Early spring art exhibits include work of Sue Latta, Charlotte Castillo, Amy Hackleman, Tracey Oliver, and Coral Academy Charter School art and design students.
Artworks now being installed in the galleries at Truckee Meadows Community College will feature mixed media, mixed emotions and mixed technologies.
Visiting artist, Sue Latta, is a sculptor who specializes in resin sculptures constructed with many physical layers, as well as layers of meaning. Other artists showcased in the early spring art exhibits include painter Charlotte Castillo, photographer Amy Hackleman, and TMCC alumna painter Tracey Oliver. Coral Academy of Science advanced placement art and design students will display their works at the TMCC Meadowood Center.
Spring 2016 exhibits will show from Feb. 7-March 25. A reception and talk with the visiting artist, Sue Latta, will take place on Feb. 10 and is free and open to the public.
- What: Artist Talk and Reception
- When: Wednesday, Feb. 10 at 5:30 p.m.
- Where: V. James Eardley Student Center
Main Gallery: Sue Latta’s “It’s a Love Story”
In addition to the artist talk, Latta will also teach two resin casting workshops. Participants will learn basic resin casting materials and techniques. This project is funded, in part, by a grant from Nevada Arts Council, a state agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.
“It’s a Love Story” is a collection of works by Latta exhibited in TMCC’s main gallery. It is a collection of identity stories using the unanticipated relationships that occur between image and object, text and texture.
“Sue is an expert craftsman, working across diverse media including photography, metal fabrication, bronze and plastic casting, and even woodworking,” said Candace Garlock, TMCC Galleries Curator and Art Instructor.
Latta received her M.F.A. in sculpture from Boise State University in 2007. She has completed a number of public projects, including for the Boise City Arts Commission, and is a teaching artist in residence for the Idaho Commission on the Arts. Latta has served as a LIVESTRONG® Artist in Residence at the Saint Alphonsus Cancer Care Center and is currently an adjunct professor of art at Boise State University. She also owns The Sculpture Studio, a private studio where she teaches a variety of hands-on 3-dimensional mediums.
“She pushes the boundaries of each medium and composes work that is unique, expressive, beautiful and edgy,” Garlock said.
Red Mountain Gallery: Charlotte Castillo and “Feeling Blue”
“Feeling Blue” is a set of portraits painted by Charlotte Castillo.
During the curation of Castillo’s work, she noticed that many pieces in her collection were primarily based on the color blue. She theorized that the color came from combining the energy from Ferdinand Hodler’s work—which she saw in Switzerland—with the dreamy colors he used. Blue is cool, deep, and wet, just like Lake Tahoe, and blue is also jazz, or feeling blue, Castillo said.
Given this overall subject, she created a collection of portraits that naturally are expressionistic and play with emotion. Castillo is interested in the idea of revealing versus concealing and her paintings have a natural tendency to find and exaggerate facial expressions.
Erik Lauritzen Gallery: Amy Hackleman, “Things and Stuff”
Amy Hackleman’s interest in photography was sparked after being given an old Pentax Spotmatic by her father. She began her photographic studies at Prospect High School in San Jose, California, then continued her education at De Anza Junior College, and Lake Tahoe Community College.
In 1999, Hackleman opened Distinctive Photography, a studio concentrating on wedding and portrait photography. After three years with Distinctive Photography, she chose to focus her time and love of photography by mentoring students. She said that students have been excited to learn the traditional methods of the photographic process. Hackleman instructs classes at Lake Tahoe Community College in both black and white photography and color printing.
Red Mountain Student Gallery: Tracey Oliver’s “Thank You”
In this body of paintings, Oliver has honored the profound gratitude for the life she has been given. A “thank you” seemed appropriate, she said.
"Art is a form of meditation, a chance to pay attention to the experience of painting, tame an inner critic and allow intuition, which in our daily lives is often silenced," Oliver added.
Intuitive painting expresses what often can’t be said in words and allows her to travel down a private path.
Oliver earned her Associate of Fine Art at TMCC, and works for Sierra Arts Foundation. She has shown her work at “A as in Art” Gallery, Blue Whale Coffee House, and TMCC Galleries.
Meadowood Center: Coral Academy of Science Advanced Placement (AP) Art and Design Exhibit
“Growing up in a 24-hour news society, students are really exposed to the harsh realities of events happening around the world,” said Tia Flores, Art Instructor at Coral Academy Charter School. “So, many conversations naturally start about national or international events that they see on the media. From the shooting death of Trayvon Martin to the refugee crisis in Syria, the students are eager to discuss these topics.”
This art project provided students with an opportunity to visually express their feelings about a particular event or crisis that has personal meaning to them. In addition to creating the art piece, students were asked to write an essay explaining the subject matter and their creative process.
Coral Academy of Science was established in 2000 with an emphasis in math and science. It began with a student body of 67. The charter school now has three campuses and a student population of more than 1200. Coral Academy is now ranked as one of the top public high schools in Nevada, Garlock said.
TMCC Main Art Gallery, the Red Mountain Galleries, and Erik Lauritzen Gallery are located at 7000 Dandini Blvd. in Reno and are open according to building hours. The Meadowood Center Gallery and The Veterans’ Upward Bound Gallery are located at 5270 Neil Road.
For more information, please contact Candace Garlock, TMCC Galleries Curator at 775-674-7698.