An evocative portrait of a woman peering shyly over her shoulder. A crisp inked drawing of an ancient fish. A photograph of well-worked fishing boats, sunset tickling the tools strewn about their surface.
These are just some of the images featured in the annual Fine Arts Faculty Art Show showing at the Ann Foxworthy Gallery at Allan Hancock College. Featured faculty artists include photography program coordinator David Passage, teacher and painter Kristopher Doe, design instructor Nancy Jo Ward, and digital design instructor Glenn Hiramatsu.
Ward has been teaching for more than 25 years, instructing young artists in graphic design and computer fine art. She calls herself a “hybrid artist,” merging the worlds of fine art and digital art into one powerfully complex medium.
In her artist’s statement, she writes of being compelled to seek out the human figure for content and being haunted to make that subject sacred. Ward, a proud feminist, said she likes to paint fierce women who are strong in different ways. The faces of the women Ward paints exude powerful emotions in graceful poses, with eyes pleading to the viewer. They are haunting and exhilarating all at once.
“I’m drawn to working with figures, specifically women,” she said. “I like to work on emotional connections. I hope that the work evokes some type of emotional reaction. … I lost my mom when I was really young. I just have a big motivation to make a big, female spirit.”
Ward was trained in traditional art, but when programs like Photoshop showed up, it sparked something in her. She experimented with the process and eventually began combining physical art with digital art. She hand finishes her digital work with pastels, paint, or other media. She said there was a time when she was cautious about letting the computer process show in her pieces, but now she openly celebrates the digital work.
“I think there’s an ignorance to the misconception of digital art,” Ward said. “It’s just a tool. The computer doesn’t make anything. The person using the computer makes things. Digital technologies are just part of experience.”
Hiramatsu, who teaches digital design at Hancock, calls himself a “frustrated fly fisherman.” Far removed from waters where trout live, he transfers his longing into his art. He said that if he doodles, it’s usually of flies used for fishing or the fish themselves. Doodling is a productive pastime for the artist.
It’s one of the things that drew him to create images of fish like Coelacanth, featured in the Foxworthy exhibit. His original drawings start in media like pencil, but the final images are completed digitally in Adobe Illustrator.
“Sometimes they come out, these doodles, and end up as final drawings,” Hiramatsu said. “Coelacanth is one of those unusual fish. It’s a living fossil, very different from most fish.”
Among the surreal paintings, abstract sketches, and life-sized photography, Hiramatsu’s graphic work stands out. The digital artist has a knack for transforming everyday images into striking illustrations.
“I always do try to enter something into the faculty show because my work is so different than everybody else’s,” he said. “Mine is more graphic than painterly or sculptural. It’s always kind of a good contrast.”
With so many programs that make the manipulation and transformation of art easier and faster, the possibility of changes are seemingly endless. He said it’s difficult to define exactly the moment when a work of art is truly complete.
“It really varies from artist to artist,” he explained. “Some really know when they’re done. I just usually know. It differs from project to project. Sometimes it’s just time to move on.”
Hiramatsu said one of the best things about the faculty show is the opportunity to show the young students who their teachers are as artists.
“So many of the instructors are incredible,” Hiramatsu said. “They are all really talented artists.”
Arts and Lifestyle Writer Rebecca Rose liked to draw horses when she was little. Contact her at rrose@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Apr 6-13, 2017.