The very nature of contemporary art is interpretative and unexpected. So when Connie Rohde of the C Gallery in Los Alamos put out a call for artist submissions for the current Common Object Show, she knew she’d get some interesting responses.
The show is about each artist’s individual interpretation of the word “pop.” Submissions ranged from glass-blown “Popsicle Toes” flip-flops by Larry LeBrane to an aluminum sculpture based on a pop top by Albert McCurdy.
Rohde herself put together an outfit made entirely out of bubble wrap. The ’50s-style ensemble consists of a pink bubble wrap vest and a “poodle skirt.” She said she’s going to don the work of art and allow her grandchildren to pop the bubble wrap.
This is one of the first calls for artists the C Gallery held since opening in Los Alamos this summer. Rohde wasn’t sure of the kind of turnout she’d get, but the response overwhelmed her with entries from all over Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. There were even submissions from out of state.
“I didn’t know what to expect since it’s my first time doing it at the gallery,” she said.
A former art teacher for Santa Ynez High School, Rohde has coordinated several themed shows before. She and her students explored the words “bag,” “stick,” “rock,” “T,” and “shoe,” among others.
“It was just a cool idea, and hundreds of people would come to the opening,” she said. At one show, she had as many as 130 entries.
Though she had success in the past with the concept, she acknowledged that her students were “a captive audience,” so she was a little nervous about the number of entries she’d receive from artists expressing their own free will.
When she did put out the call, she once again got students—but she also got new artists, seasoned artists, and artists who came out of retirement to take up art again.
Susan Buchanan was educated in art, but didn’t really get to devote time to it until she “retired from the business and mommy worlds,” she said. “Being able to listen to my muse—that is pretty demanding.”
Buchanan recently developed an interest in dollmaking, so she entered a piece that features altered Barbie dolls. She explained that she removed the heads, applied papier-mÇche; to the dolls, and transformed them into animal ballerinas. She also made them a little less … let’s say, curvy.
“I thought these animals were better suited to have a more ambiguous figure,” Buchanan said. “I altered it to be more my image rather than Mattel’s image.”
The iconic nature of the doll made the piece a fit for the show.
“It was just ‘pop’ as in popular,” she said. “Barbie dolls are sort of ubiquitous—everyone knows them.”
Joan Amby of Buellton submitted two 9-by-12-inch pieces. One features Mickey Mouse pops superimposed over an American flag.
“It has a sense of fun and happiness,” Amby, a Mickey Mouse collector, said of the work.
Her other piece is a collage of pop fashion inspired by her former career: teaching gender identity and dressing for success.
“We all need a sense of freedom and risk taking and to be who we are, and that’s what my collage says to me,” she said.
“The collage is just big and fabulous and is so powerful,” Rohde said. “Sometimes with collage, people tend to just stick things everywhere. Unifying intellectual content is difficult, and she did it.”
Amby always had an interest in art, but wasn’t able to pursue it until she retired. When she took a class at C Gallery with Rohde, she was persuaded to enter her pieces. The experience empowered her, Rohde said of her student.
But Amby isn’t the only one who was invigorated by the process of creating art for the pop show.
In Lompoc, Jan Manfrina had lost interest in her art after a personal loss in her life. Then she saw the call for artists. A spark of interest got her wheels turning. She wanted to take the theme and do something no one else would do, she said.
“When I was little, I remember, “Snap, crackle, pop, Rice Krispies,’” she said. “I thought, I betcha no one would do that.”
So she got to work creating a tromp l’oeil piece that features Rice Krispies. The piece was an effort to produce, because it took a lot of time to build up the layers to give it a 3-D look, Manfrina said.
“And the Rice Krispies, they are kind of like little nothings, but they were fun to do,” she said.
Even with all her effort, she had some doubts.
“I thought, if nothing else, it would be great in my kitchen,” Manfrina said, referring to her red-and-white, ’50s-style kitchen.
Instead, her piece will hang in C Gallery, and Manfrina gained a renewed sense of excitement about creating art.
“Now I’m just raring to go,” she said.
INFOBOX: Pop culture
The common object pop show will be on display at C Gallery, 466 Bell St., in Los Alamos through Nov. 13. For more information, call 344-3807.
Rice Krispies don’t just go in Shelly Cone’s kitchen, they go fast. Snap, crackle, or pop at her at scone@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Oct 23-30, 2008.