 2012, $1,200
Flip book: 2 x 4.75 x 0.75 inches / digitally printed and stab-bound with marbled paper
STATEMENT
Art, so often and quite simply, seeks to capture or preserve something that is otherwise fleeting; in essence it is an act of resistance against Time, which ultimately brings an end to all things. I have always been quite drawn to the beauty of objects from the past — not only because they bear the lovely traces of their years, but also that so many of them predate the predominance of the machine-made. As an artist I have actively sought to study and collect these outdated modes of making, drawing heavily from the histories of printmaking, manuscripts, and related mediums of the book. Thus Time is at play as both a creative and destructive force, both as an investment and an unraveling: the hours necessary to craft something by hand, and the -inescapable knowledge that what I create will only last for so long against that gradual and sudden affliction that plagues us all.

Tempus Florae
This clock of flowers was first devised by Carl Linnaeus, an 18th-Century naturalist and the father of modern taxonomy. In 1751, while writing his Philosophia Botanica, he observed that certain species of flowers could be used to determine the time of day based on the remarkably precise regularity with which they open and close their petals. Romantic as it may sound to tell time with a garden, the clock was actually quite complex, requiring the methodical cross-referencing of several, often indistinct, species in order to decipher the hour; a feat requiring great powers of concentration and a more than rudimentary knowledge of botany. The chromatic abstractions here each correspond to one of the twenty-four hours of Linnaeus’ clock, every colour representing a flower, its presence within a circle indicating that the petals of that species are open during that particular hour.

Domonique Alesi
“Incoherent Wisdom” Mixed Media; paper, ribbon, stones, and other found material LED battery lit 9.25″ x 11.25″ x 2.5″  $650.00
STATEMENT
As moments evanesce into the abyss of “past time” she moves forward into a new light.  With each minute to pass she becomes more well versed in knowledge, feeding the undying need to edify the mind.  But when she tries to remember, memories cloud a tangled mind.  She knows the answers are there, somewhere, tucked in the corner of a sock drawer or maybe deep in the pocket of her favorite opera coat, the pocket with a hole.

Past. Present. Future.  If only a forty dollar fortune teller could give such knowledge.  Maybe she could come to know herself from another lifetime.  To look through a crystal looking glass into the eyes of another self waiting on the other side. If only she could hear her ghost’s incoherent wisdom.

Francesca Azzara
“Driving Through Town” encaustic and mixed media on canvas 22” x 22” 2013 $1000.00
STATEMENT
For Sands of Time, I have specifically chosen several works from my Aftermath series.  These works were prompted by the devastation and feelings of hopelessness created from super storm Sandy. They represent a corner of my psyche and a remnant of a moment in time beyond my comprehension.  I spent many days at the Jersey shore right after the storm.  Driving through my beloved beach communities, it was hard to grasp, that decades of industrious work by man, could all be washed away in a few short hours.  The fierceness of the storm, combined with the compression of time, permanently altered entire towns and landscapes. Time can be an enemy. Today so much has been rebuilt. Time can be a healer.
These paintings are a combination of paint and collaged mixed media applied to un-stretched canvas dipped in encaustic wax.

Alison Hooper
“Sand Forest”, Photograph, 10” x 10”, 2015, $60.00
STATEMENT
Moments in Time
The photographs from this series were taken while strolling on the beach on LBI in search of unusual shells.  As I approached the water’s edge, I was memorized by the organic patterns in the sand created by the outgoing tide.  As each rhythmic wave passed over the sand, a new design was illuminated by the setting sun.   The light was changing quickly as I clicked my shutter to capture natures ever – changing impressions, all the while knowing that my images were recording a series of vanishing moments in time.

Peter Arakawa
“Time Capsule” 1 Mixed media, assemblage, 7″ x 11.5″, 2015,  $700.00
“Time Capsule” 2 Mixed media, assemblage, 7″ x 11.5″, 2015,  $700.00
STATEMENT
HISTORY IN A TIME CAPSULE
Memories of boyhood put in a box. A frozen chunk of experience. A “now” as an ever present stillness.

Rita Herzfeld
“Growth” 11” X 14”, Graphite pencil on paper, 2015   $50.00
“Progress (integration)” 8” X 10”, Acrylic and ink on paper, 2015   $50.00
STATEMENT
Change in many instances requires sacrifice, hard work and in the case of integration,
absolute determination.  Race relations in many communities across the nation are still
strained.  Little by little more change will come.  The children are our future.
Change in many other areas comes without permission, whether we like it or not.  Children grow from toddlers to adulthood seemingly overnight.   The bathroom mirror sometimes shows us a stranger…sort of looks like us…but older.  Change is inevitable.  George Benson said it best in one of his songs…”Nothing stays the same…everything must change”.

