Celebrating the emerging artists of the 4 Bridges Arts Festival
The 4 Bridges Arts Festival returns for the 17th year to the Tennessee Pavilion this Saturday and Sunday. Each year the Association for Visual Artists (AVA) sponsors several Emerging Artists from the pool of 150 presenting artists.
This year there are six: Kyle Baker, Elena Burykina, Will Jackson, Georgianna Pollock, Jason Rafferty, and Alicia Williams. The Pulse’s Stephanie Smith sat down with the artists to find out more about what special art they will be bringing to the festival.
Meet Kyle Baker
Nashville artist sees the entire world as his palette
The Pulse: Where are you from and what is your specialty that will be featured at the festival?
Kyle Baker: I am from Nashville, and I specialize in drawing and painting.
TP: How do you create your work? Where do you find materials?
KB: I typically start with small life studies. Next, I take photos, and then move on to a final piece on a large scale.
TP: Where do you show your work?
KB: I have shown my work in different places throughout the east coast including Nashville, TN, Vero Beach, FL, Asheville, NC, and Philadelphia, PA.
TP: How did you get interested in your work?
KB: I’ve always enjoyed looking at drawings and paintings, so it naturally made sense for me to make the same type of work I enjoy looking at.
TP: Where do you find inspiration for your pieces?
KB: Most of my inspiration is out of habit. I just go to the studio almost every day and stuff starts to happen.TP: Which artists/people have influenced your work?
KB: All of my professors in college were great and each helped me in their own way. I personally love the work of Caravaggio, Sargent, Alice Neel, Lucian Freud, and the list is on-going.
TP: What direction are you headed in next?
KB: I am literally headed East next. I am moving to Vietnam in July to teach English for a year. I will work out of a sketchbook and do a lot of life drawing while I am there. If I can find a space, I will set up a studio and paint large scale.
Meet Elena Burykina
From Russia with artistic love
The Pulse: Where are you from and what is your specialty that will be featured at the festival?
Elena Burykina: I was born in Ulan-Ude, a city in the Russian Far East, in 1977. In 1985, my family left the Russian Far East and moved west over 6000 km and across six time zones to Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine. It was here that I received my first classical art education. For eleven years of primary and secondary schooling and during four years of art school for children, I was taught drawing, painting, sculpture, and art history.
After working for more than a decade as an architect, I returned my full attention to art in 2011. I moved to the United States in 2013, and I focused on oils and watercolors until 2016, when I took a linoleum block printmaking class with Melissa Hefferlin at Townsend Atelier. I have worked for a year to produce a portfolio of hand pulled linoleum prints, and this is what I will present at the festival.
TP: How do you create your work? Where do you find materials?
EB: I create the work by carving my ideas into linoleum blocks. I then ink the block and stamp the block onto different kinds of paper. I prefer Japanese paper because it is translucent and has different textures that become part of the print. I purchase materials from different places.
TP: Where do you show your work?
EB: I have participated in pop up galleries in Chattanooga and Columbia, SC. I have created one print that will be on display at the Edwin Hotel.
TP: How did you get interested in your work?
EB: My whole life I have wanted to create art. I have drawn and painted since kindergarten, and I have always wanted to learn and use new techniques. Melissa Hefferlin taught me this print making technique, and I wanted to take classes with her because I love her linocuts.
TP: Where do you find inspiration for your pieces?
EB: I get most of my ideas from what I see in nature. Most of my prints are of flowers and of ocean plants and birds. I have also started a collection called “Old Bridges of Small Town America” that includes linocuts of two bridges in Chattanooga and one in Beaufort, SC. This theme is very connected to my previous work as an architect.
TP: Which artists/people have influenced your work?
EB: I have taken classes with Melissa Hefferlin, Daud Akhriev and Alissa Monks, and all have been direct influences on me. I also love the work of Gerhard Richter and Nicolai Fechin.
TP: What does the future look like for art in general and more specifically what direction are you headed in next?
EB: There seems to be growing interest in art in the towns I have visited in America. I think that art is more accessible to many people than even a few years ago, because of the internet and because of art festivals like Four Bridges. I also think that perhaps new forms of art will appear.
I will continue to paint and make linoleum prints, and I am very interested in learning more about etching and lithography.
Meet Will Jackson
Finding art in leftover construction materials
The Pulse: Where are you from and what is your specialty that will be featured at the festival?
Will Jackson: I am originally from Alpharetta, GA and have been living in Chattanooga for the past ten years. I am a sculptor focusing on reclaimed materials, most commonly wood.
TP: How do you create your work? Where do you find materials?
WJ: My process begins with wood turning and hand carving. I typically use wood from fallen trees although I sometimes laminate wood scraps from construction leftovers. These elements form the base of my pieces which are often assembled in combination with reclaimed metal objects, twine, electrical wiring, rope, etc.
