Joel Armstrong: Hand Crafted Wire Drawings—Thought Provoking Installations

ARTIST'S TOUCHES EVOKE MEMORIES

By Phyllis Walbye
Reporter-Herald Arts Editor

Loveland artist Joel Armstrong has been wired for quite some time.

He has been working on wire drawings for art installations for two years.

His installation "emersion) the sign of jonah" was first exhibited in Mariani Gallery at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley last fall.

"emersion) the sign of jonah" is now installed in the Intimate Gallery at Lincoln Center, 417 W. Magnolia, in Fort Collins. It will be on view through Feb. 14. The public is invited to an artist reception 5:30-7 p.m. today. Admission is free.

Armstrong's "emersion) the sign of jonah" features 170 wire fish and a 12-foot boat that illuminates the gallery. The boat is anchored to the ground by a patch of sand that mirrors the boat and records its path.

Armstrong, who has been art director for Loveland-based Group Publishing for more than eight years, grew up in Corpus Christi, Texas. "Nighttime fishing was a regular Saturday night event throughout my junior high school and high school years," Armstrong says. "I may not be able to remember what was talked about in our boat or how many fish were caught, but I still remember the smells, the humidity, the gentle rock of the boat, the constant clanging of sailboat rigging, the reflection of lights on the water's surface and the iridescent glow of the water as our outboard motor gently parted the water's surface."

"Those surrounding elements are what inspired this installation of wire drawings," he says in an artist's statement for the installation. Besides observing Armstrong's art installation, viewers can experience it through their own senses of touch, sound and smell.

Armstrong believes the beauty of installation art is that it can become a jumping off point for memories and personal interpretations of viewers. "I first recognized this with my first installation piece called ''clothes lines,'' he recalls. "The work consisted of what I thought of as a very personal expression of my family - a day's worth of laundry (created from wire) that was hung on a line to dry. "I covered the gallery floor with actual turf which created a natural humidity and aroma. "By adding the repetitive sound of a backyard sprinkler, a real-time element occurred. "The first time I saw someone lying down on the grass in the gallery, I knew that response to this type of art was different from any I had experienced with my more traditional two-dimensional art," he says.

Many viewers of "clothes lines" spoke to Armstrong about their own childhood memories and responses to the installation, even sharing poems and clippings with him. "For the first time I was being touched by the audience's experiences and interpretations," he adds.

Armstrong's "clothes lines" installation was presented at Colorado State University in Fort Collins where he is completing work on an MFA in drawing.

His thesis exhibition in May will be another wire installation.

With his "emersion) the sign of jonah" installation, Armstrong says he has been experiencing reactions from viewers that reflect those engendered by "clothes lines." For instance, he says he spoke with a man who had quickly responded to the flounder embedded in the sand in the installation. "He proceeded to tell me about growing up in Florida and going 'floundering' with his father. "It made me think how wonderful it would be to somehow record those memories as part of the installation experience. "That way, the piece could become a community exhibition and the ownership could be shared," he muses.

Armstrong's enthusiasm for the potential responses that he believes are possible through installation art seems boundless.

Two-dimensional works by Armstrong have been exhibited at the Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Art (1999), Pleiades Gallery in New York City (1998), Core Art Gallery in Denver (1998) and in shows and juried exhibitions in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Washington, D.C., during the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s.

Besides working as an art director for businesses in Colorado and Texas, as a freelance illustrator, Armstrong did work for such clients as Dallas Opera, Hotel Bel Air, Mansion on Turtle Creek and Moody Bible Institute.

Gallery hours at Lincoln Center for viewing "emersion) the sign of jonah" are 8 a.m.-6 p.m. weekdays and noon until 6 p.m. Saturdays. Admission is free.