Dancing vivaciously from the Gallery Walls is the work of Ryan Irvin in the AGILITY DOCTRINE: A Series of Collages, Drawings, Etchings, Monoprints and Paintings created during his recent seven-week educational sojourn through Europe. Colorfully sparkling from behind the glass of the Gallery's Display Cases you will find the creative reed weaving artistry of Peggy Boyd and Judy Tulley in A TISKET A TASKET: Abundant Handmade Baskets.Artist Ryan Irvin is currently an Indiana University Associate Instructor of graphic design working toward his MFA. In preparation for this exhibit, he spent a recent European Odyssey reading, sketching, observing, and participating in great conversations with many thoughtful and interesting people. Those ideas and conversations, everything from hierarchies to impermanence, nomadic spirituality to modern consumption, and current politics to the archetypes of Carl Jung are represented in his current work.
Much of Ryan's work was done at the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica in Venice, Italy, but many sketches and drawings were done in airplanes, restaurants, hotel rooms, bars, coffee shops, trains, parks and bathtubs, somewhere between Rome and London.
Ryan's exhibit title, THE AGILITY DOCTRINE, refers to a hypothetical philosophy of agility and fluidity among pre-historic humans. "With civilization comes the illusion of stability, which creates hierarchies and ultimately pathologies," Ryan says. "Religion and mysticism become coping mechanisms to find the desired stability, even if it exists only in our minds." Currently the world is experiencing a blowback from this need for stability (the antithesis of agility) in religious extremism, corruption and war. A bit of agility right now would be most welcome!
While some of the geometric design motifs in his work were inspired by Gothic Venetian architecture, many of the collage materials were found in trashcans and on the sidewalk. It is this merging of extremes that interests Ryan. A merging of chaos and control, progress and tradition, rationalism and hedonism, renaissance concepts and anti-aesthetic sensibilities, utopian optimism and end-of-the-world pessimism are the themes running through his work. Through contemplating these extremes, Ryan hopes that he and others will experience transformation, become more tolerant, and ultimately more agile.
Ryan was born in 1977 and grew up on a farm in rural Montgomery County. He graduated from Purdue University with a degree in graphic design and shortly thereafter moved to Boulder, Colorado where he worked as an art director and lead designer at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. His work has been exhibited in both group and solo shows in Boulder, Fort Collins and Denver. Ryan's artwork is in permanent collections from New York to Bali. Though schooled in graphic designer, Ryan's is interested in the overlap between emotion and ambiguity in art and shares these ideas through his designs.
Much of his subject matter is drawn from specific points in contemporary culture where new and old ideologies meet. "I'm always interested in the things that individuals are working on to become better people, whether it's being a better listener or not worrying so much," Ryan says. Although there does seem to be an underlying hint of social responsibility in his work, he avoids cliche by finding a balance between chaos and compositional control. His overall aesthetic is hard to pinpoint, though his love of outsider art and children's drawings combined with his experience in effectively simple graphics creates an interesting dichotomy of organic and geometric shapes. "I'm definitely influenced by contemporary design culture as well as the current global art scene, but most of my inspiration comes from the everyday -- overheard conversations, neighborhood birds, bathtubs, found objects, cornbread and friends," says Irvin.
Ryan currently resides in Bloomington, Indiana with his wife, three cats and some rats!
For their exhibit, A TISKET, A TASKET: Abundant Handmade Baskets, weaving artists Peggy Boyd and Judy Tulley challenged themselves to experiment in areas of Basketry they had not attempted before. The results are well worth their effort. Both of these talented women have woven baskets for over twenty years and belong to the Sugar Creek Basket Guild. After having separate businesses for years, they merged their talents and opened A Tisket, A Tasket Basket Shop on the corner of Grant and Lafayette Avenues, where they offer basket weaving classes, basket supplies, basket kits, and hand woven baskets for sale.
Peggy and Judy enjoy teaching all levels of weaving to all ages of students. Teaching and promoting basket weaving is a great part of their love of basketry. The rewards of teaching others basic information, then encouraging them to expand their own creativity is very rewarding, as is the joy of teaching children. Several of their students have received Grand Champion status at local county 4-H events and at the State Fair.
Peggy Boyd received her BS and MS elementary education degrees from Indiana University and taught a variety of grades in the public and private sectors. Her first weaving experience came when a friend invited her to a Park and Recreation Department class on weaving. She immediately became HOOKED! A few years later, after developing enough skills and confidence, she began teaching family and friends. Within a short time, she began teaching formally, creating designs for and teaching basket weaving to many diverse individuals and groups both in Indiana and neighboring states.
In 2005, Peggy was selected to receive the Indiana Arts Commission's "Artist in Residence" award. This honor afforded Peggy the opportunity to demonstrate the art of basket weaving from a historical perspective, to an audience on the grounds of the Lew Wallace Study.
In her travels across the country, Peggy enjoys collecting unique baskets and learning the history of basket weaving, most especially about those produced by Native Americans. She tries to seek out skilled local artisans, learn their materials, styles, and weaving techniques and If possible weave with them. Peggy has had the privilege of weaving sweet grass baskets in South Carolina, Nantucket baskets in Massachusetts, white oak baskets in the Ozarks, porcupine quill baskets in Michigan, Chesapeake Bay goose decoys, Alaskan antler baskets, and fishing creels in Indiana.
When Peggy began weaving baskets just for fun many years ago, she had no idea her passion would lead her into a profession which she still has fun creating and teaching about these "little works of art."
Judy Tulley's interest in weaving baskets began when she and her soon-to-be-married daughter wanted the Maid of Honor, Bridesmaids, and Flower Girl to carry baskets filled with fresh flowers and found no baskets available. After numerous shopping sprees with no tangible results, mother and daughter looked at each other and said "We can do it!" Judy bought the book How to Weave Baskets, Book One and fearlessly began. She not only successfully created the wedding baskets, but found herself absolutely HOOKED on basket weaving! The more she wove the more addicted she became. Through the years Judy has expanded her interest and skills by taking workshops by well-known teachers in many states and countries. "To be able to do something every day that you absolutely love, and to do it with a friend, well, it just doesn't get any better than that," Judy says!
Retiring in 2002 as a Loan Officer for Union Federal Savings and Loan Association, after twenty-three years of service, Judy remains active in her church and belongs to the Kentucky Basket Association, Illinois Basket Association, The Association of Basket Weavers of North Carolina, and the Association of Michigan Basket Weavers. Along with her passion for basket weaving and teaching, Judy enjoys reading, redecorating their homes and boating and water skiing in the summer. A life long resident of Montgomery County, Judy is married to Richard Tulley.
Don't wait, come into the Library and enjoy these joyful exhibits. See you there.
Written for the Journal Review By Diane Hammill, Coordinator CDPL Mary Bishop Memorial Art Gallery, who may be reached at gallery@cdpl.lib.in.us
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