The process usually includes finding interesting materials that would normally be cast aside. Part of my mission as an artist is to restore value back to materials, particularly objects which have little or no perceived value to start with.
TP: Where do you show your work?
WJ: I have only recently begun showing my sculpture. I participated in the AVA FRESH show this past Summer and am online at willjacksonart.com. For much of my adult life, I was doing art department work for film, television, museums and attractions and was not focused on producing my personal work.
TP: How did you get interested in your work?
WJ: I have always been a maker and love to explore new processes. The body of work I am bringing to 4 Bridges is driven by a desire to “redeem” materials. These days, stuff is everywhere but it holds little value.
In more primitive times, a rock with a keen edge might have been the only thing you owned, but its value was limitless. I like the idea of rebalancing that equation a bit and restoring some old heroes like wood, stone and iron to a place of higher esteem.
TP: Where do you find inspiration for your pieces?
WJ: I am inspired by human-made objects, particularly primitive tools. I love the evidence of effort and purpose old things can hold, even when the purpose is not clear. I also love essential and naturally occurring forms, the kind of forms that tend to be present on all scales from micro to macroscopic. My hope is in combining essential forms with reclaimed materials that speak to human effort, I am able to create a new object that resonates.
TP: Which artists/people have influenced your work?
WJ: Ancient tools and artifacts and the cultures that made them are influences for me. The countless hours of human labor and focus in ancient objects give them a powerful resonance. In terms of more contemporary sculptural influence, Martin Puryear is a big one.
TP: What does the future look like for art in general and more specifically what direction are you headed in next?
WJ: I believe that the current maker culture and increased access to information and resources will encourage creative and innovative individuals to foster or explore their artistic interests.
Personally, I feel like I am at a place in my work where there are some really interesting new pathways for me to consider—and I am just beginning to explore some processes that could help me create on a bigger scale. Working on a larger scale is something I would like to investigate.
Meet Georgianna Pollock
Inspired by the great outdoors
The Pulse: Where are you from and what is your specialty that will be featured at the festival?
Georgianna Pollock: I am from Rising Fawn, Georgia. Rising Fawn is my address but to be more specific I live in the New Salem community on Lookout Mountain. My oil paintings will be featured at the 4 Bridges Festival.
TP: How do you create your work? Where do you find materials?
GP: For the last 10 years my friend Tosh Hopkins has shared her studio space with me. We work two afternoons a week. In the last year we have been joined by fellow artist Ben Sault. For me, having a designated space and time to work is very important as well as having other artists to share ideas and energy with. I find that it is relatively easy to be creative and come up with ideas for paintings. Actually creating a finished painting takes time and work. I find and buy materials at local art stores and on line. I paint with water based oils on canvas or gesso-primed board.
TP: Where do you show your work?
GP: This is my first show so I am excited and very honored to be a part of it.
TP: How did you get interested in your work?
GP: I studied art with a concentration in painting in college. So, I have been interested in painting for a long time. After college I didn’t paint much. Most of my creative energy was used writing songs and playing music.
In 2006, I met Tosh. She encouraged me to dust off my paint box and brushes and join her for an afternoon in the woods. She drew and I painted. As much as I loved the feel of the paint on the canvas I needed to work on my drawing skills. So, from 2006 to 2009 I primarily tried to hone my drawing skills with still life, figure drawing and exercises in perspective. Sometime between 2009 and 2010, I started painting with gouache. I had never used gouache before so it was a whole new experience and learning curve.
When the weather did not permit working outside I began painting larger pieces in the studio using photographs I had taken. Skies and roads were often my subjects reflecting my love of space and curiosity for what is around the next corner, what is over the next hill. I started working in oil again in 2011.
TP: Where do you find inspiration for your pieces?
GP: Mother Nature and the great outdoors provide the inspiration for my paintings. In the last two years I have been painting flowers and skies. Painting allows me to become very focused, to get lost in the work, to find shapes and colors in a piece that are only seen with close and careful observation. The more I practice these observation skills the more I see. Driving home after working on a painting I am amazed and delighted by all I am aware of in the landscape around me. Inspiration is everywhere at these times.
TP: Which artists/ people have influenced your work?
GP: Matisse and, of course, Georgia O’Keefe, Dr. Edward Carlos my painting professor at Sewanee, Thomas Paquette and my studio mates.
TP: What does the future look like for art in general and what direction are you headed in next?
GP: I think the future for art in general is bright especially in a city like Chattanooga that supports and values art and the people who create it. Painting, painting and more painting is what’s next for me.
Meet Jason Rafferty
Asheville native melds art and nature together
The Pulse: Where are you from and what is your specialty that will be featured at the festival?
Jason Rafferty: I live in Asheville, North Carolina. I came to Asheville in 2009 from the Boston area of Massachusetts, where I grew up. At the festival I’ll be featuring landscape oil paintings from Western North Carolina and rural central France, where I studied drawing and painting at an atelier for a number of years. I’ll also have some figurative and still life pieces, and original drawings.
