Posts Tagged ‘collage’

Mark Tobin Moore is a Charleston, West Virginia artist who specializes in Rauschenberg-like mixed media paintings full of pop culture references and thought-provoking social statements.

Early Life
As a young man growing up in Washington D.C., professor Moore loved to draw. As a teenager he would spend hours in his room listening to the Beatles and painting dioramas, model ships, WWII planes, and other military related crafts. “My first art experience was drawing Civil War battles with little ant-like figures, maybe hundreds per scene. My brother would tape a few sheets of paper together so I could depict really big battles. Some of these took days to complete.” After realizing his potential and love for art, Mark first began developing his craft by receiving mild training from his older brother. From age 10 to age 12 he received further instruction during his stay at Scotus Academy, a boys private school in Edinburgh, Scotland. Upon returning to the states, Mark enrolled in Morris Harvey (Now known as the University of Charleston) as well as Marshall and later West Virginia University. After attending all three of these schools professor Moore received his BA, MA, and MFA in art.

Inspiration and Admiration
“My favorite work by someone else should probably be answered in two ways. Art-history-wise, I really love Robert Rauschenberg’s combines from the 1950’s and 1960’s. Locally, a few of the up-and-comers interest me, but I have to say the collage-painters Hank Keeling, Dick Allowatt, and Eric Pardue usually inspire me the most. Of course, I must also mention Robert Villamagna in Wheeling. He’s an assemblage and collage genius, that guy.” Mark’s inspiration comes from music, and some art works, mostly Abstract Expressionist, or Pop. He also finds that discarded objects, photography and other pieces of “scrap” truly speak to him.

Current and Future WorkToday Mark Moore is a professor at Concord University. He owns his own studio called the Blue Door Art Studio and is highly regarded in the art community for his many works which include: works for museum shows, a large installation piece, a six-panel traveling history exhibit and much more. One could find Mark’s work anywhere from The Washington Street Gallery in Lewisburg as well as regional museums and university galleries and was recently featured in the Clay Center invitational, Autobiographies: Six West Virginia Artists. He has done shows in Paris, France as well as a number of places in Germany.

Mark’s future plans include a number of goals. Continuing to be able to afford his art studio is first on the list. Two is continuing to create art that is real to him. Art that is authentic and reflects his desire to really feel what is happening to him. “Goal three, then, is being able to filter myself-to be able to discern the difference between my inner-noise, and meaningful insights…at least about my own experiences. These seem to come less often as I age, since the more I live the less I know. That’s for sure.”

Sharon Stackpole is mixed media artist.  Her works contain bright colors and different layers adding texture and depth.  Her creations have a theme of happiness and joy that are very abstract.  Stackpole’s art is an exploration of joy and should be enjoyed by all.

Early Life
Stackpole is originally from Kittanning, Pennsylvania, but grew up in West Virginia and considers it her hometown.  She received her artistic training at Fairmont State and West Virginia University.  Although she is done with school, she loves to read and study as much as possible.  Stackpole stated, “I am never finished learning, and the Internet is wonderful for providing an ever-improving pool of resources, techniques and information.”

As a child Sharon’s family was incredibly supportive of her artistic talents.  Her earliest artistic experience was of her gluing her wooden alphabet blocks together at age four.  Her whole family was baffled that she was ruining her blocks, but all she wanted to do was make a sculpture for her grandmother who was coming to visit.  She also used to collect old Cool Whip containers with water and paint and set them around her bedroom.  She has always been fascinated by colors and is still mixing and creating wonderful varieties of color in her art today.

Inspiration/Admiration
Stackpole’s art is welcoming and expresses joy.  She exclaimed, “The best part of art is how we can retool the imperfections in life and turn them into beauty.”  Ever since she was an art student at WVU Stackpole has loved Charles Jupiter Hamilton.  This love for Hamilton is very obvious because she loves color and whimsical designs.   Her pieces range from simple watercolors and oil paints, to crazy mixed media creations.  Basically art is Stackpole’s love and anything and everything can become her next creation.

Current/Future Work
Currently, Sharon Stackpole is working on a series of glass panels that where taken from a deconstructed home.  She is building a mosaic from these pieces, but she is still not sure what they will turn into.  She stated, ” I’m not entirely sure what they will evolve into, but then again, I never am — the pieces take on lives of their own as I work.”

Today Stackpole has reached her life goal and is now showing her art in Charleston, West Virginia.  She would also like her work to be shown in the state museum, which has been her dream since age nine.  Most importantly, she is a strong advocate for having art education in elementary schools. She believes that kids are taught that drawing a straight line, copying an image perfectly, or staying “between the lines” are the only path to art and would love to influence a change in this.

