PROCESS: Making Things on the Way to Making Other Things
PROCESS: Making Things on the Way to Making Other Things
Art Students League of Denver
200 Grant Street, Denver, CO 80203
August 12-September 25, 2022
Curated by Rick Griffith
Admission: Free
Review by Laura I. Miller
In his book Craft in the Real World, Matthew Salesses writes, “Craft is both much more and much less than we’re taught it is.” [1] He’s talking about writing, but this applies to art as well. How often do you get to see the process behind the artwork that’s on display in an exhibition? What you see could be the result of years of shaping and reshaping the finished image. Or what you see could have been made in a matter of hours, either on impulse or after much contemplation.
An installation view of Process: Making Things on the Way to Other Things at the Art Students League of Denver. Image by DARIA.
With Process: Making Things on the Way to Other Things, curator Rick Griffith offers the viewer a glimpse into the mind of the artist. The 17 works presented, ranging from paintings to video to sculpture, reveal mistakes, leftovers, and happy accidents. [2] They recontextualize works meant for other purposes or address directly the mind behind the object. By showing us their “rubbish, or trash,” or works that aren’t “good enough to show others,” as Griffith says in his curator’s statement, the artists reveal their vulnerability and present us with works that are more relatable, and more human, than what many of us are accustomed to viewing.
Faatma Be Oné, Everything is Ceremony, ceramic, metal tray, and woven cloth. Image by DARIA.
The artworks represent different interpretations or levels of process as well. Faatma Be Oné’s Everything is Ceremony is a collection of small ceramic works that she created from pieces of unused clay for other art projects. She notes in her artist statement, “These tchotchkes created in-between ‘art’ over the last few years are my prayers to the mundane as sacred and the wonky as holy.” As tests and experiments that helped Be Oné get to the next step in her process, they provide a portal for the viewer to imagine the larger, finished works to which each smaller piece belongs.
Allison Sheldon, Compost (1, 2, 3), fabric and thread. Image by DARIA.
Similarly, with her work Compost, Allison Sheldon arranges scraps of fabric between pieces of sheer cloth. These scraps, she explains, are trimmings from other projects, barely worth saving. “I save them in honor of my labor, in hope that they can become something new,” she says. For this exhibition, the scraps (like the cast-off cocoons of caterpillars on their way to becoming butterflies) are themselves the objects of interest.
Michael Gadlin, Rhythm Variations, mixed media. Image by Laura I. Miller.
In Michael Gadlin’s Rhythm Variations, the largest work in the exhibition, we see stencils that the artist has used to create other works. Known for his expressionist paintings, Gadlin offers us a look into his art-making process. The stencils, which dangle playfully from a horizontal beam, are decontextualized and given significance apart from the finished products.
Rick Griffith, Vending Reasonably Well Used Advice, vending machine, acrylic paint, paper, and wood. Image by Laura I. Miller.
A detail view of Rick Griffith’s Vending Reasonably Well Used Advice. Image by DARIA.
Other artists, including Rick Griffith and David Ocelotl Garcia, take a different approach to tackling the theme of process. Griffith’s Vending Reasonably Well Used Advice, a yellow, waist-high box that dispenses words of wisdom (e.g. “Nothing Is Real”) printed on red tiles, speaks to the interior, emotional/intellectual process of art-making. “Everything and everyone is process, and the process includes inspiration from inside and outside sources,” he says. With this work, Griffith calls attention to the intangible sources that inspire the act of creation.
David Ocelotl Garcia, Somos Latinos, acrylic on wood. Image by Laura I. Miller.
Likewise, David Ocelotl Garcia’s painting Somos Latinos, which depicts four latino/a figures with various tools, instruments, symbols, and plants resting on their heads like hair or elaborate hats, speaks to the variety of influences that shapes each person’s worldview. Here, we’re not seeing the artist’s process itself, but an interpretation of the ways that culture engages us all.
Sammy Seung-Min Lee, Mamabot Hindsight, 2020, Hanji, archival prints, and acrylic varnish. Image by DARIA.
Taiko Chandler, Barren Landscape 1&2, mixed media. Image by DARIA.
In their statements, several artists place their works in the context of control, i.e., who’s in control, letting go of it, etc. For Sammy Seung-Min Lee and Taiko Chandler, relinquishing control plays an important role in their respective works Mamabot Hindsight, 2020 and Barren Landscape 1&2. Both works came about accidentally, by allowing the process to shape the end result. “The Mamabot is a serendipitous result of an unexpected collaborative process,” Lee says. While working on this piece, her 4-year-old arranged the photographs into a robot-like shape while she was away on a phone call. For Chandler, accidentally tearing the edges of the paper allowed her to explore taking the work in a different direction.
Marin Griffith, Star Cuts, acrylic on wood, and Untitled, circa 1989, haircut poster from a barber shop, Kabala, Sierra Leone, from the private collection of Rick Griffith and Debra Johnson. Image by DARIA.
Still other artists use context to show how art’s meaning shifts and evolves. In one context, the work may have a marketing or utilitarian purpose, such as with Marin Griffith’s Star Cuts and Untitled, from the private collection of Rick Griffith and Debra Johnson. These barber shop posters advertise different styles of haircuts. By placing them together in the context of an art gallery, their meaning and significance transforms and contributes to the tradition of honoring Black bodies.
Gregg Deal, Suspect Device (Stiff Little Fingers), acrylic on canvas. Image by Laura I. Miller.
Gregg Deal’s Suspect Device (Stiff Little Fingers) also recontextualizes familiar images. His painting combines stereotypical comic book drawings of Indigenous people from the 1940s and 1950s with lyrics from punk music in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. The striking result challenges western perceptions by centering Indigenous experience. Deal’s process of selection and composition frame a reality that serves as a counterpoint to the material’s original purpose.
A view of the English language title signage for Process: Making Things on the Way to Other Things. Image by DARIA.
A view of the Spanish language title signage for Proceso: Hacer cosas en el camino hacia hacer otras cosas. Image by Laura I. Miller.
Process: Making Things on the Way to Other Things is a fitting tribute to the Art Students League’s 35th anniversary. Strung between classroom spaces filled with paper scraps and blank canvas, the works embody the spirit of the venue as a space where people congregate to experiment and learn the process of art-making. It’s an inspiration and rare honor to see the mechanics of so many well-respected artists’ works, and their display contributes to a better understanding of the labor of craft and journey to completion.
Laura I. Miller is a Denver-based writer and editor. Her reviews and short stories appear widely. She received an MFA in creative writing from the University of Arizona.
[1] Matthew Salesses, Craft in the Real World: Rethinking Fiction Writing and Workshopping (New York: Catapult, 2021), p. 20.
[2] The artists featured in the exhibition are Taiko Chandler, Gregg Deal, Dick Farley, Jo Fitsell, Mark Friday, Michael Gadlin, David Oceloti Garcia, Marin Griffith, Rick Griffith, Holly-Kai Hurd, Homare Ikeda, Andrea Kemp, Ladies Fancywork Society, Sammy Seung-Min Lee, Faatma Be Oné, and Allison Sheldon.
