Splashes of color enliven watercolor, glass exhibits

By Victoria Gail-White
Advertiser Art Critic

•	'Triple 3' by Anne Irons 'Etching in Stone' by David A. Graves Through Nov. 22 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays Hawaii Pacific University Art Gallery 45-045 Kamehameha Highway 544-0287

Living color is the best way to describe the watercolor, acrylic and mixed-media artworks in the "Triple 3" exhibit by Anne Irons. Alive and vibrant, the colors dance on the paper and canvas, depicting an eclectic range of themes.

Irons' career in the art world began in the fifth-grade, when she won an art scholarship to study at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh. Not surprisingly, she continues to win awards for her work. She is dedicated to the process of making art and is courageous in her endeavors.

"Every week I paint at Foster Gardens or Lyon Arboretum," she says. "I seldom sketch and I don't paint from photographs. I zero in on a configuration of leaves, the patterns of the veins. Everything in nature has pattern by itself, even fish scales. The shapes and textures fascinate me." Nine watercolor paintings in the exhibit capture the endless beauty of Hawai'i's foliage witnessed during her weekly outdoor painting sessions.

Once a week, Irons prints at the Honolulu Printmakers facility at Linekona, where she pushes shapes, textures and colors to their limits — layer by layer. "Sometimes, I start over again on top of something I already printed," she says. "Often, a piece can get so congested that it actually looks less crowded and comes together more. I am willing to take risks and work on them as far as I possibly can."

"Vessels," "Jars" and "Tankard" (mixed-media prints) vindicate her theory. They are fully ripened composites of form, surface and saturated colors. "There is simplicity in knowing something is pushed beyond realism," Irons says. "It is comforting."

"Ramp," an abstract acrylic of a ramp model, weaves a flame of scarlet through the pinks, purples and blues as if that flame were at home. Therein lies part of Irons' genius: She knows how to wield the intensity of red.

Irons' 30-year professional career as an artist and art teacher has taught her many things, most importantly: "Don't get hung up on one part and worry about making mistakes," she says. "Proceed as though nothing is precious. You can always do something again that you like. You lose the fluidity of a piece by tidying it up too much."

Her travel experiences also appear in her artwork. "Mani Rimdu" and "Parade" are interpretations of a life-affirming trekking trip through the Himalayas. "We took a long hike up a mountain where a four-day festival was under way, celebrating the renovations completed after a fire had burnt down the venerable Tengboche Temple. We slept in tents and one evening I looked out and the moon was shining over the mountain. I felt small — not unimportant, just a proportionately small important part of a big glorious universe." The dances from that celebration are captured in these two mixed-media prints that incorporate the use of a wooden stamp Irons purchased in Katmandu.

The new Hawai'i State Art Museum has on display an Irons watercolor, "Ramping and Apron." She was also juried into the 40th Anniversary Open Exhibition of the Hawaii Watercolor Society, on exhibit at The ARTS at Marks Garage. So this month you can feast on her creativity all over town.

'Etching in Stone'

David A. Graves has been sculpting in stone for 20 years. He chiseled, hammered and filed the six Italian alabaster sculptures in his "Etching in Stone" show. Born in Denver, Graves studied sculpting with Charles O'Keefe in New York City and came to Hawai'i in 1975.

While "Swan," "Orchid" and "Rosebud" are densely carved forms, "Yin Yang" has a more open structure and soft, flowing curves. It is enjoyable to look at from every angle (and would be even more enjoyable if it was on a higher pedestal).

"Mercury" has the look of a primordial god carved from a cliff. The roughly etched and patterned texture that surrounds the flattened face appear to come from a time before that messenger to the gods of Roman mythology existed. There is no lightness in Graves' version, and possibly no message; the eyes are closed.

•	'Market Places': Recent Watercolors by Roger Whitlock 'Playing With Fire': Blown Glass Vessels by Bud Spindt Through Nov. 27 The Gallery at Ward Centre 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays 597-8034

If you are looking for perpetually crisp lettuce or a bunch of hanging ripe bananas, your search is over. They can be found on "Stockton Street No. 4 and No. 7" in Roger Whitlock's recent collection of watercolor paintings "Market Places," inspired by markets he visited in several cities.

Whitlock's market scenes hum with energy, transparent colors and light. In an impressionistic style, Whitlock captures the essence of market life. The posture of the vendors and the buyers calls attention to the labors involved. A dog sleeps while a musician performs, case open for coins, next to the flower stall. The overabundance of produce attracts Whitlock as a painter, "but more than anything it's the people," he writes in his artist statement. "The lookers and the buyers, the sellers, the street people and the street musicians — that I want to capture in any market painting I do."

It is Whitlock's attention to detail that impresses — for example, in the blue and purple washes of color on the roll of hanging plastic bags in "Stocking Up, San Francisco."

He notes, "Some of the works were drawn and then painted on location ... others were drawn and painted elsewhere. Still others were based on photos, some in black and white, taken by me or my photographer wife, Claudia."

In Whitlock's markets, everything is always fresh.

'Playing with Fire'

Bud Spindt has won awards for his work since 1980. In "Playing With Fire" his work delights us once again.

The front window of the Gallery at Ward Centre is filled with the bright emerald, sapphire and ruby tones of a collection of smaller vases. "They are derived from the Scandinavian designs of the 1950s," Spindt says. "I grew up seeing a lot of it." The vases are heavy purposefully and more practical for purchasers who intend to actually display flowers in them. "Working this way emphasizes form and color and the thicker glass is more optical."

Inside the gallery, "Spatter Cones" (larger cylindrical vases) have a marbled, confetti-like surface design made with glass powders, frit (small granular glass) and threading applied to a base color. "A long spiral of glass is threaded on while the glass is hot," Spindt says, "and the pattern comes from using a tool called an optic mold."

"Rising Cylinder-Emerald Gold" makes use of a type of glass that becomes metallic in a reduction atmosphere. An excess of flames will force the oxygen out of the air so the suspended metal will surface and oxidize. The effects are dazzling.

Working with glass is hot stuff, and so are Spindt's teapots, "Twist 'n Spout" and "In the Realm of Uncertain Tea." "I came to think of them as though the outer casing of the pot was ripped away and only the hot liquid was left," he says. Bubbles are suspended inside the teapots, the light greenish ones made of recycled plate glass.

The combination of these artists' works in this installation is mesmerizing. But then colorful refracted light (in both the painted watercolors and the reflection of light on the glass works) always is.