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Emerging Horizons

While the 2020 edition of 'Des Moines Arts Festival® Curated', entitled 'Emerging Horizons', is now closed, you can still view the artists work in the virtual gallery tour below. See something you like? Visit our artist gallery page for contact information.

About 'Emerging Horizons': Curator Chaden Halfhill assembled a show with work by artists who have successfully planted the seeds of inspiration and collaboration amidst personal and artistic transformation throughout their careers. Cultural observers and sensitive to the human emotional experience, these artists exemplify the ability to pivot their art. Now, when all of us are doing the same in our lives, the positive influence that the creative mind can have inspiring possibility to humanity at this strange time of uncertainty and shift. Threads of change and evolution weave common throughout this exhibition and expose deep values embodied within the body of each artist's work, even as they refocus and reestablish a new trail of exploration.

What is 'Des Moines Arts Festival® Curated'? 'Curated' is a collaboration between the Des Moines Arts Festival® and Silent Rivers Design+Build. An art exhibit and creative experience, Chaden Halfhill, Founder and CEO of Silent Rivers, curates the show using artists juried into the current year festival. The show is on display at Olson-Larsen Galleries mid-May through the week of the festival where it is then housed in the Silent Rivers VIP Club.

chaden's curatorial statement

Artists emerge. They reinvent. They adapt and transform. The artist’s journey is one of becoming. This journey involves acute observation, experimentation, and self-discovery, also a willingness and deep fortitude to change directions, even start over. Transitions are common, disruption expected. Life as an artist is a spiritual quest of intimate exploration; it is a path generating language that resonates with others. The artist reveals a conventional narrative that is often far greater than self. Threads of experience and ideation weave together as artists mature, resulting in a testament - witness to change and individual capacity to persevere and calibrate new direction throughout one’s career. It was this testament that inspired this show and its theme Emerging Horizons.

As festival artists, time on the road is an essential requirement. Artists are upfront and familiar with the plane of creative potential that exists when driving; the horizon of possibility is always in front of us, an invitation to drop into the minds-eye and harness the never-ending stimulus of the imagination. Problems are solved, ideas awakened, and careers fostered on the road. Quite literally, the pursuit of the horizon is endless, but as a metaphor - a refreshing reflection of life’s travels and the artist’s consummate journey towards an unobtainable boundary. Within this pursuit, we discover ourselves.

This year’s theme honors the unfolding paths that nine artists have taken, pivots made personally and professionally, and the work that depicts these decisions. Core values remain intact within their ethos, providing continuity, as the work is redefined over time. Embracing a creative life, we realize that destination matters less and less, especially as we iterate, because the artist’s mind finds solace within the search.

Tour of Emerging Horizons

Chaden Halfhill, Founder & CEO of Silent Rivers Design+Build shares his vision for curating Emerging Horizons, a Des Moines Arts Festival gallery show on view now through July 27 at Olson-Larsen Galleries. By appointment for you or a small group, call 515.277.6734.

Chris Dahlquist

My work like the relatively nascent discipline of photography has experienced constant transformation. Inextricably linked to science and technology photography has undergone constant change in media, materials and techniques since it’s origins in the early 19^th century. Itis from my lifelong study of this photographic history that I draw inspiration across the length of my 20 year studio practice that blends contemporary technology with historic process and materials.

Early photographers were object makers, creating a tactile object that showed not only the subject but also containing artifacts of the creator’s hand, photographs were rare and precious items that became treasured items for their owners. It is this spirit that is the constant within my changing artwork - creating singular photographic objects, that despite the use of digital technology include the introduction of my hand, that use the choice of material and construction to further the story of the photograph beyond the image.

On view at O-L Living Room:

"Geometry of Trees"

Edition 1/1
Mixed Media - patinated copper, antique geometry text, polaroid emulsion
16” x 20”
2004
NFS

“The Circus Came to Town”

Edition 1/1
Series - Collective Memories
Mixed Media – water color paint, polaroid emulsion on cotton rag paper
23” x 27” framed
2007
$550

“The Hike”

Edition 1/15
Series - Ghost Notes
Photograph, archival pigment ink, cold wax, washi paper, rag paper
21” x 21” framed
2018
$650

"Quadrat B: Investigation – Boundaries"

Edition 1/12
Series Measuring Abundance
Mixed Media, archival pigment ink, polyester film, cotton rag paper, ink, pencil
Image 20” x 30”
Frame 30” x 40”
2020
$2,800

"Linen from Public Art Installation - Laundry Day"

Mixed Media – Cotton, ink, wood
(photos of the installation)
42” x 42”
2016
NFS

"Mile Marker 721"

Edition 1/1
Series - Mile Marker series
Mixed Media - steel, acrylic paint, archival pigment
35” x 51” framed
2020
$3,700

Patricia DeLeon-Alfonso

The body of my work is comprised of mixed media paintings that have become increasingly less calculated and more responsive to the creative process. I begin with an idea or concept, but the painting ultimately takes on a life of its own. As I move backward and forward, building up and scraping back layers, drawing and painting with oils or acrylics on marble dust and gold leaf; layers emerge suggesting a sense of timelessness. Lyrical scrawls, gouges, deep scratches and repetitive mark making hint at nature, spirituality, and sensuality. Along the way, my ease with the media allows me to embrace serendipitous accidents in a true mixed media intuitively synchronized through a search for balance and harmony.

