Oregon artist ties poetry with oil in his EWU Art Gallery exhibit “Open Weather”

Andrew Taylor, center reads a poem while another student takes in one of Tomlinson's paintings. Photo by Amy Meyer

By Amy Meyer
editor-in-chief
easterner.editor@gmail.com

Ekphrasis, by definition, is the description of visual work. The word itself barely defines the installation “Original Weather” that is being exhibited in the EWU Gallery of Art until March 15.
The 18 pieces are a back-and-forth communication between the artist, Robert Tomlinson, and nine Oregon poets who express the spirit of the art from their points of view.
Tomlinson said he was just as interested in responding to the writing as he was to the writers’ responses to his unfinished work.
The pieces were created with oil stick, pastel, chalk and pencil. He created several at a time, which he said crowded his studio.
“I like to pause and come back to it with fresh eyes,” Tomlinson said.
One of his goals in reference to his work was to stop thinking.
He said the thinking process interfered with his ability to tap into his intuition and that the key was to work a lot and create a sacred space to work in.
During the lecture, Tomlinson spoke about the value of an art residency, which is where an artist gets out of their normal environment and works in a different community for a while.
He said it was important for students to establish space to work and invest uninterrupted time into their work. He also encouraged the audience of 54 to apply for residencies outside of the country.
He referred to identity, memory and place in relation to contemporary arts.  He said that artists ask questions that no one else considers or expresses.
Many stayed after the lecture to inspect the artwork and read the accompanying poetry.
Andrew Taylor marveled over the layout of the poetry, “You can’t perform that.”
Laura Kaschmitter admired the piece “Basin #18.” She said she liked the soft shapes in the layers.
“[It’s] like you’re peering through semi-opaque windows, changing the perspective of the shapes behind each other,” she said. “I like the [contrast of] white dots on the black.”
After six shows in the last year and five more to come, Tomlinson’s hard work is paying off.  But he’s not done yet.
He said that his long-term plans include more work with these types of media and black and white photography to build his gallery representation for the future.

To view a slide show of the event, visit here.