Linda Vonderschmidt-LaStella
“Time Passing” porcelain, 24” x 24” 2012,$800.00
STATEMENT
A ceramist for nearly 40 years, I see my work with clay as a relational
experience that is extremely important to what I do and how I create.understand my process as a very collaborative one with the material.
Over the past ten years or so, my experimentation turned to incorporating found objects and fused glass with the ceramic components. Additionally,  I work to create a sense of motion in the sculpture; my current work is much about the interaction of our life force and the way it moves through time. I began “Taking Time Apart,” a series of mixed media sculptures several years ago, quite serendipitiously combining some old clock pieces with ceramic elements. It was the manipulation of materials that provided the initial incentive for the work. .. the words and concepts followed later. The imagery relates to “Steam Punk” art, a populist art form, currently in vogue. While it has a dark side, one aspect includes an appreciation for the elegant craftsmanship and detail of mechanized objects, a strong
contrast to the sleek plastic items that surround us today. I even allow the brass hangers in this space to be exposed to add to the Steam
Punk spirit. What has evolved in this series thus far is a verbal/visual reflection on life … on how we travel through time … on birth … on death … on all of the stages and transitions we experience in between. The series speaks both about how we stand apart and about how each of us engage with society.

Sharon Paster
“Door”   Oil   28” x 18”   Winter, 2015   $200.00
STATEMENT
Given greater freedom after my recent graduation, I am seeing my personal and professional life as a resource for ideas. I am moving away from what may be deemed the generic,
into a more personal frame of reference. My personal and professional worlds overlap, in that the revelations and creative undertakings that my students and I embark on are both transformational. I feel fortunate that I play a role in both endeavors. The work and the creative struggle of my students is paralleled, I feel, by both my past and present.
I work with young children, up until early adolescence. I think that Hans Christian Anderson’s literary fairy tale, “The Ugly Duckling”, is a fair common ground for discussion. For children, it
is a story of personal improvement, which parallels my “adult” perspective that learning is a
transformative process.
In my most recent paintings, I have tried to represent metaphors that resonate for me. Although much of my life appears constant, change is on the horizon.

Addison Vincent
“Time is Fleeting” Acrylic paint, ink, modeling paste, acrylic gel medium, on stretched canvas
20” x 30” 2013, $600.00
STATEMENT
“Tick tock, tick tock.  The alarm goes off.  We jump out of bed.  Rush to get coffee, catch up on the news of the day.  Glance at the clock, 5 minutes late.  Jump in the shower, get dressed.  Glance at the clock, 10 minutes behind schedule.  Rush out of the house.  Did you shut the lights, lock the door, get the kids on the bus?  Jump in the car, check the mirrors, hit the road.  Traffic!  Great 15 minutes behind schedule.  Get to work, just made it on time.  Work, work, work.
Jump back in the car, rush home.  Get the kids.  Eat dinner, work some more.  Is it really that late?  Go to bed, get a few hours sleep.  Tick tock, tick tock.  The alarm goes off. Do it all again.
Our mortality begins and ends at marks on a timeline that has no beginning or end. We are but roses on a bush. We see the rose born, admire its beauty, and watch it wilt and die. We concern ourselves with the rose in the now, never paying attention to the age and growth of the bush itself. We are nothing more than a blip in the vastness of time.  Sometimes we need to slow down and admire the bush as a whole, and concern ourselves less with the rose.
Our time is fleeting.  We should cherish every minute that we are breathing, every day that we wake up and get to experience life.”

Randall Cleaver
“Waffling Cuckoo Too” found object 20” H x 8” W 5” D 2015, $600.00
STATEMENT
Randall Cleaver’s work combines what has been discarded to create timekeeping artifacts. Their utility and motion involve the viewer in their complexity of forms, textures, relationships, and humor.
Creating with found objects started as an inexpensive way to obtain materials, but soon, the objects themselves became a source of inspiration. Cleaver tries to give his viewer the sense that the parts were manufactured to form the object, in order that the various parts transcend what they were.
The clocks, as a body of work, are a conglomerate of ideas Cleaver has had over the years: actual, as opposed to implied, motion; machine sounds emanating from the pieces; humor; functionality; the sense of history in timepieces; and the near obsession our society has for time.
The clocks also give an archetypal starting point with which to view his pieces. From there the viewers can work their way deeper into the works.

