Shaping Visions
Work by Craig S. Holmes & Maude I. Kerns
The Maude Kerns Art Center presents its first exhibit of 2012, “Shaping Visions: Work by Craig S. Holmes and Maude I. Kerns,” featuring the work of Portland artist Craig S. Holmes and work by the Center’s namesake, Maude I. Kerns (1876 – 1965). “Shaping Visions” opens with a public reception from 6 - 8 pm on Friday, January 13, and is on view through February 10. The Title Sponsor of this exhibit is TBG Architects + Planners.
Holmes is inspired by the energy of architecture and all its elements –plan, elevation, section, and perspective. In his elegant architectural illustrations and mixed media works, he seeks to express the simple beauty and balance in the complexity of what he calls the “structured chaos of modernism.” His hope is to “picture a possibility others have not considered, to impact the mental landscape.”
Holmes has a B.A. in Illustration from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. He has extensive experience as a graphic designer and illustrator, particularly architectural illustration, and has exhibited his drawings and mixed media work in a number of Portland galleries, including GreenWorks PC, AIA Gallery, Rink Gallery, Gango Gallery, and the Augen Gallery. Holmes was one of the featured artists in the Art Center’s 2010 “Illustration Invitational,” and has been included in the Oregon Biennial (1995) and the All Oregon Art Annual (1988).
“Shaping Visions” also includes selected work by Maude I. Kerns, a visionary artist and educator, the first head of the Art Education Department at the University of Oregon, and an internationally recognized artist in the Non-Objective Art Movement. Most of the pieces displayed in the exhibit are from the collection of the late Leslie Brockelbank, the great-niece of Kerns, in addition to a number of works from the Art Center’s own collection. Kerns’ paintings are held in the permanent collections of numerous museums, including the Solomon Guggenheim Museum in New York City, the Seattle Art Museum, Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art (Utah State University), and the Portland Art Museum, as well as in the collection of Microsoft Corporation and many private collections.