THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 6, 1995 TAG: 9508040061
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: TERESA ANNAS
LENGTH: Long : 129 lines
THE LATE ARTIST Lee Krasner believed in simultaneity - the notion that all time exists at once, that past, present and future are an illusion.
Krasner's creed affected her work. As she matured, collage became her preferred medium. Through collage, she could mix elements of her past work with her current ideas. And the work would persist into the future.
Voila. Simultaneity art.
Art about time is the focus of ``Milliseconds to Millennia,'' an exhibit at The Arts Center of the Portsmouth Museums. The show was curated by Carol Barton and organized by Hand Workshop, the Virginia Center for the Craft Arts in Richmond.
The show concept grew out of Barton's fascination with the subject.
``Most of us are intrigued by time - it is part of our lives which is rigidly measured yet uniquely experienced,'' she wrote. ``Time is external, based on the motions of circulating heavenly bodies and physical cycles, and internal, a personal sensation of passage and change.
``In the end, time is mysterious, and mystery feeds the imagination.''
You won't find Krasner in this show. Instead, viewers will enter a huge open gallery primarily filled with dozens of recent artist-made books perched on pedestals. Much of the show consists of highly personal and enigmatic works, many of which will confound the average art fan.
Book art has received meager exposure in Hampton Roads. The reason may pertain to problems in presentation. In Portsmouth, as at most settings, the public is not allowed to touch the books, much less turn the pages and experience the work as the artist intended. The books often are just too fragile to allow much handling.
A recent exception was a show of Anne Iott's book art at the Peninsula Fine Arts Center; tables were set up for careful perusal of the books, complete with white gloves and instructions.
If Barton was after mystery, the closed-for-viewing books certainly provide that. The surface textures and the waiting pages beckon viewers: Open me, open me.
To be fair, there's still plenty to look at and imagine. The moods and messages vary widely, from the amusement of a suitcase-turned-diorama about a year in Florence to a haunting text about a Holocaust survivor's war experiences.
For the later, Tatana Kellner drew on her mother's memories of the camps. Set within Kellner's book ``50 Years of Silence'' is a flesh-colored cast made from her mother's arm, and showing her concentration camp number - 71125.
The text was cut out to accommodate the arm, and its presence intensifies the book's resonance.
In the show, issues of time arise in many ways. Included are some fairly straightforward calendars and datebooks, apparently chosen for their unique design rather than for any special twist on the subject.
Some works refer to digital time, others to more ancient time-keeping systems having to do with the moon and other celestial bodies.
A number of works pay attention to the way time passes, and how we record it. In Carol Chase Bjerke's ``Ice Water,'' a series of Polaroids show page after page of the same cold winter landscape. An icy bank. Another icy bank.
Throughout her folding accordion book, conversations are recounted alongside the color photos. A woman persists in daydreaming about how things could be, to which the man finally replies: ``And People in Hell Want Ice Water.''
What to think? Perhaps this: As time moves on, we expect the world to change, and our lives to change. Often, the changes don't seem to come. Some people think they won't come.
It's ``Waiting for Godot'' all over again.
Another arresting object is ``(The Work of) a Diligent Scribe'' by Anne Siberell. The work consists of a long steel cylinder, hinged and left open, with a roll of paper inside. The suggestion is that the paper is being as carefully preserved as a precious illuminated manuscript. Look closer, and notice the paper is printed all over with the most mundane vendor's form.
As to time, however, it is unclear what is being said. Perhaps the contrast and continuum of the eras is the point. Or the irony of saving something, as in a time capsule? What could we save that would most truly represent our times?
In contrast, Margo P. Klass opted for lowbrow materials. In her ``Maine Journal,'' bashed sardine cans are her pages.
If Klass filled her journal with shells in lieu of stories, Caryl Burtner culled all of her Friday the 13th entries from her diary since the early 1970s and created a witty retro installation.
As it happens, Burtner's Friday the 13ths were not all bad, though many were mundane. October 1972: ``J. came til 6:00 or so. No car. Walked over. Talk of marriage. Rode bike home.''
``Milliseconds to Millennia: The Art of Time'' is on view through Aug. 27 at The Arts Center of the Portsmouth Museums, High and Court streets. Open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $1. Call 393-8543.
A few miles west of ``Milliseconds,'' yet another take on time has been showcased.
On view at The Suffolk Museum are 50 Time magazine covers featuring Virginians, spanning the publication's debut in 1923 up to 1992. The show was put together by the Virginia Historical Society.
It's a curious theme for an exhibition, one that presumes the citizens of this commonwealth are an especially proud bunch. Which is true.
For the purpose of this show, ``Virginian'' was defined as all those born here, or before 1863 in what is now West Virginia, or those who lived here for ``a considerable number of years.''
So, who made the cut? Early statesmen (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, Woodrow Wilson), politicians (especially Harry F. Byrd Sr.), and soldiers - notably George Catlett Marshall, whose blue eyes shone from the Time cover six times; he was named Man of the Year in 1943 and 1947.
The performing arts were represented mostly by Richmond-born sibling film stars Shirley MacLaine and Warren Beatty. He made the cover twice; she made it thrice - the third time in 1987 for her new-age involvements.
The first female Virginian to be featured on Time's cover was novelist Willa Cather (``Shadows on the Rock'') on Aug. 3, 1931. The first Virginian athlete was Sam Snead, for a 1954 story about the growing craze for golf, spurred partly by President Dwight D. Eisenhower's enthusiasm. That issue's banner promoted ``Famous Golf Holes in Color.''
In 1973, the first Virginia-born animal made the grade: the Triple Crown-winning racehorse Secretariat. In the mid-1980s, televangelists Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson hit the newsstands.
Then, in 1989, L. Douglas Wilder became the first African-American to be elected governor. Unfortunately for Wilder, as the edition was nearing press time, the Berlin Wall fell.
Wilder's cover was scratched, but he was able to obtain a digitalized mock-up of what the cover would have looked like. Wilder loaned the mock-up for the exhibit.
The show continues through Aug. 13 at The Suffolk Museum, 118 Bosley Ave. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday. Free. Call 925-6311. On Aug. 22, the show opens at Paul D. Camp Community College, Hobbs campus, Suffolk, where it will be on display through Sept. 11; call 925-2283. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Anne Siberell's mixed media from ``Milliseconds to Millennia.''
by CNB