WONDER: Social Surrealism in Contemporary Art
October 19 – December 21, 2024
Opening Reception: Saturday, October 19, 6-8 pm
Artist Talk: 6 – 6:30 pm
Kristy Deetz (Green Bay, WI), Edie Dillon (Prescott, AZ), Chas Frisco (Flagstaff, AZ), Jeff Leake (Portland, OR)
WONDER: Social Surrealism in Contemporary Art connects four artists whose work engages peculiarity and curiosity to comment on current social and environmental themes. Social Surrealism, a term coined during the Depression Era, originally referred to artists who used elements of the illogical and dream-like to address socio-political issues. In contemporary culture, artists expand on the ethos of Social Surrealism by using imagery rooted in absurdity and wonder to contemplate the pressing issues of our times. Kristy Deetz (Green Bay, WI) integrates digital media and technology in the process of converting the artist’s dark-humored paintings into collaborative industrial weavings; Edie Dillon (Prescott, AZ) makes sculptural assemblages that respond to human and environmental predicaments and the balance between serendipity and intention; Chas Frisco (Flagstaff, AZ) creates hand-built and pit-fired ceramic sculptures that suggest landscapes and dreams suspended between ephemeral and physical realms; and Jeff Leake (Portland, OR) paints meticulous oil paintings on unconventionally shaped panels that delve into the intersection of human behavior, cultural ideals, and the natural world. These artists identify curiosity as the natural human tendency to want to learn and understand more about the world around us—a world that is rapidly developing new technologies that are evolving how we think about creative practices.
EXHIBITION PROGRAMMING
Tuesday October 29, 6:30 pm
Advanced Digital Technologies Reshaping Art & Education
Interactive presentation by Jaewook Lee that highlights the ethical considerations and potential risks of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Art. Advanced Digital Technologies Reshaping Art & Education discusses immersive and interactive experiences that push the boundaries of conventional expression, and the necessitation of a reevaluation of educational curricula to include these modern advancements.
Saturday, November 16, 2 – 3 pm or 3:30 – 4:30 pm
Free Youth Workshop: Surrealist Collage
In this fun art workshop, kids can dive into the wild creativity of surrealist collage with instructor Erika Tsouras! Dovetailing with the WONDER art exhibit at the Coconino Center for the Arts which features social surrealist art, students will cut images from magazines to assemble an unexpected image that defies reality. The project is highly accessible because no drawing skills are needed, and it usually leads to lots of giggles and some seriously cool art!
Free workshop. Registration required.
Saturday, November 23, 10 am – 2 pm
Digital Surrealism: Exploring AI and Technology in Contemporary Art
This comprehensive workshop instructed by Chris S. Johnson will delve into the innovative use of digital and Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to create surrealist art that comments on contemporary social and environmental themes. Key segments include Introduction to Digital Surrealism and AI in Art; Hands-on Digital Illustration and Animation Techniques; and Discussion on the Societal Implications of AI and Technology in Art.
Free workshop. Space is limited, registration required.
Thursday, December 12, 6:30 pm
Creative Technology and Artificial Intelligence Panel Discussion
Panel discussion of Humanities scholars on the topic of Creative Technology and Artificial Intelligence with panelists Jaewook Lee, Becky Pratt-Sturges, Jean-Marc Patnoe, and other panelists, and moderated by Chris S. Johnson. Panelists will share their knowledge on the role of technology in humanistic expression and how we might express anxieties, enthusiasm, concern, and wonder about the rapid innovation we live with in society today through art and in the digital realm.
Saturday, December 21, 6:30 pm
Closing Reception featuring: (un)certainty, Figure to the Ground, and Stars/Dark
Performances by Abby Fisher, with Owen Davis and Rob Wallace
(un)certainty (2024) by Lawton Hall, Figure to Ground by Andrea Mazzariello, and Stars/Dark are three pieces that will be performed in this concert, each offering a unique exploration of rhythm and complexity. (un)certainty, scored for solo marimba and electronics, delves into the tension between surety and doubt, inspired by advances in particle physics. Its five movements range from bold, frantic chords to quiet reflection, culminating in a rhythmic battle between marimba and electronics. Figure to Ground, written for Abby Fisher, simplifies rhythmic complexity into a single syncopated figure, gradually dissolving the pulse until a late melody reasserts it. Both pieces demand courageous performances, inviting listeners into deep contemplation of time and structure. Stars/Dark was conceived first as a text and then as a co-composed musical piece. Rob Wallace’s original poem draws from a number of sources as inspiration, including the lyrics of Robert Hunter, and the cosmos-related culture of Flagstaff and the Colorado Plateau. The music sets the text in a dark sky of non-metered metallic sounds and drones, punctuated by a section of drum-based metered explorations.
The industrial jacquard weavings in this exhibition are based on original oil paintings from Kristy Deetz’ Through the Veil and Holidays Unfolding series. Through the process of this work, making sketches in Photoshop and creating patterns printed on silk that became sub-straights for paintings, Deetz became interested in ways that digital technology translates images and gives multiple options for output and adding new meaning. The complex threads of the industrial jacquard weavings add another visual and conceptual layer to process and product.
Deetz states, “Translating images, slowly painted by hand, into a potentially mass-produced product that simulates slow work wrought by hand is amusing, mesmerizing, troubling, and a symptom of our times. As artists we engage in a reciprocal fabric of making. We tie and re-tie ‘strings’ that simultaneously pull on the past, present, and future, on the artist and the viewer.”
Access Kristy’s website here.
Edie Dillon is a sculptor, painter, writer, and mother whose work seeks to honor the beauty and mystery of the world. Dillon’s life has been shaped by remarkable experiences in beloved wild places as an environmental educator and advocate. She was privileged to serve as the first full time woman ranger in North Cascades National Park, develop recycling education for the City of Bellingham, Washington, and join merge and nature in community outreach for the Verde River in Arizona, among other projects.
Dillon says, “Over time, communicating through the language of visual art became as important to me as communicating through the languages of science and environmental education.” To answer personal questions about art’s role in cultural change, Dillon focused her master’s research on transformative power of art, with particular attention to environmental art.
Dillon’s studio practice is a search for a personal visual language that can speak to human and environmental predicaments potently, authentically, aesthetically, and with the needed urgency. Dillon hopes to help people see and understand the beauty we live in, and to create a vision of healing which is still in our power.
Access Edie’s website here.
Chas Frisco completed his MFA from Wichita State University in 2004. He has worked as a professor, potter, and soccer coach since then in Alaska, Nevada, Georgia, Arizona, and Kansas.
Frisco says, “I had a great upbring and decided to create a life doing the things I have loved as a child. I work in clay for the tactile quality of the material and the versatility the spectrum of working with clay has. I can be sculptor, painter, drawer, tiler, potter. I have had a visceral connection with the material from the first touch and decided it needed to remain.”
Access Jeff’s website here.
Jeff Leake’s works are rooted in his exploration of cultural paradigms that govern human lives, incorporating historic images, invented archetypes, and observed landscapes to create chimeric yet familiar scenes. Drawing inspiration from a diverse range of influences, including Bruegel, Bosch, and the science and history illustrations of his youth, Leake crafts art that blurs the boundaries between history and fantasy, conveying the intricate relationship between humanity and the natural world.
Leake is an artist and educator based in Portland, Oregon. With a BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and an MFA from UC Davis, his art spans the intersections of culture, nature, and human behavior, bridging the contemporary with the ancient past.
The presentation of WONDER: Social Surrealism in Contemporary Art is supported by the Arizona Humanities and Arizona Community Foundation