Currently, Stackpoles favorite piece is a glass panel that she has just finished. She wanted to experiment with color theory and was quite happy with the end result. This piece is not hanging in a gallery yet, but many of her works are.  Her pieces are currently hanging in the Purple Moon on 906 Quarrier Street, Charleston West Virginia, which every one should come and enjoy.

Dick Allowatt, was born in Fairmont, West Virginia who lived in a small coal-mining town in Marion County before moving to Charleston when he was five years old.

Mr. Allowatt is an outstanding artist who specializes in mixed media and collages.  Devoting over thirty years making art, it is quite clear that Mr. Allowatt has a profound love and appreciation of art.

Allowatt is a graduate of Charleston Catholic High School, and encourages all CCHS art students to take advantage of every opportunity to enjoy local art and to get involved in the local art scene.

Early Life
Mr. Allowatt grew up creating art in his early years.  He remembers drawing popular cartoon characters for his grade and school classmates.  When I asked him about how he learned art, he remarked, “I was basically self-taught, grabbing a class here and there throughout my life.”  He also said that his family always encouraged him growing up, but art wasn’t something that was taken seriously as a livelihood.  He was very self-motivated and enjoyed creating art.  Mr. Allowatt said if he could have changed one thing, he would have grown up in a more artistic environment where he would have pursued art more aggressively.  In a nutshell, Mr. Allowatt is very satisfied with his support on the home front and has been inspired by everyone around him.

Inspiration/Admiration
Allowatt is inspired by works of other artists.  He says he learns from their techniques and experiences and uses what he learns to create new art.  He is also inspired by overlooked found elements that can be the catalyst for new works of art.  He enjoys shopping at flea markets, traveling and attending art events, which are all great places for new inspiration.  He also says, “Whenever I feel I’m having artist block, I may skim through my collection of books on artists I admire including Fred Otnes, Joseph Cornell, Robert Rauschenberg, Nick Bantock and others.”

Current/Future Work
Mr. Allowatt plans on continuing his mixed media and collage art in the present and near future.  In his spare time, he enjoys traveling to new places and discovering local art and artifacts and also playing guitar.  Mr. Allowatt has high hopes for the future and is striving to create the best art he possibly can.  He truly is a talented man.

Allowatt has exhibited his art all over the Charleston area, and his work is currently part of the West Virginia Art and Craft Guild Juried Exhibition which has been traveling around the state.  Allowatt has exhibited at Taylor Books Gallery in downtown Charleston several times, the Huntington Galleries and recently won the top award in the National Collage Society Annual Juried Show which was held in Longmont, Colorado in November 2008.

Rob Cleland was born and raised in Charleston West Virginia. His earliest art experience that he can recall was drawing a volcano at a friends house. He attributes his love of art to his dad who would pay him two cents for a black and white drawing and five cents for color when he was little. Cleland had no artistic training until college. He spent one year at West Virginia University studying art and then went to the Institute of Pittsburgh and got an Associates Degree in Visual Communications.

photo by Alex Wilson

Rob Cleland is an artist located in Charleston, West Virginia. He does mainly printmaking and painting. His artwork is on display in several local galleries in Charleston. 

Rob Cleland began working as an airbrush artist in a mall as well as doing screen printing for a company called Balzout. He then attended WVSC from 1990-1994 receiving a bachelors degree in communications. Later he went back to school from 2001-2003 to receive a Masters in Printmaking from Marshall University.

Inspirations/Admirations
When it comes to inspiration for his artwork, Cleland believes the moment is his biggest inspiration. “The moment is probably my biggest inspiration. I feel most inspired with challenging work or when a problem comes up and a solution has to be found.” Even so, he still likes to visit the library, other galleries, and Kanawha State Forest for even more inspiration- giving truth to his statement that “inspirations are all over the place.”

Rob Cleland’s favorite work of his own is “Carlita at Kirby” to most onlookers this drawing would seem just a beautiful drawing of a dog playing in the water. However, to Rob Cleland the drawing has more sentimental value. The dog, Carlita, was a family dog that has since passed away and his parents have sold the house where the original photo was taken. Rob Cleland said this work is his favorite because for him it holds a lot of memories.

Rob Cleland also enjoys other artist’s works and a few of his favorites are Robert Villamanga, Stan Sporny, and Henry Koerner. He enjoys Sporny and Koerner’s work especially because they use abstract paint strokes that eventually form a realistic image when viewed from a distance.

Current and Future Works
Recently, Cleland has been working on a letter “R” for this year’s Festival posters. He also will be participating, along with other artists, in United Methodist’s “Stations of the Cross Show.” Cleland’s station is the one where Peter denies Christ three times before the cock crows. Furthermore, he has been scheduled to do an illustration of the capitol building burning for the Midland Trail as well as working on some paintings and assemblages of robots.