Christian Art – Page 2 – Art and Thoughts On It

SET MY FEET- AN ATTEMPT TO COME TO TERMS WITH WHO I AM

Posted on August 20, 2017June 16, 2018 by Stan Hillard

I am blessed to have lived my entire life here in East Tennessee. None of my travels have afforded me more inspiration than the place where I was born. I step out my back door into evidence that the reason I am an artist is all around me. I make images that are derived from nature. I find it edifying that the work I do is an extension of reality without being a mere reproduction of what can be seen.

I have always had an affinity for rocks. They have physical, psychological and spiritual relevance in my art-making process. Living in the foothills of one of the oldest mountain ranges on Earth, I am provided some of my favorite subject matter. After a short drive I can easily be photographing phenomenal formations of gigantic boulders. Alongside these monoliths I find their ancient relatives. Stones that have been weathered by the changes of many seasons range in size and type from mammoth to the tiniest pebbles imaginable.

I am passionate about the infinite variety of their shapes and forms. I never tire of their beauty and their exquisite compositional possibilities. I digitally alter my photographs to adjust their color, exposure, resolution, contrast and definition. Because I consider myself a colorist, I abstract the color to symbolically express spiritual ideas and themes. Although I manipulate color without mercy, I cannot divorce myself from the integrity of the textural surfaces. Fissures, cracks, pitting and the effect of lichen and stains from other organic materials on rock surfaces intrigue me.

Layering thin washes of color and value permits me to work almost as slowly as the weathering process itself. I do not like to rush things. If I am patient, all of the artistic quandaries I encounter resolve themselves without too much duress. I enjoy experimenting with new processes and find that I often combine drawing, painting and sometimes collage to exact the effects I like the best. If I failed to give God the glory for permitting me to explore the gifts He has given me, I would be truly remiss. He allows me to communicate the beliefs of my faith through my imitations of His handiwork, and I am eternally grateful. I am His, and what I do is His. I pray that you will see Him in something I have done.

“He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.”

Psalm 40:2

AN ATTEMPT AT ABSTRACTION

Posted on August 10, 2017August 10, 2017 by Stan Hillard

After visiting the KMA exhibit of the Knoxville Seven in January of 2016 I found myself asking some serious questions. The works of art I had just seen were produced by those who had been my teachers. I went through the University of Tennessee art program in a golden age when those who were teaching were also capable of making amazing images. The problem for me was that they were all the living proponents of Abstract Expressionism and I was in love with realism. The defining question I was forced to address was, how had I come to be the realist I am as an artist in spite of my training by such magnificently abstract artists?

In my heart I had rejected every attempt they made to ask me to embrace abstraction. I understood all of the precepts of abstract conceptualization and I could more than satisfy the requirements of their assignments. None of them ever knew how in my arrogance I hated being praised for doing what came far too easily for me. Realism was my only real challenge. I love a good skirmish with what I think I know to be true.

I came home that night having decided that forty years ago I had been shortsighted in having tried to dismiss the genius of abstract thought. I examined my own set of artistic sensibilities and was confounded by what I discovered. In spite of all my railing against non-objective imagery I was guilty of using the push pull of surfaces and edges that deny form and space. I allowed myself to apply non-realistic, abstract use of color that is so evident in the images of my 1970’s forerunners. I am glad today that I had been influenced by them.

Carl Sublett was at the core of this influence. What a giant among Cretins. His kindness, intellect and encouraging candor never fell short of meeting the personal and artistic needs of his students. I am grateful to have been one of them. When I became an art educator, I attempted to model my classroom behavior after his.

So, as you can see, I had to revisit, rethink, rework what I would allow myself to admit about the whole abstraction thing. After careful scrutiny with a refreshed eye, I found that my own work was not as realistic as I had touted. Total abstraction is still not native to me. However, when whatever I am working on needs that special tweet, I am going to allow myself abstract liberties. It can’t hurt. Right?

God has been very good to me. He has allowed me to live long enough to start to see the truth in my life and in my artwork. Here are a few steps I have taken toward abstraction. I think I like it.

I looked at one of my rock photographs and asked myself to care a little less about reality. This is what happened.

As the piece developed I fell more in love with surface and less with subject matter. Texture and mark making became fun again.

This is the finished product and it is obvious that these are intended to be rocks and water. They are, however, a bit less realistically represented. I enjoyed the process and the product turned out okay too.

Art and Thoughts On It

Posted on April 14, 2017August 20, 2017 by Stan Hillard

HIDING IN THE CLEFT OF THE ROCK

It has started. I am ready to start sharing with others the gifts God has given me. So, I guess it could be said that I have been hiding. Hiding in the cleft of the Rock (Jesus) has been a safe place but now I am willing to venture out and let others know what Jesus has done for me. Having taught for thirty-one and a half years, it could be assumed that when it comes to art, I would know what I am doing. No, no, no my friends. I am still learning. Even after all this time it seems that I am just getting started. With the help of my Savior I will give it a shot.

The image above (Eucharist Abscission – oil on canvas) is one of my early works in a series about rocks. As you can see, I love color more than I love realism and I really love realism. Rocks are so beautiful. Like me, they take to change very slowly. I am already finding that it is easier to make images than it is to talk about them. I hope you will enjoy my work and come here to look at it often.

May God bless you as he has blessed me.