Collaborage, a year in the Making

by
Maryann Miller

The Texas Sculpture Association is proud to present "Collaborage," an innovative sculpture exhibit, September 1 - to the end of October at the Eisemann Center in Richardson, Texas.

Three East Texas artists, Suzann Cromer, Alder (Al) Moore, and Bonnie SirKegian participated in Collaborage and have their work featured in the exhibit.

The exhibit focuses on the energy and synergy of collaborative creativity and discipline between artists. From all around North Texas, 13 groups of artists have been working together this past year to create incomparable works of art, melding individual techniques and styles with those of other artists in their group. In total, they created 34 sculptures, using stone, metal, wood, fiber, ceramic and glass.

Al Moore, (R) who works at Bent Pine Studios with his wife, Georgia Lange-Moore, heard about Collaborage when he had a piece in a show in Rockport, Texas last year. "I met Cassandara Fink and she told me about the program, he said. "When she got the project approved at the Texas Association of Sculptors in the fall last year, she sent me information about it. I found out that Bonnie and Suzann and were TAS members, so I contacted them to see if they were interested in collaborating."

Al had worked with another artist while at UC Berkley in ceramics and then later with an artist who made jewelry, but he said he has never been in a situation of three artists working together. He also said he would do it again. "It was really interesting to hear the differing views and ideas of other artists," he said. "They look at things differently so working with them gave me a new new perspective."

On the actual process of collaborating, Al said that it went very smoothly, despite the fact that "An artist's ego is always an issue whenever you get artists together. But we are all familiar with each others work, so we knew where the others heads were when we started. In terms of challenging each other, all we asked was for the other artist to consider trying something new to get a piece of work that would fit together artistically and aesthetically."

Bonnie, pictured here with an earlier piece of work, was equally enthusiastic about the creative sharing and said she was immediately interested when Al contacted her about participating in Collaborage. "On the day of our first, exploratory meeting at my studio Hunter's Moon my husband and his son brought a lichen-covered jawbone of a"beast" up to the studio. We'd already decided we'd each come up with a seed piece and the other two would add to it to make a whole. Once we saw the jawbone; it's beautiful shape, its porcelain teeth-like flowers and its extraordinary color and texture we knew we had our theme."

DragonTeeth/DragonBones is the theme that each artist carried forward as they created pieces of art that had elements from all three. "By the time of the final piece, Suzann's Voyagers we were so in-sync, the one piece is a combination of the mediums we all like to work in. Al works in limestone, Suzann in stoneware, and I work in marble," Bonnie said. " I would never have thought it would have flowed so easily, but it did. We kept to a schedule of meetings at our various studios and produced each part without a hesitation. It was an exhilarating experience."

Al Moore made the pedestals for the art to be exhibited at the Eisemann, and Bonnie said when she saw them set up for the show, " I was struck with the serenity of our three pieces arranged to perfection on their matching pedestals. I Our collaboration strikes me as unique. And we are all thrilled that the Eisemann, has asked TSA to extend the show another month. What a compliment to all concerned with the show."

Pictured on the right is the Collaborage Piece Celtic Icon, which was the second piece the artists worked on.

Suzann Cromer, (below left) the third artist, lives and works in East Texas. Her work can be seen at area galleries as well as on her Web site. She is a member of the Texas Sculpture Association, but she had only known Al Moore a short time and did not know Bonnie at all. "It was an honor to be asked to join these two wonderful stone-carver artists," she said. "This experience was so interesting to me as I work in clay, not stone, and am typically a realist. Portraits and figures are normally my muse, and this project challenged me to think outside my normal box, this being a different way to approach my vision in sculpture."

Like the other two artists, Suzann found the process creatively invigorating and inspiring. " I felt through the entire process we were of like minds traveling the same general path of thoughts, although different in our own concepts of the initial inspiration for the piece, being the jaw bone that Bonnie's husband brought in from the woods the first day we met to talk about this joint project.

"That in itself was very inspiring as we all felt it was a very good sign for our beginning together without having to search for the inspiration for our pieces. The support that I have felt from Al and Bonnie is hard to explain but so heart felt and will be with me forever. They have helped push me to another level in many ways, and I feel there is a bond between us from that.

"I think that our collaborative project is very interesting in many ways and hope that others read their own story into it. "

(Pictured to the right is Voyagers, the third piece created by this trio of artists.)

In addition to the show at the Eisemann, the artists and their work will be featured as part of the Art Avenues II adult programs sponsored by Arts Incubators of Richardson (AIR) where people are invited to come and meet the artists. There will be a special viewing of the exhibit at the Eisemann, followed by a reception at The Renaissance Dallas-Richardson Hotel September on September 20th, 5:30 - 7pm. For more information visit Arts Incubator of Richardson (AIR)

(Two views of Dragon's Tooth, the first piece of the collaborative project)

For a sneak peek of Collaborage works in progress, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gtf6mcSNSV4

Finished works are on display at the Green Mezzanine Gallery, located on the upper level of the Charles W. Eisemann Center lobby, open to the public Wednesday - Saturday, noon - 5 p.m. Location: 2351 Performance Dr, Richardson, Texas 75082 (off 75, N of Galatyn/Renner Rd exit). Awards will be presented by jurors: Patricia Meadows, Eliseo Garcia, and Colby Parsons, at an Opening Reception September 9, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.

Participating Artists:
Jan Ayers, Amber Block, Kathy Boortz, John Borusheski, Jessica Burnham-Hinton, Adriana Cobo-Frenkel, Helen Comeau, Suzann Cromer, Cynthia Daniel, Annie Davis, Amalia Elmasri, Riyad Elmasri, Cassandra Fink, Ruben Glaucier, Deana Hinchcliff, Jerry Jensen, Angie Kavas, Shelly Kolman-Smith, Nancy Kuczor-Uline, Jason LaJudice, Rene Lowery, Alder Moore, Anne Neal, Nan Phillips, Stephen Potter, Pascale Pryor, Marco Rubino, Kate Schatz, Alfred Scheer, Jay Silber, Bonnie SirKegian, Silvia Thornton.

See Collaborage HERE