TP: How do you create your work? Where do you find materials?
JR: I come from a classical training background, having apprenticed and studied with a number of artists in North Carolina and France over the last seven years. I have a love of composing paintings from memory and imagination, blending observed scenes from life with stylistic elements from my favorite painters and creating a unique synthesis.
I prepare my own paint surfaces in the studio where I work, sourcing my materials from local area businesses. Doing so adds an enjoyable element of craftsmanship to the process and allows me to create the most durable paintings possible.
TP: Where do you show your work?
JR: My work can be seen at Riverview Station Studios in Asheville’s River Arts District, where I share a studio with some colleagues, and on my website, www.jasonrafferty.com. I’m currently finishing up my BFA degree at UNC Asheville, where I’ll have a big solo exhibit in 2018.
TP: How did you get interested in your work? Where do you find inspiration for your pieces? Which artists/people have influenced your work?
JR: I’ve been an artist as long as I can remember, having started drawing and painting at age two or so. Since 2012 I’ve split time between France and Asheville, working on refining my landscape and figurative works. In the summers of 2013-14 I lived in rural France near Angers, studying at Studio Escalier, and painted some of the landscapes I’m exhibiting at the festival. In 2016 I returned to UNC Asheville.
My artistic interests are inspired by nature and by many artistic heroes—Rubens, Tiepolo, Titian, JMW Turner, and George Inness are current favorites amongst many historical influences; contemporary visual artists such as Brad Kunkle, Adrienne Stein, Adam Miller, and others; musicians Avishai Cohen and Bela Fleck & The Flecktones have had a big impact on my artwork; and writers such as Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell and Walt Whitman have fed my interest in mythological/transcendental underpinnings of nature and reality.
TP: What does the future look like for art in general and more specifically what direction are you headed in next?
JR: Haha, art in general is all over the place—there are so many styles being pursued in the field of painting alone it’s pretty mind-boggling. I think it’s best to follow your passions and interests and come up with a cohesive world of art that you enjoy—and whose rules you can learn and compose with.
I’m grateful for people that organize events like the 4 Bridges Arts Festival that support artists and help share our work with a broader community—which is very important for sustaining the arts. My hope is that art in turn helps to sustain society spiritually as we weather the storm in a figurative and literal sense over the coming decades.
As for my work, I’m getting more into narrative paintings that combine figure and landscape, referencing lots of art history sources and ideas and combining them into exciting new pieces.
Meet Alicia Williams
No horsing around (well, some)
The Pulse: Where are you from and what is your specialty that will be featured at the festival?
Alicia Williams: I live in Asheville, NC. My specialty is wood and I carve rocking horses and other horse related art. TP: How do you create your work? Where do you find materials?
AW: I use only native wood such as walnut, oak, poplar and cherry. I also use reclaimed lumber when I can find it. Each horse starts as a drawing, then I glue up blocks of wood to create the body, head, and legs. I carve each horse by hand with gouges and mallet, and also use a power carver and power sander. I finish the horses with either yarn or real horse hair manes and tails. I use an all-natural, food safe oil and wax finish.
TP: Where do you show your work?
AW: I have horses at the Grovewood Gallery in Asheville and the Piedmont Gallery in Winston-Salem. I mostly sell online at heartwoodrockinghorses.com
TP: How did you get interested in your work?
AW: My grandfather was a woodworker, and I took interest at an early age. I always loved horses as a child, and drew horses all the time, all the way up through high school. After a career in outdoor education, I began working with Habitat for Humanity in Durham as a construction site supervisor. This is where I learned to build things and work with power tools.
I took a few woodworking classes in Raleigh at the North Carolina State Craft Center and made my first simple rocking horse. I started making all kinds of wooden toys at first, but most enjoyed making rocking horses. I now focus only on rocking horses and other horse art.
TP: Where do you find inspiration for your pieces?
AW: I have a background of riding horses and drawing horses, and that history really influences me. I look at photos of horses online and try to incorporate expressive features of the face or the stance of the horse that stand out to me. I really connect with the horse’s eyes and gaze, and I pay a lot of attention to the eyes and face in my carvings.
TP: Which artists/people have influenced your work?
AW: I learned everything about building rocking horses from a book by Anthony Dew, a well-renowned rocking horse maker in Europe. I read his book The Rocking-Horse Maker and base my designs from his plans. I also love the horses at Legends Rocking Horses made by Alec Kinane in Europe. I also love the Italian carver Peter Demetz. If you have never seen his carvings, you must look them up! I wish I could meet and learn from all these carvers in person.
TP: What does the future look like for art in general and more specifically what direction are you headed in next?
AW: I have seen a rise in hyper-realism and photo-realistic painting and carving. I really love the realistic style, and hope to continue creating very detailed rocking horses. I also hope to expand my other horse carvings and look into custom horse portraits as well.