Texture unites pottery, photo show at Pump House
Darrel Bowman, a Bangor potter and former owner of the FrameGallery in Holmen, is doing a joint exhibition with photographerJaime Heiden at the Pump House from Jan. 11 through March 10(landscape painter Marie App will also exhibit during thattime).
The show, called “Texture” is a result of a proposal that Bowmanand Heiden put together.
Heiden, who grew up in a Milwaukee suburb and now lives outsideHolmen, has been friends with Bowman for quite a while. When herchildren were in school, she did a lot of volunteer work with theart departments of Holmen schools. “Darrel was so generous withdonations of mat boards and framing,” she recalled.
“Our work tends to complement each other very well,” Bowman said.“Her photos are all about texture and texture overlays. the subjectcould be a stucco wall, storm clouds or a snowscape.”
“Our work really does go together well,” Heiden said. “The textureis obvious because I have a lot of texture in my photos, but weboth gravitate toward simplicity — that’s the best word I can thinkof to describe it. I like simple lines, simple horizons and simplesubject matter, and Darrel’s pieces are just beautiful.”
Heiden often uses watercolors on Polaroid film and processeddigital images to give the feeling of depth to her photographs. Herimages have multiple layers. Heiden starts with the digital image,then layers over top on the computer.
“The end result looks painterly and has lots of depth,” Heidensaid. “Things that used to be done in the darkroom can now be doneon the computer with a lot less pain and anguish.”
Meanwhile, as a potter, Bowman is constantly immersed in physicaltextures. His hand-crafted stoneware attempts to capture the subtlebeauty of everyday objects. he said Heiden’s photos have a warm andcomfortable feel that enhance the functional objects hecreates.
Bowman’s only been a fulltime potter since last April, when he soldThe Frame Gallery, a business he’d overseen for 21 years. Heiden,too, now has time to pursue her photographic interests now that heryoungest child is a high school sophomore. She does lots of showsin the summer and actually had a show in Ireland after someone sawher work on the Internet.
“They said they’d like to pay to fly us over there, but theycouldn’t, Heiden said. “We decided to do it anyway and it was anawesome experience.”
Bowman came to the Coulee Region to study at the University ofWisconsin-La Crosse after growing up north of the Twin Cities inMinnesota.
“I went to UW-L for art education but decided I didn’t want toteach — I wanted to make pottery,” Bowman said. “I’ve always had myhand in art one way or another.”
The sale of the framing business has allowed Bowman to at lastfully commit himself to his pottery, something he’s been workingtoward for years. he admitted to being excited about the Pump Houseshow.
“The concept, to me, is interesting,” he said. “We’re surrounded bytexture, whether it’s wet rocks in the yard or the snow banks thatare coming. Looking out my window, I can see a concrete blockbuilding, hay bales and a farm building.”
He said that in comparison to when he was growing up, modernsociety tends to lack physical texture.
“We’ve eliminated so much of that with stainless steel and evenwood cabinets and furniture have to be completely smooth. That’swhere the joy of a pot with a rough edge become interesting — it’sa physical experience.”
Both Bowman and Heiden say they’re looking forward to the PumpHouse show. “It’s such an awesome venue, Heiden said, “and becausewe both live around here, we hope to get lots of people tocome.”
Texture unites pottery, photo show at Pump House