Kimball Jenkins School of Art

Review of Michael Garlington Photography Exhibit

2009-06-22T19:37:00.000-07:00

This collection of images from the book “Portraits from the Belly of the Whale” is what happens when Joel-Peter Witkin meets Diane Arbus. These photographs are more subtle and lack the deliberately graphic shock value of Witkin, and incorporate some of the humanity of the Arbus freak show portraits. As the photographer, Michael Garlington describes them; they are “disturbing portraits that sardonically reveal the darker edges of the human personality.”

You form a strange emotional connection to the subjects in each image as you study them, being horrified and caring for them at the same time.

The first image you encounter upon entering the exhibit is “Mr. Milton Frisbie”. He is standing sentry for the show, only subtly hinting at what you about to see. “Mr. Milton Frisbie” is a clown. Not a funny clown, but a tobacco stained, sad, pathetic, and more than just a little frightening clown. This is the clown that people have nightmares about. This is the clown that sneaks out of your closet while you are sleeping and snatches you up, the smell of urine and cigarette smoke embedded in his costume. This is the clown that encourages some people to be afraid of clowns.

This is just the beginning of the emotional avalanche you are about to attempt to outrun. Twenty images hung in four rooms and a hallway of the Jill Coldren-Wilson Gallery of the Kimball-Jenkins Estate in Concord, New Hampshire. All of the images having room to breathe their own fetid breath and engage you with their own empty eyes.

“The Final Sleep of Grandma Ev” is sad and touching in the most soulful places. Humanity and love are personified in the delicate and careful caress of her forehead, with true love peering out from behind the coke bottle glasses of the husband. Nothing specifically tells you that this couple is a husband and wife, but the feeling of overwhelming sadness that you get from this image is that of two people who have shared 40 years together. This appears to be the most personal of the images in this exhibit, appearing to be the only image that may not be meticulously staged.

“The Bleed” is a woman’s nude torso, bleeding from the face, and is disturbing to the core. How does a bloody nose look so severe? Is it her pointy animalistic teeth? Is it the oil black blood running into her mouth and dripping off her chin onto her chest where it is carefully cradled by her hand, not wanting to spill a drop onto the grimy floor that you imagine beneath her?

In “Blind Girl” irony drips from the photograph as the aforementioned blind girl sports a “Blue Ridge Parkway” tee shirt promoting a scenic vista that she will never witness. Shadowed by a mysterious out of focus figure, monitoring her from off her shoulder, is this a protector ensuring that no harm comes to the girl, or is it a malevolent spirit hovering in the background waiting for an opportunity to possess the sightless child?

In “Jabberwocky”, a howl of emotional agony overtakes the subjects face as he is jammed into the left hand side of the frame, contorted and cramped, with his too big Puritan hat amputated by the top of the frame, mirroring his actually amputated foot in the bottom of the frame, and the creases in his hand on his crutch reflecting the creases in his partially buttoned filthy jeans. He mocks the empty path of the right side of the frame that the one legged man will never run through.

Nothing is happenstance in these informationally loaded photographs. All of the images are meticulously staged; everything in the frame is there for a reason. The abuse, scratches, and stains are purposefully placed, creating the illusion of peering through a filth covered window into a nightmare filled world. The subjects stare back at you, aware of your voyeurism and daring you to engage them. At first glance, you recoil, but after the initial shock wears off, you start to look more closely, like you would stare at a traffic accident. After being held hostage by the gaze of these graphic images, you begin to feel a strange attachment to them, kind of like a photographic “Stockholm Syndrome”. These relentless portraits leave a stain on your soul that will be hard to remove. Some stains are good, like the grape Kool-Aid that dripped down your chin on the hot August afternoon when you were nine, and some stains are bad, like the blood embedded in the rough concrete floor after an industrial accident. If this exhibit leaves a good stain or a bad stain, is up to you to decide.

This exhibit runs from June 1st through July 31st in the Jill Coldren-Wilson gallery at the Kimball-Jenkins Estate at 266 North Main Street in Concord, New Hampshire. The gallery is open from Monday through Friday, 9:00 – 4:30. For more information, call (603) 225-3932 or visit www.kimballjenkins.com.

Portraits from the Belly of the Whale

2009-06-12T17:53:00.000-07:00

Eggstravaganza!

2009-03-12T12:16:00.000-07:00

Join us for our first annual Eggstravaganza!

Free for all ages!

Egg decorating with Kimball-Jenkins Art Teachers!