On view at O-L Living Room:

"The Whisper 1"

Media: Mixed media on Baltic birch with metal leaf
24 x 24 x 2"
$1,500

"The Whisper 2"

Mixed media on Baltic birch with metal leaf
48" x 48" x 2"
$1,500

"Awareness"

Acrylics + oils are layered intuitively on Baltic birch. The numerous layers are fused with carving + lyrical scrawls and finished with a UV protective varnish.
24" x 24", unframed
$1,500

"Bloom"

Mixed media on Baltic birch with metal leaf
48" x 48" x 2"
$5,200

Kim eubank

My imagery is informed by my experience as a woman who must co-exist in today’s modern world. Relationships with others as well as the environment create beautiful harmony and uneven discord, affecting all the senses.

I’m enjoying painting figurative works that tell an open ended story, where the viewer brings their own interpretation from life to the piece. I hope that you, the viewer, will observe my paintings as a story unfolding. Where you are in life will reflect what you see. Think of my pieces as Holden Caulfieldsque- they will not change over time, yet you will interpret them differently as you grow through your life.

Creating works over the last 30 years in the mediums of jewelry, enamel, glass, metalwork and printmaking have all influenced this current body of work. Thank you all for supporting me as an evolving artist who loves experimenting with different materials.

On view at O-L Living Room:

"Bound"

Cold wax and oil, acrylic, gold leaf and perforated steel. Painting framed in hand fabricated aluminum.
48" x 48" x 2"
$3,800

"Connections"

Large Scale Monoprint
"I start with a photo reference and create a drawing and then transfer the drawing onto linoleum. I carve this reverse image with sharp hand tools (chisels and gouges) paying special attention to positive and negative space. After hours, days and weeks of carving, I hand pull my first proof with a floor press I made from a lawn roller. I ink my linoleum plate with a brayer (hard rubber roller), lay the plate face down onto the wood, roll the press back and forth several times, then slowly peel the lino off the wood. After proofing the plate on paper and then making necessary adjustments to the line work (carving again and again until it "looks right") I print the artwork directly onto raw, unfinished wood that will be backed with wooden stretcher bars so that it creates a wooden paneled canvas. I use oil based ink for the print, let it dry for 7-10 days, then I hand paint the colors in acrylics & alyklds."
36" x 24"
$1,200

"Independence"

Large scale monoprint
"I start with a photo reference and create a drawing and then transfer the drawing onto linoleum. I carve this reverse image with sharp hand tools (chisels and gouges) paying special attention to positive and negative space. After hours, days and weeks of carving, I hand pull my first proof with a floor press I made from a lawn roller. I ink my linoleum plate with a brayer (hard rubber roller), lay the plate face down onto the wood, roll the press back and forth several times, then slowly peel the lino off the wood. After proofing the plate on paper and then making necessary adjustments to the line work (carving again and again until it "looks right") I print the artwork directly onto raw, unfinished wood that will be backed with wooden stretcher bars so that it creates a wooden paneled canvas. I use oil based ink for the print, let it dry for 7-10 days, then I hand paint the colors in acrylics & alyklds."
36" x 48"
$1,800

"Mosiac Woman"

"Mosiac Woman"
$600

"Bees"

Bee piece
$900

Bryan Griffith

My work spans multiple media, using original techniques and simple materials to explore contemporary issues in unexpected ways.

On view at O-L Living Room:

"Flowers and Seeds"

Natural dye, natural pigment, acrylic on canvas, wood.
58" x 50" x 4"
2019
$9,000

"Summer Flowers, Fall Seeds"

Natural dye, natural pigment, acrylic on canvas, wood.
52" x 36" x 4”
2019
$5,500

"Radiant"

Smoke accumulated in encaustic beeswax on panel
30" x 30" x 2.25"
2018
$4,500

"Penumbra 1533"

Smoke accumulated on paper
10" x 10”, framed to 16" x 20”
2015
$750

"Liminal 1702"

Smoke accumulated on paper
10" x 10”, framed to 16" x 20”
2017
$750

"Liminal 1703"

Smoke accumulated on paper
10" x 10”, framed to 16" x 20”
2017
$750

"Entrance"

Archival pigment print from, encaustic on panel
11" x 14" x 1.5”
2018
$500

"Wayfarer"

Archival pigment print from, encaustic on panel
11" x 14" x 1.5”
2018
$500

"Traverse"

Archival pigment print from, encaustic on panel
11" x 14" x 1.5”
2018
$500

leslie guinan

In my junior high girls were not allowed to take shop classes, so I carried my desire to take wood shop with me to adulthood. As an environmental lawyer in my 30’s, I finally took a woodworking class.

