April 2014: Richard & Jennifer Gillia Cutshall & Brad R Nelson

Brad R Nelson’s sculptural work consists of ceramic figures using realistic imagery with surrealist and modernist tendencies. He alters the human form as a subject while keeping the figure relatable to the human condition. Brad uses the human body as a starting point because he feels that it is the object in all human life that we are most familiar with. “Familiarity itself can be used to juxtapose new ideas more forcefully, which leads to a more interesting and engaging experience.” Brad is concerned with the clash between subjective and objective reality, specifically the intersection of humanity’s self concept and the reality of the human form. His work is influenced by his interest in the natural world and the interaction of humanity and the rest of the animal kingdom. To quote Brad “People tend to be inoculated against varieties of experience by the mental rut their minds make for them. This rut can be broken by new experiences and views, I try to cross that rut and lead the viewer‘s mind out of a staid thought.”

Richard & Jennifer Gillia Cutshall have created a body of work that they have titled “A Visual Estuary.” The work in this series is made up of collaborative pieces. They bring their love for organic form and their love for the process together in these pieces. Their collaborative method seasons existing currents to create a new body of work metaphorically similar to the nature of an estuary (marrying sea water to fresh water at a river inlet to birth a unique body of water). In their works on paper the couple reveals a vision unlike their individual works. “We use a variety of media including: ink, watercolor, graphite, acrylic paint, and paper on paper. We build up imagery by taking turns layering color and detail. The pieces evolve as we go and may go through several incarnations until we agree that the piece is done. It is fun to let go and release the control...when we hand the piece off anything is possible and it’s instrumental to the process to detach from what you just laid down.