STILL: Schilling & Roberts Featured at Pop-Up Gallery

17 Sep STILL: Schilling & Roberts Featured at Pop-Up Gallery

Local artist and curator Amy Schilling hosts pop-up gallery throughout September.

Amy Schilling, artist & curator

As part of  Telluride Arts’ September’s Art Walk, Amy hosts an opening reception on Thursday, September 3, 5-8 p.m., featuring a discussion with the artists.

“STILL was borne from Amy Schilling’s motivation to share a moment in time. Visual communication systems are frequently designed to overcome linguistic differences, permitting exchange of information without recourse to spoken language. Still images, art, have the ability to overcome language barriers,” Kate Burke, Amy Schilling’s cousin, international traveler, blogger, & lawyer.

Tenderly I now touch
All things
Knowing One Day
WE will part….
St John of the Cross 1542-1591
translated by Daniel Ladinsky

About 30 years ago, Amy Schilling was hiking in the desert just south of Santa Fe, New Mexico, when she stumbled across a piece of Southwestern history in the form of rock art long associated with prehistoric people. Something about the the ancient symbols pecked into stone struck a chord that initially resonated in the form of  jewelry, metal pendants and earrings.

Later, a trip to northern Italy upped the ante: the artist made sketches that evolved into what is now Amy’s signature work: striking encaustic paintings.

Encaustic – the name derives from a Greek word meaning “burnt in” – was one of the the principal styles of painting in the ancient world. dating back to 5th-century B.C. The technique involves melting dakar crystals, a pine sap, in beeswax to which dry colored pigments are added. The hot liquid or paste is then applied to the surface, which hardens quickly. Once the wax paint cools, additional layers can be added to achieve depth and texture, color layered upon color, to create vibrant color fields of burnt orange, sea blue,  blood red, and more onto which Amy can make her marks with carving tools: stipples, scratches and stylized shapes, the glyphs of Amy’s unique iconography – stick figures, suns, indeterminate squiggles – all razzle-dazzling with metallic paint.

On a day when the wind is perfect,
the Sail just needs to open and the World is Full of Beauty.
Today is such a day.
On a day when the wind is perfect
the sail just needs to open and Love begins.
Today is such a day… 
—RUMI
translated by Daniel Ladinsky

These are dreamscapes that pulse with raw energy.

Pictograms on steroids.

But what does it all mean?

“Petroglyphs capture both a moment of a story and the myth captured within,” explained Amy.

Each painting is paired with a quote or poem that opens a door on the ancient mystery – or deepens the secret.

A pop-up show entitled STILL features Amy Schilling’s work, plus still images from an iconic John Wayne film by artist Allison Sloan Roberts. STILL is an adjunct show associated with Telluride Arts’ First Thursday Art Walk , which takes place September 3.

STILL, which runs through September 30 (Monday – Saturday by appointment, is hosted by Ellen Geldbaugh at her studio on the last commercial block of Telluride’s east end, 359 E. Colorado Avenue.

There is a Rising Up, from lights embrace,
You can see it in a child’s dancing 
or the lid of a pot that starts Jumping when the Water gets ecstatic over fire.
Try to understand this sweet thought:
Nothing evolves Us like LOVE
—Hafiz
translated by Daniel Ladinsky

Nowadays Amy’s process starts with a journey into the wilderness with a pack on her back and a sketchbook in hand. There she searches for famous and obscure petroglyphs. Treks have taken her to locales in Hawaii, Bolivia, Peru, the American Southwest and Northern Italy.

“Humans, over both space and time, use the same images over and over. There is a commonality that crosses all cultures and I love that. I love what that says about us as a species,” said Amy.

For over 25 years, Amy Schilling’s work has been featured in Telluride and internationally. For over 15 years, her jewelry has been a staple at the Telluride Gallery of Fine Art.

Amy called Telluride home since 1991.

Brooklyn-based artist Allison Roberts’s mixed-media works are part of a larger series that explores themes of genocide in the U.S. culture. The images incorporate background shots from a B-29 bomber with stills derived from the 1956 western film, “The Searchers.”

Other work in her series includes images of Paul Tibbets and the Enola Gay, as well as Lt. Calley and George Custer.

Searchers, Green John, 2009. pigment print mounted on aluminum

“There are images that many of us know, but which also have been repressed in our collective consciousness. This series is an effort to re-establish the primacy of those images along with the knowledge of our role in world events,” said Allison.

Allison Sloan Roberts is a graduate of Kenyon College, The Rhode Island School of Design, and Brown University. Her work has been featured in numerous exhibitions in Boston, Providence, New York, and Washington D.C.

This is her first exhibition in the Western U.S.

John Wayne, Red

“Allison has captured some great moments of truth. Her work is stunning and I’m proud to share her vision with Telluride,” said Amy.