I loved working with wood and eventually quit my job and went to furniture school. I made fine furniture for a few years. In collaboration with my partner, I experimented with concrete and wood furniture and concrete work for the wall. I began painting with encaustic on concrete panels, eventually leaving concrete for lighter wood panels.

Furniture school trained my eye for balance, composition and design, but otherwise I am self-taught.

On view at O-L Living Room:

"Falling in Place"

"Falling into Place"
Encaustic, stone, aircraft cable on wood panel.
30” x 30”
$2,400

"Lyrical"

Encaustic/paper/oil on wood panel
48” x 36”
2020
$3,100

"Hinterland"

Encaustic/paper/oil on wood panel
48” x 36”
2020
$3,100

brianna martray

Coming from a background in sculpture, I've enjoyed the transition into drawing, the spontaneity, freedom and joy of movement. I'm inspired by exploring possible and impossible landscapes. I often think of myself as world building. A sort of hybrid architectural/organic vision of tomorrow.

On view at O-L Living Room:

"Timeline No. 32"

"Timeline No. 32"
Graphite, charcoal, and pigment on wood panel.
40" x 30" x 2"
2019
$1,500

"Timeline No. 2.28.1"

"Timeline No. 2.28.1"
Graphite, charcoal, and pigment on wood panel.
30" x 24" x 2"
2020
$925

"Timeline No. 2.28.2"

"Timeline No. 2.28.2"
Graphit, charcoal, and pigment on wood panel.
30" x 24" x 2"
2020
$925

"Blueprint"

Blueprint
Oil & ink
8" x 8"
$125

"Temple Station"

"Temple Station"
cast bronze
$4,200 (includes base)

robert matthews

Becoming obsessed by glass in the middle of studying architecture, I left school to focus on building a glass studio. Two decades later I started casting glass designs in concrete which was a completely self-taught endeavor. The combination of glass and concrete has been my passion since. Currently I create both two and three dimensional work exploring my architectural roots as well as abstracts.

On view at O-L Living Room:

"Landing"

"Landing"
concrete/glass/paper
21" x 13"
SOLD

"Triad"

"Triad"
Concrete, glass, and paper.
13" x 55"
$2,400

"No Covenants"

"No Covenants"
Concrete, paper, encaustic.
34" x 34"
$3,100

"Golden Road To..."

"Golden Road To..."
Concrete, glass, paper.
34" x 34"
$3,100

jenifer thoem

My work is a reflection of my own personal experiences, thoughts, and emotional response to circumstances, typically out of my control. I am especially fascinated with common textures and objects that, either due to our busyness or disregard, go unnoticed. Without the use of molds, I hand build ordinary objects in stoneware clay and use them to create large scale wall instillations. I incorporate repetition, size, depth, light, shadows and color to create work for the wall that blurs the lines between 2-D and 3-D.

On view at O-L Living Room:

"Bird Series"

"Bird Series"
Each bird is individually handbuilt using high fire stoneware clay and fired multiple times with slips and stains. The highly textured pieces are stamped using stamps that I make from the soles of my children’s shoes. The permanently attached wire enables the bird to go directly into the wall allowing the installation to be compact or very expansive. These birds look stunning in a group of 3 or a flock of 300.
$2,500

NFS

robin washburn

The coloring of metal thru the use of various chemicals produces a wide range of color or patina, through oxidation. I begin by creating a metal form by brazing, welding or other techniques of fabrication, such as my current favorite, creating a bentwood form which I clad with metal, usually copper. Adding texture to the metal by hammering, embossing or fold forming creates a surface that enhances the subsequent layers of patina.

Experimentation with various corrosives has allowed me to create a broad range of color on copper and brass. I don’t purchase pre-made formulas, preferring to make my own with raw chemicals. By utilizing different metals and chemicals, the range of available color is greatly extended. In essence, I create a painting using acids instead of paint.

The method of application greatly alters the effect. I use both hot and cold techniques to apply the chemicals including immersion of the metal in a hot acid bath, wrapping the metal in various textiles soaked in oxidizers, and burying the metal in sawdust soaked with chemicals. Each approach creates different patterns in the color field. Multiple applications of patina enhance the overall properties of the metal providing contrasting color, warmth, depth and texture.

My designs are influenced by nature, architecture and science. Each grows out of my desire to experiment with geometric shapes and the living relationship between texture and color.

On view at O-L Living Room: