Grade school students get to engage in a little manipulation while visiting Liberty Arts’ current exhibition, “Stretching The Truth.”

The students start with a familiar image of the American space landing, featuring an astronaut planting a flag on the moon…

…then, digging into a pile of random resource material, they let their fertile imaginations run wild as they recreate, revamp and repurpose the scene.

No two pieces end up alike as the kids cut, paste, draw, paint, glue, and scribble to their heart’s content.

At the end of the session, we have an awesomely outrageous collection of fun, wild, hilarious works of art in which the “Truth” of the original image (an astronaut on the moon) has been completely stretched beyond belief.

Liberty Arts Explorations art education program takes place on Tuesday’s during scheduled exhibition weeks throughout the school year. If your elementary grade class is interested in scheduling visits in 2012, please call Liberty Arts at 530-842-0222.

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Liberty Arts’ Explorations Instructors: Bee Soulé and Kim Presley.
Photos by Kim Presley

For the current exhibition, curator Don Hall asked artists to submit work that contained photographic origins and somehow stretched the truth of a concept, idea or moment.

This photo hardly does justice to the beautiful, high-quality black and white photography by Redding, California artist, Harvey Spector.

Stretching The Truth exhibit at Liberty Arts

Detail: “New Deer.” This inkjet transfer gel on selenium plate by by Redding artist, Gini Holmes, has many visitors inquiring about the technique.

The singular vision of Rajiv Hotek is evident in his sculpture, “Family Tree.”

Detail: “Upper Sacramento Reflections #1″ by Bob McCrillis

Work by (l to r) David Lorenz Winston, Haruko Blue Star Child, and Nikolas Allen.

“POS:NEG” by contemporary pop artist, Nikolas Allen, was printed on PVC-based material and mounted to chain link fence gate.

The way that artists “stretched the truth” in their work varied from piece to piece. Haruko Blue Star Child (foreground, left) drew animals and angels directly onto her printed photographs.

Stretching The Truth exhibit at Liberty Arts

Detail: “Boys Will Be Boys” by Stephanie Luke, one of four artists from Redding, CA in the show.

Detail: “Lot and Life” by Tammy Rae Lewis who shipped her piece all the way up from the Bay Area.

The two pieces on the left are by Oregon-based photographer, David Lorenz Winston, who was a featured artist in our Border Crossing: Southern Oregon Artists exhibit in early 2011. Also shown is work by Eloise Larson and William Wareham.

Detail: “Embryonic Jewel” by Eloise Larson

Stretching The Truth turned out to be quite a full exhibit, featuring several returning artists and even more new names exhibiting at Liberty Arts for the first time.

“Signs of Life” by Peter LaFortune is an homage to the little town of Yreka, California – home to Liberty Arts Gallery and the wonderful, creative community that supports us.

Stretching The Truth exhibition dates: Friday, December 2, 2011 – Saturday, January 14, 2012.

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Photography by Nikolas Allen.
All art copyrighted © by the individual artist and may not be used without written permission. All Rights Reserved.

There was a chill in the air and festive spirits abound at the opening reception for Liberty Arts’ final exhibition of the year, “Stretching The Truth – Interpreting The World Through Photography.”

While the crowd ebbed and flowed in several waves over the course of the evening, there was plenty of time for leisurely examination of art.

Marlis Jermutus enjoys a tender moment with her husband, Bastian.

Caught In The Act: While photographing the event, there are several times when a visitor will step right into the shot, then suddenly realize they are being photographed. Occasionally, that produces priceless results…like this.

Brenda Woods takes in an “Untitled” piece by Redding photographer, Harvey Spector.

An Artist Discussion was scheduled for 6:00pm, so the crowd gathered ’round to hear more about the pieces in the exhibit, from the artists who created them.

But first, Curator Don Hall shares his vision for the exhibit. As a photographer, he was interested in exploring how other artists were manipulating the moments in time that they had captured.

Haruko Blue Star Child spoke about her two pieces, which feature adorable “animal spirits who exist in the 4th dimension.” We also heard from Jeremy Walker (in background wearing white tie), who has two pieces in the exhibit.

Charles Gillingham has a photo in the show that he shot in San Francisco, which he said reminded him of Edward Hopper’s “Nighthawks.” (The images visible behind Charles are by Bob McCrillis).

The crowd enjoyed hearing the stories behind the works of art from the artists who created them, and getting new insights into the “truths” that were being stretched in the pieces on display.

We are excited to have four artists up from Redding, California in the exhibit, including Harvey Spector (waving), and Stephanie Luke (seated with wine glass).

Our reception coincided with Yreka’s City Of Lights celebration, so Miner Street was teeming with merry revelers all night long. This resulted in an influx of new visitors stopping into the gallery for the first time.

Bundled, restrained – and with a severe height disadvantage, this little man still made a valiant attempt to take in some of the amazing art surrounding him.

Liberty Arts’ hostess extraordinaire Bee Soulé, serves the bundled crowd a delicious hot apple cider to keep the chill at bay.

As this year comes to a close, Liberty Arts looks forward to producing a new slate of exhibitions and openings throughout 2012. We offer our deepest gratitude to our members, friends and patrons who have helped make 2011 our most creative and successful year to date.

We wish you the Happiest of Holidays and hope to see you plenty in the New Year.

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Top Featured Image: Connie Meek views a disorienting piece by Redding photographer, Michael Eichwald.
All photography and text by Nikolas Allen, Liberty Arts Marketing Director

Join Liberty Arts on Opening Night as we celebrate our final exhibition of the year.

“Stretching the Truth: Interpreting the World Through Photography” will confuse fact and fiction as regional artists show us how they use the camera lens to capture – and alter – a moment in time.

Opening Reception
Friday, December 2, 2011
5-7pm

Featuring
Artist discussion at 6pm

Post-Reception
Dinner and Live Music next door at
The Audacity & Café

Location
Liberty Arts Gallery
108 W. Miner Street
Yreka, CA 96097
530-842-0222

Curated by Photographer, Don Hall.

CURATOR STATEMENT: Photography is the recording of a moment in time.  Sometimes a photo tells a great deal about that moment and other times it can capture an image that is counter to the actual essence of the event being photographed.  Photography can exaggerate the moment.  It can diminish it.  It can turn the moment on its head, shred it, then reconstitute it.  It can place it in a context that subtly or totally changes the moments meaning.  With digital photography, even the core elements of the image can be manipulated to show the recorded moment in a totally different light.

Images: Top featured “Seattle Building,” above “Sunset On Lake Michigan” by Don Hall