Dawn and Bill Guild at 'Tunnel City Gallery'
Two Artists Exhibit in a Busy Environment
By: Astrid Hiemer - Feb 27, 2011
What a surprise! In all these years living in the Berkshires, I had never walked into Tunnel City Coffee on the lower end at 100 Spring Street in Williamstown. We are quite familiar with Williamstown: The Clark and Williams College Museums are there, we visit with friends and a couple of doctors we have to see from time to time practice there. Images Theatre, a gem of a movie house, is on Spring Street and so are stores and restaurants we enjoy.
Tunnel City was bustling; there was not a free seat or table. My first impression, that of controlled chaos! Then, walking around, I thought that the art work added beautifully and quietly to the atmosphere. Diverse subject matters are installed in separate, but open spaces.
Several of Bill Guild’s mostly black and white photographs are hanging in an area furthest away from the entrance. Recalling a photo, titled ‘The Fiddler,’ of dancing legs and feet, juxtaposes the work that was going on in that room. All tables and benches were taken by Williams College students, humming away on computers. One young woman tried to shield herself from my camera and I assured her, that she could not be identified in the photo. Guild’s nature photographs are lyrical and semi abstract images. A color photo that stands out in my mind, ‘Chamayo Church,’ is of a distant candle lit altar, perhaps in a country church in Mexico.
Dawn Guild’s artist statement opens to the adjacent room. She recalls being attracted to old maps and their ‘Terra Incognita,’ and she continues to write: ‘..using maps as my jumping off point, I have been doing my own exploration of material, shapes, colors and textures in an attempt to capture something of the feeling of our own experience, when delving into the unknown territories of our own life.’ Guild is a thoughtful, peaceful, internally searching woman, who also loves to dance.
The dominant colors of her works in this room are strong orange to deep red and yellow background colors, which were painted over bits of maps. Then, a thick layer of elongated shapes in various green and blue tones lend a third dimension to some works. Fine examples are: ‘Terra Incognita # 1’ and ‘Terra Incognita # 2.' Guild's artist statement continues that she ‘..brings together the literal form of landmass and non literal representation of shapes and colors with paint and collage.’
Her works stand out in this room against mustard colored walls. Also striking is ‘Sighting of the Sun,’ an acrylic paint and mixed media piece, wherein rays are drawn like a meridian circle away from the sun. Next to her artist statement hangs a painting, quite different from the others, titled ‘Birch.’ A strong black and white checkered partial trunk dominates the canvas and spots in green, orange and black indicate branches and leaves against a partially blue sky. The painting triggered a delightful personal connection in me.
In the largest area of the coffee house Bill hung an exquisite inkjet print titled ‘Branches.’ Dawn once described the preparation for this particular printing process as: ‘Holding a big piece of Japanese paper on the tip of my fingers and very carefully walking it to the printer.’ It is the largest, beautifully framed work (44 x 31”), depicting a fruit tree in bloom. Is it also a Japanese cherry tree?
The area adjacent to the entrance includes tall windows and was the busiest room, where a family with several children tried to settle down. It contains Bill’s photographs, and I recall ‘Indian Hill, VT #2’ on archival paper. Generally, reflections of other things in a glass frame are not wanted. I found the reflection from the street activity in the lower part of the frame refreshing, but Guild may differ indeed. And ‘Cape Cod Reflections,’ also in this space, indicate an internal state of mind.
Both have been working and studying their own medium for years. Bill’s visual language in photography moved over time from the representational to experimental with cameras and lenses to digital. He has also explored using various printers and an array of paper, as can be seen in this exhibition. He wrote recently: ‘As my own relationship with the natural world has deepened, I have found myself moving away from the strictly representational to something more transcendent. Using light and simplicity of form there seems to be a natural movement from the literal to the interpretive.’
As artists and husband and wife, they have exhibited for the first time together in a two person show. All works can be seen until April30th at Tunnel City Coffee. We have followed their work in exhibitions over the past several years and can experience it at the Eclipse Mill in North Adams as well, where art works are hanging in an open gallery. They are among other artists at the Eclipse Mill, who show their work at the mill for an extended period of time.
A question of course remains: What can artists work bring to a café, coffee house and restaurant environment, or to other places of business and hospitals? An answer may include contemplative moments and reflection, wall space and exposure. Paul Lovegreen, the owner of Tunnel City, wants to give local artists that opportunity, and to have fresh, new and changing shows for the enjoyment of customers. ‘It is fun,' he said emphatically – and may we add that for the artists it can open opportunities and future venues.