It’s a Saturday morning in River North. Ellen Kamerling and Joanna Pinsky are leading a group of 25 women and a few men around a gallery, and they have stopped in front of a glass object by Bertil Vallien. “Do you see this piece as whimsical?” Kamerling asks the group.
At another gallery, the group looks at a huge glob of saran wrap molded by Donald Lipski. Is it supposed to be a giant Christmas tree ornament or a large breast? And what is the meaning of a broken piece of fuselage with a bunch of dice glued on? What is the point of a whitewashed American flag with the pounding light of an operating-room lamp shining on it? “How does the art make you feel?” Kamerling wants to know.
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A lawyer tells Pinsky and Kamerling his head hurts because of their questions. “The thought process you’re putting me through is painful,” he says. “It’s too straining –it’s so different than the literal, the logical, the legal that I’m used to.”
Says Pinsky, “We teach people not to be afraid of their own thoughts. People walk into galleries, decide whether they like or don’t like something and then say ‘good-bye.’ We use a Socratic method of teaching. We discuss what art is about rather than whether it is good or bad. We develop a person’s visual vocabulary so that they can determine how color, line, and texture, for example, ultimately affect the work’s underlying ideas.”
The group splits into two smaller ones and the artwork displayed in the artist’s apartment is perused, piece by piece, room by room. The group is aware that many artists are also collectors, and today they have the opportunity to see the artist as consumer.
Pinsky and Kamerling will give free tours this weekend at Art Expo; call for exact times. The next Art Encounter event, on Wednesday, May 16, will be a discussion given by Prussian and her daughter, artist Mary Bendix, on how they influence each other’s lives and work. The cost for this second of three programs in the “Art Genes” lecture series is $12. (The third discussion will take place on Wednesday, May 30, between artist May Leonard and her daughter, Sarah Krepp.) The next gallery walk will be at 11 AM Saturday, June 8, at the Perimeter Gallery, 750 N. Orleans, where Pinsky currently has work on display. It’s $8, free for members of Art Encounter. Membership in Art Encounter–which costs $30–is mandatory in order to participate in more than one event. For information call 708-328-9222.