Face painting!

Egg Hunt!

Enter to win a week of Summer Arts Camp!*

*Summer Camp for ages 6-13

Where: Kimball-Jenkins School of Art, on the corner of North Main Street and Route 393

When: April 11, 2009 9:00am - 11:00am (Egg Hunt at 10:30)

This event is made possible by these generous sponsors...

Spring Semester Classes Announced

2009-03-06T08:57:00.000-08:00

The Kimball-Jenkins School of Art has announced its schedule for Spring Semester classes. Spring Semester begins on April 20, 2009 and runs for eight weeks.

Courses include: Black and White Darkroom Photography, Digital Photography, Drawing, Oil Painting, Pastels, Watercolors, Abstract Painting, Mixed media, Ceramics, Sculpture, Jewelry Making, Manga, and special course for teens and children, including our Summer Arts Camp!

Registration is now open, and many classes fill quickly, so don't wait until the last minute. Check out the schedule of class offerings here.

If you have any questions, you can call (603)225-3932, or email rlinehan@kimballjenkins.com and we'll be happy to assist you.

If you happen to be in the Concord, New Hampshire area, stop by our campus at 266 North Main Street and check us out. There's always an exhibit or two running in our galleries, and you can get a tour of the facilities. You'll be glad that you did.

First Annual Fine Arts Fair

2009-02-18T10:40:00.000-08:00

Call For Artists!

The Kimball Jenkins School of Art

in Concord, New Hampshire

is proud to host

The 1st annual Fine Arts Fair

June 6th and 7th

10:00am – 3:00pm

For one Weekend the grounds of the

historic Kimball Jenkins Estate will be transformed into an

open air Fine Arts Fair.

All artwork should fall under one of the following categories:

Oil Painting

Acrylic Painting

Watercolor Painting

Drawing

Sculpture

Ceramics

Photography

Fine Jewelry

Woodworking

Artists must attend June 6th and June 7th.

Booth fees

Outdoor $40

Indoor $80

Mansion (limited to 4 Artists) $200

Spaces are limited for each medium.

The Kimball Jenkins School of Art withholds the right to request photographs of any questionable “original” works of art for a juried review and may deny submission into the fair if said work does not meet the fine art requirement. Crafts are not permitted. (if you are unclear about whether your medium is acceptable for this fair, please send images and will will clarify for you.)

For More information or to reserve space contact

Ryan Linehan

rlinehan@kimballjenkins.com

Welcome to the Kimball Jenkins School of Art

2009-02-15T14:53:00.000-08:00

Originally the private residence of a prominent Concord family, the elegant Kimball-Jenkins Estate is now home to the growing Kimball-Jenkins School Art.

John Kimball settled this property 10 years before the American Revolution. For the next six generations, the Kimballs built a series of homes and outbuildings as the family prospered. The oldest remaining structure, now known as the "Yellow House," was built by John's son, Samuel to serve as his home and law offices. In 1875, John Kimball's grandson, another Samuel, moved the original family house to make way for construction of a more stylish home. With its ornate woodwork, marble fireplaces, and frescoed ceilings, the magnificent Victorian mansion which now graces the property took eight years to complete. By comparison, the accompanying Carriage House was built in just two years and, along with the Mansion, was completed in 1883.

Over the next 40 years, the Kimballs adorned the property with extensive formal gardens and enlarged the Mansion. In 1929, Louise Kimball married Walter Jenkins and his name became associated with the property. In 1981, the last heir of the Kimball-Jenkins line, Carolyn Jenkins, left the Estate to a non-profit trust with directions that it "be used for cultural and educational purposes, including the encouragement of art." In keeping with her wishes we are now a thriving visual arts school, the Kimball-Jenkins School of Art. Today, all of the buildings have been refitted to provide galleries, private studios, and studio classrooms for drawing, painting, ceramics, photography, woodworking, glass, and sculpture.

The formal Mansion, graced with the original Victorian details, houses the Jill Coldren Wilson Gallery, exhibiting regional and national art of historical significance. The Carriage House Gallery exhibits contemporary work of regional and national artists. In addition, both Galleries and the gardens are available for private events, including wedding receptions, corporate meetings, and social gatherings. And yet, in the midst of all this activity, the historic buildings are carefully maintained and the gardens and grounds meticulously groomed to preserve the feel of an elegant and very private Victorian estate.

Please call 603-225-3932 to register for art classes or for an event reservation.