Cleaver’s working style is intuitive. He starts with a germ of an idea or a particular found object that will suggest a piece, but as it grows, different relationships will be discovered and the form of the work will respond to these discoveries.

Christina Anderson
“Fenced # 38” digital photograph, 12” x 17” 2015,
I am not afraid of death, but the process of dying itself.
My brother had asked me if I wanted to go see foreclosed property where two deer died in an attempt to jump a fence.  I was interested in how the deer that could easily jump a six-foot fence could get impaled on a five-foot fence, so I asked my brother to drive me to the site.
I found that the carcasses of the deer were rotting on the fence like my brother had told me.  The two deer were in various states of decay on different parts of the property.  It was the first week of spring after a brutally cold and snowy winter. When the earth was buried in snow the deer tried to jump the fence and sank into the snow as they made their leap.  They had no hard ground to make the jump off of and ended up getting caught on the fence that was spiked at the top.  They died a slow painful death.
No one heard their cries; no one saw their struggle as they died. Predators had left their marks, including me. Am I a predator taking pictures making my marks or am I telling their story? I did not hear their cries or see their struggle.  I only saw the evidence of their slow struggle to die. And now I will also observe their decay. I can tell their story, but will someone hear or see me?
Am I the deer? Taking my pictures that may or may not be seen.  Like the deer no one sees my struggles.  Or am I a predator taking the last thing the deer have left to give – their story. I can lend the deer a bit of my creativity, so maybe we both can be heard. To say we are here or have been here.  Death does not scare me but living a life unheard does. I know this is part of the reason that drives me to take the first set of pictures and led me to follow the process of their decay through the weeks.  While shooting these pictures I became aware of other deer that had died this winter. They had died in a different manner and environment then the deer on the fence, so the decay was different. This is all science and I only know what I observed. Deer decompose at different rates and in different manners.  There are all sorts of predators that drive the process along, from large predators like Turkey Vultures and Foxes to the smallest of bugs.
But this is science and I am not a scientist or theologian – just an artist.  I see the Deer as Dragons in my imagination. Fierce like warriors shedding their armor as their bodies aged and decomposed.  As time would pass I would see their expression would change.  Objects around the Dragons I saw as knights willing to fight or protect the Dragons. By watching the process of the deer decaying I began to realize I was not watching death but the process of life and rebirth. What was a dead dear in its decay was becoming part of the earth again.  In the end I wanted the story to be about life rather then death. My intention was not to make pretty pictures but strong fierce pictures that reflect the subject matter rather then to creating pictures that would comfort people’s fears about death. Life and Death both can fierce and scary at times.  You can look away and look at only the parts of it that are pleasing There is nothing wrong with that. It’s a choice you make as an individual. I choose not to look away. That is just how I am.

Brian McCormack
“Dreamtime Dancers” video, animation DVD, Approx 6 minutes 2013 Digital file of work can be purchased for $25.00 each
Statement
We (including every living sentient being) as residents of this planet, all share a duality. We are both part citizen of the earth and astronaut. As citizens, we are grounded on the surface and feel stationary from moment to moment. As astronauts, we rotate around the earth and travel at a rate of about 1,000 MPH. On our spaceship “Earth” we orbit the sun at approx. 70,000 MPH. The Sun’s gravity pulls all of us, the planets, moons, astroids etc. around the galaxy at approx. 600,000 MPH. Our place in space and time is in constant flux.
The Aboriginal culture in Australia has added an altogether different aspect to our relationship to space and time. Dreamtime is where one exists in a virtual reality as one dreams or as a “spirit” or presence reaching outside the body. An important step to one’s coming of age is a “walkabout.” It is a universal journey which emphasizes ones personal place and struggle on the planet. My video animates hand drawn figures moving in abstract landscapes which describe this phenomena.

Richard Gessner
Title: “The Hermit” ©2015   – a video of a reading of a short story by Richard Gessner
Printed copies for $10 each
Statement:
” Long after the hermit becomes ash in the flames, the hollow helmet will drift through invisible fields of ashy dust. A fossil impervious to the erosion of time. Time. Maker of wounds, turning all extremities into seamless plateaus-Rain, wind and stardust will sweep over the helmet’s rough contours Smoothing over the last notch bump indentation left by the root-Forlorn remnants of exacting precision cast to oblivion-Monumental strata of bird dung-Bedrock of Phoenix-The spirit of hearing will send forth an ear, cupping itself to the helmet’s concavity, listening to the oceans roaring in the bird shell.”