First, the vessel is smashed apart and the image is shattered. The fragments lie separate, intriguing, like pieces of a puzzle or even images from a dream. Each part may, indeed, be a microcosm of the divided whole. Each shard may suggest an entire world. Is there a natural impulse to put something broken back together? How many times have you lain very still, attempting to reconstruct a dream from a fleeting image, remembered upon waking? However, if the pieces of the dream, pot, or painting, for that matter, are regrouped in mending, the new whole is something entirely different from the original. The Cubists approached deconstruction and reconstruction of the image for the purpose of analysis and consideration. The 6 artists in "Picking up the Pieces" delight in breaking the visual container and patching it together. Each creates a new vision with materials varied from photographic projections on Styrofoam, to oil painting, furniture and ceramic forms. El Camino College Art Gallery is pleased to present the work of Keiko Fukazawa, Shannon Landis Hansen, Nina Jun, Mary Laccinole, Jack Reilly and Barbara Thomason. Ceramist, Keiko Fukazawa, builds large vessels out of clay, and then she breaks them or fractures them with lines. She decorates the work in collaboration with incarcerated inmates whom she teaches in the California Prison System, and detained minors who are graffiti artists and taggers. Fukazawa gives the broken pieces to her students, asking them to create images on specific themes. She then adds the painted pieces to her pile and reassembles them in what she calls "Reborn Vessels". The whimsical furniture pieces of Shannon Landis Hansen incorporate fragments of commercial ceramic figurines, mosaic tiles, plates, cups and saucers. Each elaborately encrusted lamp, vanity, stepstool and chair is thematic, with a tale to tell. Landis Hansen’s playful works explore the fascination of found objects and the new life and beauty they enjoy, placed in exquisitely unexpected combinations. In a darkened rectangular space, a pale mound of Styrofoam packing cartons looms, acting as a backdrop for slide projections. In the blackness, Korean-born artist, Nina Jun, projects an image of her daughter’s face against the Cubist form. The girlish face is at once, split, altered and rejoined as it plays across the shape constructed from rubbish. Mary Laccinole’s meticulously crafted works are constructed of photographic prints, paintings and other 2-D imagery. The artist slivers her materials into narrow strips and painstakingly weaves them together, creating synthesized portraits. Laccinole’s interest, in the way that people assume the physical characteristics of others, with whom they have close, long-term relationships, influences the choice of subjects of her photographs to be family and friends. The textured and shaped, "Fusion Period" (1998-2004) paintings by Jack Reilly are a complex mix of figurative painting, abstraction, and historical and classical imagery. The artist creates fragmentary paintings in which he stacks and sandwiches the images to comment on a variety of issues ranging from postmodern painting theory, to popular culture, politics and the human condition. Barbara Thomason presents large scale oil paintings on canvas, that focus on cubistic impressions of shopping malls, complete with lights, escalators, and mirrors . With dizzying intensity, the artist comments on the effect of urban life and the exchange of the activity of shopping, for deeper human relationships and thoughtful pursuits. Thank You, Susanna Meiers Director, El Camino College Art Gallery

KEIKO FUKAZAWA Nothing Lasts Forever paint on bisque 27" x 27" x 3" 2000 Untitled oil on canvas paint on bisque 27" x 27" x 3" Grottesche (detail) paint on bisque 37" x 34" x 27" 2002   Ceramist, Keiko Fukazawa, builds large vessels out of clay, and then she breaks them or fractures them with lines. She decorates the work in collaboration with incarcerated inmates whom she teaches in the California Prison System, and detained minors who are graffiti artists and taggers. Fukazawa gives the broken pieces to her students, asking them to create images on specific themes. She then adds the painted pieces to her pile and reassembles them in what she calls "Reborn Vessels".   SHANNON LANDIS HANSEN Kockenkussen mixed media 24" x 24" x 24" Beware the Undertoad mixed media 24" x 24" x 24"   The whimsical furniture pieces of Shannon Landis Hansen incorporate fragments of commercial ceramic figurines, mosaic tiles, plates, cups and saucers. Each elaborately encrusted lamp, vanity, stepstool and chair is thematic, with a tale to tell. Landis Hansen’s playful works explore the fascination of found objects and the new life and beauty they enjoy, placed in exquisitely unexpected combinations. She's Got Bodhisatva Eyes (detail) mixed media 28" x 28" x 28"   NINA JUN Untitled mixed media installation 2001 Untitled mixed media installation 2001 Untitled mixed media 2001 In a darkened rectangular space, a pale mound of Styrofoam packing cartons looms, acting as a backdrop for slide projections. In the blackness, Korean-born artist, Nina Jun, projects an image of her daughter’s face against the Cubist form. The girlish face is at once, split, altered and rejoined as it plays across the shape constructed from rubbish.   MARY LACINOLE A Man and his Dog a construction of 2 black & white photo prints & 2 calendar prints 18" x 21" A Wedding Portrait Lisa & Jon black & white photo, toners, & dyes 28" x 20" Mary Laccinole’s meticulously crafted works are constructed of photographic prints, paintings and other 2-D imagery. The artist slivers her materials into narrow strips and painstakingly weaves them together, creating synthesized portraits. Laccinole’s interest, in the way that people assume the physical characteristics of others, with whom they have close, long-term relationships, influences the choice of subjects of her photographs to be family and friends.     JACK REILLY The textured and shaped, "Fusion Period" (1998-2004) paintings by Jack Reilly are a complex mix of figurative painting, abstraction, and historical and classical imagery. The artist creates fragmentary paintings in which he stacks and sandwiches the images to comment on a variety of issues ranging from postmodern painting theory, to popular culture, politics and the human condition. Superb Self oil, acrylic, silica, grout, gold leaf, on shaped canvas 45" x 62" 2003 Forbidden Purpose , 45x62 inches, 2003 oil, acrylic, silica, grout, gold leaf, cast latex, & mosaic corves on shaped canvas 23" x 31" 2003   BARBARA THOMASON Barbara Thomason presents large scale oil paintings on canvas, that focus on cubistic impressions of shopping malls, complete with lights, escalators, and mirrors . With dizzying intensity, the artist comments on the effect of urban life and the exchange of the activity of shopping, for deeper human relationships and thoughtful pursuits. Fan Dance oil on linen 54" x 48" 1987 Untitled II oil on linen 54" x 48" 1983 Top of Page] [Archives] [Calendar of Events] [