THE CANVAS – February 2015
By Jaime Thompson

Jac Ouellette: Ouellette’s childhood was a formative period artwise. Building various objects with her electrician father and motorcycle-enthusiast brother instilled in Ouellette a strong desire to make art. Although she became a registered nurse and entered a career in the health care industry, she retained her “curiosity for creating with metal,” she says. Attending Maine College of Art was the catalyst that sparked Ouellette’s career change. In addition to sculpture, Ouellette also works in oil paints. Even though the processes and qualities of the two media differ greatly, Ouellette’s clearly defined style shines through both. “Many people have mentioned that the lines of my paintings are similar to those of my sculptures,” she says. “It is simply what my hand and mind do together.”

Ouellette favors organic shapes; her forms are soft, rounded, and elegant. She is inspired by nature’s movement, “such as the wind, waves, lines of the clouds, birds in flight, and graceful dancers.” The juxtaposition of the delicate forms and the industrial materials Ouellette uses is striking. “In all my sculpture the particular challenge is to create movement, whether it is an actual kinetic piece that moves in the wind or one that has no moving parts. I strive to transform cold, hard steel into soft, flowing natural forms,” she says.

In Perfect Fit, Ouellette has placed two pieces of steel at an angle to each other to create a sense of duality and balance. Her use of negative space gives the sculpture lightness, at contrast with the tough material. As its title and form suggest, Perfect Fit “represents the power of friendships and our deep relationships we develop in life,” Ouellette explains. The “incredible strength” that can arise “when two strong individuals come together,” as Ouellette notes, is echoed in the durability of the steel.

Joy Scott: Growing up in New York City’s Greenwich Village in the 1950s, Scott was influenced by the rise of modernist art during this period, evidenced by the geometric shapes and unorthodox color combinations prevalent in her work. Scott has worked in many professions, but through it all she maintained a fervent interest in art, dabbling in many media. She focused on pottery for many years, but now she is devoted to transforming glass into spectacularly brilliant works of art. “When I started, I was told that many things couldn’t be done,” Scott recalls. “I found that with time, planning, and experimentation, the options are almost limitless.”

Scott lets inspiration take her where it will, walking through her glass inventory until the ideas begin to form. She selects pieces of glass, cuts them, and layers them in her desired design. The pieces are then fused together in a kiln. The process of firing the glass requires absolute accuracy regarding time and temperature; otherwise the glass will break apart. Scott notes that, even though she painstakingly plans each step of the process, there is still an element of surprise when she removes the final piece from the kiln.

Scott loves “the brilliant colors, the illusion of depth, dimension, and refraction of existing light” that she can achieve with glass. Angel Glow exemplifies these qualities. The design is grounded by strong verticals, while the colors and textures impart warmth and liveliness. The title of the piece could very well refer to its shimmering iridescence; the blazing green shot through with flashes of pink and purple seems possible only through divine influence. These subtle effects are reminiscent of the aurora borealis, ribbons of color that shift and sway through northern skies at night. Glass, by its nature, is dynamic. Constant changes in light and atmosphere mean there is always something new to discover. “My goal is to make the viewer have an emotional response,” says Scott.

Stephen Porter: Porter comes from an artistic family, so his penchant for making art began early. As an undergraduate, he concentrated on sculpture, and he cites a sophomore- year sculpture course as especially influential. The robust forms of Porter’s sculptures can be traced to his fascination with primitive and ancient art, which he has explored on his travels. He recalls the prehistoric stonework he saw while visiting the Orkney Islands, north of Scotland: “I was particularly taken with those,” says Porter. “The stonework there has influenced some of my sculptures.” His self-described “abstract geometric” style also fits into the traditions of minimalism and the Russian avant garde, characterized in part by bold graphics and simple shapes. Rather than focus on representation, these movements place more value on emotion and artistic craft. Porter himself does not imbue his work with specific interpretations. “People can take what they want from whatever art they look at,” he says. “My work has no metaphor. It just is what it is.”

Totem 4-22 is inspired by the figurative motifs of primitive art. It is grounded by a solid, trapezoidal base and crowned by a C-shaped form. Its textural brushed finish was something of an “experiment” for Porter, who usually creates a mirrored finish for his sculptures. Porter does all of his fabrication himself, which typically entails cutting out shapes from large sheets of stainless steel, welding them together, and then restoring the mirrored finish to hide the seams, which Porter is able to do in eight steps. Totem 4-22 references timeless iconography, making it a powerful and evocative piece. But Porter’s sleek, modern treatment of honored artistic traditions results in work that feels fresh. Thus, Totem 4-22 becomes not an emblem of the past but a beacon for the future.