Waiting in the Wings Last week, despite a fast-approaching, scary summer storm, I headed for Hillsborough Community College's Ybor City Campus Fine Arts Faculty Exhibit. I wasn't disappointed. The exhibition, organized by Gallery Coordinator/artist Carolyn Kossar, included a broad range of media and subject matter, and offered a few surprising fresh twists from artists I already knew. I was also pleasantly surprised by the work of several I didn't know. Of these, Larry Hart's small, mixed-media acrylics on paper, some with oil pastel, remind us how non-objective subjects and abstraction continue to linger and satisfy. Hart, a longtime HCC design professor, visualizes mental images, thus producing small, luminous works. Hart's color exudes a lyricism of its own and announces its presence, whether through geometric forms or random shapes inspired by his love of Southwestern landscape.
I like Amy Propper's fine, computer animated "Doors of Perception," a short, gently mesmerizing video featuring a William Blake poem, soft music and graphic animation, all playing against an orderly, unreadable background text of Hebrew letters morphing into design. My only complaint was stooping to watch the mystery of small doors opening and design elements moving about. A taller pedestal would do wonders.
Also unfamiliar to me is the work of Stephen Holm. Of his three pieces, two are poignant contributions reflecting his personal battle with cancer and, by extension, the broad social dynamics of critical illness and treatment. His powerfully rendered, honest "Self-Portrait Bald," in black-and-white pastel, remains beyond explanation. Beside it, attached to the wall, a forbidding conceptual piece called "Radiation Masks SSHHHHHHHH." Consisting of eight plastic mesh masks marked with radiation sites, the horizontal row covered with a white nylon fabric enables viewers to view the nearly-hidden dreaded objects. What might easily be mistaken for a science-fiction scenario converts into an emotionally charged cranial battlefield, albeit with an unmistakably arty minimalist tone.
I'm familiar with Judy Patterson's prints, but her large triptych, "The Emerging Artist," for which she received an emerging artist award at the Gasparilla Outdoor Festival, is a revelation here. The Maplewood surface was excised, painted and, in some areas, gold leafed, and beautifully lit from above (Kossar's touch). With a vivaciousness spreading through the gallery, unsurprisingly, this mostly abstract work attracted a great deal of attention from touring HCC administrators. I for one hope Patterson continues to show paint.
Suzanne Camp Crosby, represented by prestigious Julie Saul Gallery in New York, is showing four photographs. Two seen at last year's Tampa Museum of Art's UnderCURRENT/OverVIEW 4 represent what has become her signature style, collaging and restaging cut-out imagery, which she then photographs. Another, a play on reality and illusion, is a cow pasture populated by small realistic-looking plastic cows in the forefront and actual cows in a distant field. On a different plane altogether, I was very receptive to her sensitive "Boy and Vines," a black-and-white photo of her young son. Though representing a recent deviation in style, it is not necessarily a new direction. Using high-speed infrared medical film, Crosby achieves a skin tone in which prominent veins show up in the image. Ironically, though her subjects are live, it's another manifestation of her longtime penchant for manipulated photos.
Other serious artist/teachers include Susan Gott, John Fitzgerald and Katherine B. Moyse.
As I become acquainted with area artists, I find that however many I meet, there are dozens more waiting in the wings. This summer, take the time to get to know the work of some of these artists. Happily, HCC is working diligently to expand public viewing hours.
ine Arts Faculty ExhibitionHillsborough Community College
Performing Arts Building, Room 101
Palm Avenue at 14th Street
Ybor City
June 5-Aug. 5
9 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Friday
SON OF A SHUTTERBUG: Suzanne Camp Crosby's son models for mom in "Boy and Vines."
This article appears in Jun 28 – Jul 4, 2001.