Clinton Community College will host a variety of exhibits in the new Art Gallery located in the renovated Library. The community is invited to view the exhibits and to attend the receptions for the artists. The CCC Library is located at 1000 Lincoln Boulevard, Clinton, IA. CCC Instructor Pat Cheak is exhibiting “Cardinals and Glass,” a variety of his prints and blown glass pieces.
The Artist Opening Reception is scheduled for Monday, February 27, 2017, from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m., at the college.
Cheak shared details of his printmaking and glass. “The Cardinal prints are buried treasure from my MFA Show and have been in a closet in my house in Southern Illinois. This work has not been seen by anyone including myself for 39 years! This project started out with photographs of wooden cardinals I found in peoples’ yards all over Illinois. I tried to talk to the home owners and found many of them to be very interesting[. They] put as much time and effort in their wooden creations as I did with my artistic expressions. I decided to make a series of silk screen prints of the images.”
He continued, “Each print is one of a series of six-to-eight identical prints. Each print required eight different screens to complete. Silk screen inks only come in a few standard colors, and I finger painted a mix of colors until I found a color I liked. Then I had to match the chosen color with a batch of ink large enough to print the edition. This project spanned years of effort–from the collection of imagery, to the months of printing the series.”
Regarding the blown glass pieces, Cheak explained, “As a child I was always fascinated by some glass pieces my mother had on a windowsill. In the 90’s I was introduced to glass blowing and used glass as a creative outlet. With most other mediums, I could become pretty proficient in a short time, but not so in glass. It took several years until I was happy with what I could make. I still had landscapes in the back of my mind and could not represent them with traditional glass blowing. I began to experiment with painting landscapes on small parsons of glass and reheating them, to gather more clear glass, and blowing them out into vases which I am very happy with.”
- The next show is scheduled for Monday, March 20, through Friday, April 28, and will include area High School Art Instructor’s pieces. The Opening Reception is scheduled for Thursday, March 23, from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m.
- Following will be the CCC Student Art Exhibit, which will run from Monday, May 1, through Friday, June 30. The Opening Reception will be held Thursday, May 4, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.
For more information, contact CCC Art Instructor Robyn Smith at 563-244-7001.