McColl Center for Visual Arts 

 

          The gallery itself has the potential to be my favorite part of the field trip. The McColl center, a church that was abandoned, burned, then restored through Bank of America is such an intriguing and inviting gallery space. It holds large ceilings and stories of rooms to explore, to leave oneself to almost “discover” the art within. It doubles as a workspace for artists-in-residence, housed behind the church itself.

            The gallery has an open layout to conform to the types of pieces the artists make. The opening room houses a well-lit and high-ceiling exhibit. The current exhibit was called Arctic Utopia, which included relatively large art pieces. As the space could be utilized in many different ways, it becomes personal preference to explore the larger pieces on the walls or the shorter but dense stand-alone art. I had seen the McColl center before and used to go to a similar style church, so nothing about the gallery space really surprised me except the modern style restoration against the original brick walls of the church.

            The first piece I chose took up a whole wall of the first floor. It was a world map constructed from many fragments of declassified military service maps, which must have spanned at least thirty or forty feet across and about ten feet tall, which looked crumpled and then almost stretched out again. The piece was from the Arctic Utopia gallery and had the Arctic Circle places in the very center of the piece. However the Arctic Circle was emphasized by gold leaf.

            The description of the piece mentioned that as the glaciers recede into the ocean, “the Northern Sea Route is widening, which has led to more commercial and military vessels circumnavigating the Arctic toe gain access to numerous waterways in record time,” leading to both economic and political interests.

            The artist is Marek Ranis. He was one of the first affiliate-artists with the McColl Center in 1999 when the center was first restored. The concept of this installation series was found when Ranis had a two-month stay in Anchorage, Alaska. He researched climate change in an industrial context in both the Arctic and Iceland. Whether or not you believe in climate change, the arctic is rapidly changing form and twenty percent of the remaining oil and gas lay in the Arctic. Ranis mentions the romanticization of the Arctic as a new frontier but really it is being fought over in national and corporate fields.

            With this I feel encouraged, as amongst all the natural things he illustrates, the other half of his work emphases how it affects people who live in this battleground, with rising seas and constant changes to their environment. It is important to realize that not everything is about a natural reaction or business potential, but the people it effects.

            In context, global warming effects all of us. As a planetary concern, true or not, it raises the question of man’s impact on our world. The next generation has to deal with our impact, as will generations afterwards. Interestingly enough, if Humans somehow went extinct, the world would continue to thrive. All our attempts at editing the existence of animals or the earth would reverse, nature would thrive, and resources would replenish. However if something as small as the bees would cease to exist, it would be a real struggle for humans to avoid extinction.

            With this comes the reminder that we just inhabit a world and don’t run it. Something like the disappearance of bees rivals the disappearance of ice in the arctic. If anything, if effects me because if effects the future. I’d like to believe that my generation would leave the earth would leave the earth better than we found it.

            The second piece I chose was called Infinity Pool (Bull Run) by Frank Selby. Tucked in a corner of the third floor, the piece stood out from the rest of his work. Selby’s forte was creating multi-layer pictures that showed conflict or differences in beliefs, such as child warriors or racial equality. His work, spawned in conflict and social contrast, is striking in it’s obvious hypocrisy and historical context. However Infinity Pool (Bull Run) is a very calm, purple mono-color watercolor.

            Infinity Pool (Bull Run) is a mirrored image on two canvases, which portray a pond sitting in a field surrounded by trees. The point of view sits at the edge of the pond, where nothing is moving and the fence surrounding the pond is broken. The primary color is a magenta purple with varying shades with darker or pinker hues. It was interesting because although the style of the piece appeared to be similar to an impressionist piece in it’s slight blurriness and light and quick strokes, although there were detailed descriptions of the trees, wood, and even the pond.

            Although there wasn’t obvious context or explanation, I knew two things. “Bull Run” was a place in Washington that held a battle during the civil war. It was also very peaceful. I don’t like making assumptions about art based on my spotty history of memory and I didn’t have a clear understanding of the meaning, the peace it displayed was uncanny. After some research, the battle that was called “Bull Run” was the first major battle of the armies in Virginia. Ending in a strategic confederate win where Thomas Jackson’s nickname, “Stonewall,” came to light again.

            The lack of clouds, the stillness of the trees, and the glass-like pond against such a calming color made me in turn feel very peaceful, despite the historical implications and the light, quick brush strokes.

            I was a Boy Scout for as long as you can be, ending up as an Eagle Scout in November of my Junior year of high school. I wasn’t a huge fan of everything we did, but I loved just enjoying the nature. There is something about nature that makes me feel so connected with everything. While there are so many beautiful things that make people feel like humans, there is nothing quite like abundant nature to me.

            It was Andy Warhol who said “I think having land and not ruining it is the most beautiful art that anybody could ever want.” In the same way, it is those who illustrate that point are some of my favorite.