July 2017
By Sandra Tyler, Editor-in-Chief
While we frequently feature interviews with our contributors, it is rare that we are privileged to interview them in person. Last month, WTP Arts Editor Richard Malinsky was able to actually meet with Tim Prentice, kinetic sculptor on par with Calder and George Rickey. Prentice’s work is featured in July’s issue and is now on exhibition at The Westmoreland Museum of American Art. Malinsky was able to tour his sprawling hilltop grounds in Connecticut, a ”veritable wind-sculpture farm.” Considering the grand scale of Prentice’s works, his materials are remarkably simple: hollow aluminum tubes, Lexan plastic, stainless steel wire, and sheet aluminum. Malinsky nicely captures the sensibility of the man as reflected in his works, who has such a “kinship with the wind.”
Another interview of note is with installation artist and photographer Berndnaut Smilde, whose unprecedented Nimbus series is also featured in July’s issue. The series includes images of clouds Smilde himself would “materialize” then photograph in various staged environments: “As the clouds are fleeting, photography for me is the best way to present the work. I am not so much interested in the process of making. The work is really about the idea of a cloud inside a space and what people project on it.”
I want to draw your attention to our site reviews, as these go up rather regularly now, and encourage artists and writers to submit their websites—while we may categorize these as site reviews, they are in essence more reviews of artists’ actual works and may serve as artist profiles. In Malinsky’s review of Carolyn Land’s website, he notes the wide scope of her work, including examples illustrating both her more representational and abstract approaches. Site reviews for writers are a bit different. Ideally writers have samples of their work available on their sites, or if we are interested enough, we might go the extra step of acquiring samples. To submit your site for review, go here.
In June we also served up a special review (Part I and Part II) of the Whitney Biennial, by Features Editor Emily Jaeger: “The 2017 Whitney Biennial…arrives at a time rife with racial tensions, economic inequities, and polarizing politics. Throughout the exhibition, artists challenge us to consider how these realities affect our senses of self and community.”Jaeger explores both the political ramifications of this exhibition and its probe into the artistic process: “While the initial impact of the exhibit is overtly political, moving deeper into the galleries mirrors a movement towards deeper investigations into the impact of political art and the role of the artist.”
Finally, a last reminder about our art and literary competitions—deadline is July 31. All past contributors are welcome to submit. As of this writing, we have not had an overwhelming response, so your chances of winning are better right now than winning the lottery!
To submit for writing, go here.
To submit for art, go here.