Category: Artist Talks

Wonderfully Tactile – Becca Barolli, Adam Bernard, Ann Finholt, Mary Janacek, Stephen Maine, John Ralston V, Debra Weisberg, & Margaret Wilson – Interviewed by Dr. Ricardo Reyes

“Wonderfully Tactile”, January 07 – February 12, 2022

Wonderfully Tactile, an exhibition in all three gallery spaces, featuring eight artists from across the state and region. The surfaces in this exhibition allude to the human haptic and optic senses.

Becca Barolli’s sculptures are made of steel wire to assert the potential for strength in what is considered women’s work and vulnerability in what is associated with masculinity and industrialization.

Adam Bernard applies a dot matrix to his abstract paintings using a piping bag, in order to conflate a mechanical process with one of painterly intuition.

Ann Finholt’s observations of the natural world are translated into gestural abstract oil pastel landscapes.

Mary Janacek is inspired by natural and unnatural disasters and how they affect the clouds in the atmosphere.

Stephen Maine tackles painting as he would relief-printmaking. Focusing on color relationships, surface, seriality, and the psychology of visual perception.

John Ralston V’s work accelerates and embellishes natural forms of accumulation and erosion.

Debra Weisberg’s mixed media monotype prints are inspired by the natural world ranging from organic roots and volcanic geologies.

Margaret Wilson’s painterly surfaces reveal figures from a blue color field, divulging a moment of unexpected amusement or disturbance.

Moderated by Dr. Ricardo Reyes, PHD
Dr. Reyes (Rico) is an artist, curator, and cultural theorist whose 30-year experience has focused on expanding the conversation around art-making and exhibitions to be more inclusive and equitable.

He is currently the Director of Galleries and Curator of Collections at Lafayette College, and oversees the activities of the Williams Center Gallery, Grossman Gallery, Kirby Art Study Center, and Art on Campus.

His art employs the idioms of performance, video, and installation while addressing issues of ethnicity, sexuality, and global politics. His curating is focused on elevating the voices of BIPOC and Queer artists; contemporary art from diasporic Filipino communities; photography and cultural regeneration; and has curated exhibitions at the Orange County Museum of Art, UCLA Fowler Museum; and SF MoMA Artist Gallery.

Rico received his BA in Sculpture from the University of California at Berkeley and his MFA in New Genres from UCLA, his Executive MBA from Quantic School of Business and Technology, and his Ph.D. from the Centre for Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Rico has been on the board of Five Points Art since 2019.