craftygal porch - At the Blue Dome Art Gallery with Linda Brewer

Linda Brewer's Recommendations:

Music:

Koko Taylor
Etta James

Movies:

Moonstruck
Wizard of Oz

Books:

Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Toni Morrison’s Sula and Beloved

George Orwell’s Homage to Catalona

Aristotle and Plato’s works

Under the Blue Dome with Linda Brewer

by Taryn

While visiting family in Silver City, New Mexico, I stumbled upon a great little gallery called the Blue Dome. Inside, I found two fabulous lion sculptures that doubled as coffee tables. They were covered with found objects, like Scrabble pieces, coins, and bottle caps. I was so intrigued that I contacted the artist to find out more–and became acquainted with Linda Brewer, who is part owner and director of the gallery. She was gracious enough to share some insights about herself and her work with craftygal.

CG: What’s the history of the gallery? Have you been open long?

LB: We opened last winter. We’ve owned a house here for 12 years, but we didn't move till 6 years ago. The building that's the gallery has always called to me, and when it went up for sale, we bought it. I have 2 partners in the building and the business, John Rohovec and Lois Duffy. Lois is a hyper-realist painter, and John Rohovec is a retired Microbiology professor and my partner for 20 years. We divide the gallery duties–John does the books and inventory, Lois does the publicity, and I decide which artists to show and hang the work.

CG: Does the name "Blue Dome" have any significance?

LB: It’s actually an inside joke. When John and I moved here, we ran into the former owner of the gallery building, and she said, "I can't believe you'd leave Oregon for this blue dome," and waved her hand towards the sky. John is a native New Mexican and always wanted to come home, and he couldn't believe she didn't like it here. So for about 6 years, we've been calling Silver City, the Blue Dome.

CG: How long have you been an artist?

LB: I’ve been a full-time studio artist for 20 years. I’ve worked in galleries and sat on the exhibition board of the Corvallis Art Center, which was good training for decision-making and hanging of artwork. I have lots of contacts in the clay world and we are delighted to bring clay artists to this area. We have found that southern New Mexico doesn't have lots of potters or clay sculptors–so the gallery is a natural extension of my clay career. Most everyone we’ve shown in the gallery, I know personally, and it’s very rewarding to represent people you like, respect, and enjoy.

CG: What are your duties as Director?

LB: A lot of my time is spent looking for artists. We have been to San Antonio and Lubbock, TX, Philadelphia, PA, and Portland, OR to look at work and talk to artists. I review slides sent to the gallery by artists and if I'm interested, they go for review to John and Lois. Then I talk to the artist about work presentation, framing, pedestals, and so on. We are adding artists, but we’re doing it very slowly; we want to represent only artists whose work we love and as people we like. I also determine the show schedule and decide on food and drink for the openings. This year will have had 3 openings–the February opening night we had 300+ people and the Memorial Day one, 150+. To say the least, we've been happy.

CG: What inspires you?

LB: The inspiration for my work is largely animals. I grew up in southern Ohio on a farm with tons of birds–chickens, pheasants, geese, parrots, owls, etc.–and the usual horses, sheep, and cows. We also had a pair of skunks, some porcupines, raccoons, and my brother collected snakes in the basement. I grew up to see animals with their own individual personalities, not just a species-being. My Uncle, Father, and Mother collected oddball friends, too. I had a nanny named Hugo, who was a delightful, full-blooded Cherokee man–a voodoo gardener. The worst thing one could say about a person was they were dull or boring. Later, in college, I studied philosophy and political thought. My work is definitely a combination of my vision of animals with an eye to Lewis Carrol's Looking Glass creatures with the touch of Ralph Steadman. I also love the work of Deborah Butterfield, Ruth Duckworth, and Eddie Dominguez.

CG: Could you describe your work environment and give us a little day-in-the-life rundown?

LB: I work almost every day, and I ride on Tuesday, hell or high water. The Silver City area is a wonderful place to ride–we had the Gila Forest. You can easily see the equine influence in my work. My workplace is this messy, tin building with dog beds everywhere. There's cool stuff hidden everywhere waiting to be used. The dogs and I go for a walk every morning and I plan my day and they chase rabbits. Then, it’s work for me and naps for them, and on goes NPR. I know it was a good day when the dogs are telling me it’s 5 p.m., and time for their second walk, and I can't believe it’s that late.

CG: Who has encouraged you the most in your creativity?

LB: As far as encouragement, my partner of twenty years has been great to me on a personal level, but professionally it’s the clients. I have been fortunate to have wonderful collectors and clients. I also belong to an artist critique group for years, and we truly helped each other grow and succeed. The friendship and understanding a peer group can provide is huge. I'd encourage all artists to form a group; it’s a great asset.

CG: At craftygal, we’re very interested in found-object art, and I see you used a lot of recycled materials in your pieces. What led you to doing that sort of thing?

LB: I have collected tons of little stuff over the years, but I visit various "junk" yards and lots of people and friends send me things. Found object pieces remind me of expressionism, or any art that uses individual brushstrokes. They’re painted with little brushstrokes of color, texture, and usually some symbolic meaning. I enjoy them immensely–they are fun to do make, collect for, and they’re so complex in their symbolism. About 10 years ago, I made a full size leopard sculpture out of bottle caps–that really started the lion sculptures. The pieces symbolize the need for less population, more conserving of the earth's resources, the need for more wildlife places, and also the humor of the human condition. I plan on making another with mostly bottle caps again–it takes piles, so I've been saving for awhile now and with help from friends, I probably have enough again. Also, I'm planning on doing an art car next year for the Houston parade. That will be another junk/cool stuff adventure.

CG: Could you explain some of the background and symbolism of the lion sculptures?

LB: The lion tables are actually coffee tables. I started making them with the idea in mind to make functional art–sort of an inside joke. One of tables has a Hong Kong theme, interwoven with British and oriental goodies–like the testicles are Coleman Mustard cans. (We'd laugh that that was the spicy part.) The mustard is a thing that bridged both cultures–the beauty of food. The pieces you saw are influenced from a trip to Italy last year; the coliseum plays a big part. The Romans almost made lions extinct from their games and both pieces are survivor pieces. One has messages spelled out in those beads that teenagers like (some of the messages are a tad edgy) and the other lion is more joyful–grapes, corks, money (lira), and the colors of Florence. He has a chessboard to represent Machiavelli. I plan on making only 13 lions; the 13th is so I can keep one–I need a coffee table, hey? So far I have completed 6, and the next one will have an Our Lady of Guadeloupe theme, a true woman's piece.

CG: What has the response to them been like?

LB: I was lucky and last year Lucy Lippard juried a show for the National Museum for Women in the Arts New Mexico chapter in Santa Fe and one of the lion tables was accepted and shown and purchased by the president of the New Mexico chapter. It was great to see it so well received.

CG: Do you have a message you want to send through your work?

LB: I think, when you does mostly animals, you touch a part of the human heart that's lonesome, because we don't have the daily contact with animals that our species had all those primitive years, and there's a longing for it.

"My work is definitely a combination of my vision of animals with an eye to Lewis Carroll's Looking Glass creatures with the touch of Ralph Steadman."