Changing perspectives

~This month's featured artists at the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri see art differently, but both love the use of color.

At first glance there seems to be little in common between the art of James Parker and Nick Kyle.

Parker, a well-known member of the local art community, doesn't produce art to impart meaning. He doesn't try to explore cultural norms or the human subconscious.

Not that he doesn't appreciate such things. But his art is merely for decoration.

"I have done traditional and academic and so forth ... but I'm a decorative artist. I enjoy design," said Parker, a small, polite and affable man of 81. All around him colorful collages of his own creation hang in one of the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri's galleries.

These collages use fabrics of varying origin, like Japanese washi rice paper or Italian goldleaf. Some are merely studies of color and shape, others are nonrepresentational floral images.

In the gallery next to the one where Parker's work hangs is the art of Nick Kyle, an art professor at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, Mo.

His work is far different from Parker's. Much more abstract and conceptual, his pieces reach out for an ambiguous meaning, one imparted not by the artist himself, but by the mental filters the viewer brings to the art-viewing experience.

Kyle's pieces are varied in medium and meaning. Some are open wood boxes that contain different objects -- horseshoe nails arranged in intriguing patterns, gold balls, a bundle of wire, an hourglass, a small doll head on a pointed pedestal.

Others are vertical pieces of colors that sometimes contrast sharply, sometimes blend into oneness. At first glance it may not seem clear, but these panels are landscapes, at least in Kyle's mind. Of course, the viewer determines the meaning. Other pieces are "planes" mounted in such a way that they seem to float off the wall.

"I like open-ended art because it allows people to get in and move around and find their own meaning," said Kyle, a middle-aged man with long hair tied back in a ponytail.

But the work creates a unified theme, something that isn't always apparent in the Arts Council's dual artist showcases. In the creations of both artists, color plays a key role.

"Essentially I think color is sort of a mainstay of my work, but I've never enjoyed doing one thing continually," says Kyle. "I enjoy expressing an idea, then I find a ... medium that expresses that idea best."

While Parker's art is by far the more conventional of the two, the collages are still a far cry from the more conventional landscapes and other representational work popular among many in the local art world. The retiree fell in love with design after being stationed as a member of the armed forces in post-war Europe.

Since then he's been obsessed with mosaics, collages and other design-oriented art. But he never wants his art to stay the same.

"Experimenting is always a challenge," Parker said.

Meanwhile Kyle's art is far different from the typical work exhibited at the Arts Council. His landscapes don't fit traditional definition. They are more like impressions -- color blends to show a change from the horizon to the upper reaches of the sky, while an abrupt change of hue might mark the place where earth meets air.

These landscapes were inspired by views of the desert Southwest, fields burning in Kansas and tropical Costa Rican waters. But those are his meanings. He admits a viewer might see the Kansas fields, with their rusty and fiery shades of red, as a "satellite view of Mars."

The familiar is not what Kyle is striving for in his art or his teaching.

"I try to get people out of their comfort zone and stretch them," Kyle said. "Once you stretch people, they don't return to normal."

Parker wants his art to be accessible -- something just about everyone could appreciate hanging in their homes. Something nice to look at, not with a message.

Kyle, on the other hand, knows many people, especially in rural Missouri, would not take his work home. But he doesn't mind. As he said, "I don't have to eat off my art. I teach."

Nor does he frown on less conceptual styles like Parker's. To Kyle, all art has its own place, its own value. He sees not a hierarchy descending from high art to low art, but a horizontal continuum, where all art is on the same plane, just different.

Parker agrees. As a viewer he brings his own meaning to Kyle's art. Parker sees a beautiful study in color, and to him, it's a beautiful coincidence that their exhibits just happen to coincide.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182

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Other First Friday openings

The Artist Studio, 38 N. Main St.

The Artist Studio will hold a First Friday reception with work created in a recent handmade papers workshop from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. The studio will also take sign-ups for a new workshop on weaving to start next week.

Edward Bernard Gallery, 107 West Drive

The Edward Bernard Gallery will feature the work of husband and wife glass artists Wilsea and O'Brien of Naples, N.Y., from 5 to 9 p.m. Their work reflects their interest in architecture and glass. Wilsea studied at Pilchuck, the school founded by Dale Chihuly.

Fountain Street Gallery, 34 N. Fountain St.

The Fountain Street Gallery will hold a First Friday reception from 6 to 9 p.m. featuring work in a variety of media from gallery members in its summer show. Work will also be featured in the Sculpture Garden behind the gallery.

Gallery 1.2.5, 125 N. Main St.

Gallery 1.2.5 will hold a First Friday reception featuring its collection of original oil paintings from 5 to 9 p.m.

Garden Gallery, 833 Broadway

The Garden Gallery will hold an exhibit of work by husband and wife artists Elaine and Bill Snell of Greenville, S.C., with about 20 of their metal art pieces. Tim DePriest will perform classical piano from 7 to 9 p.m.

The gallery will also take sign-ups for its wire-wrap jewelry class to be held Aug. 12.

Jars of Clay Pottery Studio, 823 Broadway

The Jars of Clay Pottery studio will hold a First Friday reception from noon to 9 p.m. with demonstrations of slab ceramic making. The River's Edge Pottery Guild will also have work on display, and glass bead artist Michael Guard will give demonstrations.