Coastal UpLift: An Island on the Land
Earth Elegies IV

A Multimedia Installation and Portfolio of California Images

Lynn Small & Dennis Paul

in collaboration

D. PAUL/SMALL

We came to California to surf on the tsunami of technology.

We felt strongly that the massive paradigm shifts that would overtake not only the art world
but also the world at large
would best be faced on the "left" coast.

It was here that we chose to extend the parameters of our working processes
into the digital realm.

GOLDEN LIGHT
Series-in-Progress

The conceptualization of this portfolio has evolved over many years of experiencing firsthand the beauty and diversity of our adopted state. This work-in-progress is the fourth in a series of Earth Elegies, a natural progression in our more than thirty-five-year, collaborative efforts.

While capturing the sense of place that is unique to a specific landscape, we seek the universal. We meticulously research the history and environmental imprints of the area while thoroughly examining the art and culture. This gathering of imagery and data has been ongoing since our arrival but now the process has been greatly enhanced by the direct digital capture of video, still and audio facets.

Coastal UpLift will be a multichannel installation with an accompanying original SoundScape composition and a portfolio of accompanying artwork on paper and canvas.

To see this major undertaking through to fruition,
there is a need of financial support.

We would like to thank you, in advance,
for your time and consideration.

 

To those of you who have supported our efforts in the past
we are most grateful and to those less familiar with our art,
it is our hope that you will be intrigued and receptive
to becoming a vital part of this new and challenging project.

 

Those who facilitate its completion
will be richly rewarded
Contact us

 

 

"Know ye that on the right land of the Indies there is an island called California,

very near the Terrestrial Paradise…"

Garci Rodriguez Ordonez, Spain - 1510

There are ecological/geological/societal reasons to think of California in insular terms. Its topographical and climatic conditions differ so radically from the rest of the country that one may be allowed to consider it as "An Island on the Land." With the ocean on one side and its mountains, forests and deserts on the other, the state is in some ways an isolated entity. Altogether, California forms a unique ecosystem that is the focal point of our next multimedia installation and body of work.

"Coastal UpLift" will be a totally immersive, multichannel digital video installation with an original SoundScape. Our last major multimedia installation project in Los Angeles was "In the Beginning - Earth Elegies II," a fusion of our Landscape and Kabbalah portfolios done for the ELEMENTS exhibition (1998-99) at Frank Lloyd Wright's Barnsdall Art Park, Los
Angeles Municipal Gallery.

As with all our land/environmental series, the California project began with the research and referencing of various geological phenomenon, the study of historical California art movements and the gathering of photographic imagery - both still and digital video - and ambient sound capture. For UpLift, all of these elements will be woven within an experiential, historical, educational, and interactive framework.

This connecting with the American landscape "sense of place" tradition is an important and reoccurring aspect of our lives and working processes. It is our feeling that we are a part of this tradition and have honored it with many years of effort. We are extremely knowledgeable about art processes and make extensive use of both traditional and new media. For more than three decades, we have fused painting and drawing with photographic processes - from paper negatives and gum bichromates to hand-oiled Gelatin silver prints, etc. Throughout its history, photography has had a profound impact upon the cultural landscape. With the emergence of digital technologies, a new frontier has been opened offering possibilities limited only by our imaginations and ability to ask the right questions.

The inclusion of digital images and sound, video and interactivity has now become an essential part of our working methodology. This intricate layering of diverse imagery and multimedia weaves together many facets from past and present bodies of work. In fusing the worlds of more tradition art processes with those of the digital realm, we found a new fluidity of expression had entered into the dialogue. Much as photography, film and video have changed the fixed images of painting, the digital domain elucidates the states of process and reveals its genesis. The making of marks and myths has been radically and forever altered.

Our move to the west coast in the early 1990s, first to the Coachella Valley - to experience and document the desert - and then to Los Angeles, was to become thoroughly versed in these new emerging technologies. We felt strongly that the synergy of northern and southern California would best position us to become immersed in the digital realm and allow us to become a part of the birthing of 21st century art modalities.

 

 

To realize this objective, we have done extensive work:

 

Our 1994 CoLabART website is one of the earliest and most extensive artists sites

Creation of a number of multimedia installations that have utilized digital video, original
SoundScapes and participatory viewer interactivity

Digital imaging and printing output at the very highest levels

Continuing to work at the intersection of the fusion of traditional media with emerging processes

 

 

BAY LIGHT
Work-in-Progress 2002 - 2007

9-Panel Handpainted Print
8 x 10 inches each panel
Edition of 12

 

As individual artists, we have been involved in the creation and exhibition of art for more than thirty-five years. Our collaborative moniker, D. Paul/Small was fully birthed during our 1978 joint Yaddo Fellowship residencies and during our 2003 Yaddo Fellowships, we continued individual efforts, as well as our collaborative multimedia Voice of the Landscape work-in-progress.

Our endeavors reflect both the inner musings of our imaginations and impressions culled from living in Europe, Mexico, New York, and Los Angeles.

The fulfillment of a dream to retain the tactility of the artist's hand while letting the new tools of the digital age serve as a palette for our imaginations has been realized with our transition to California. It is here that our desire to dialogue with creative artists from the past, as well as collaborate with multi-disciplinary artists of our own time, has come to fruition.

 

 

COLLABORATIVE ART BIO

D. P A U L / S M A L L

 

The work of D.PAUL/SMALL is a collaboration of two artists - Lynn Small and her husband, Dennis Paul. This fusion of imagery and sensibilities has resulted in a unique body of work, distinct from their individual endeavors. These initial efforts came to fruition in 1978 during joint-residency fellowships to Yaddo, a creative environment for the arts, in Saratoga Springs, NY. This union has resulted in an evolving body of work that challenges the boundaries of painting, photography and, with the introduction of the digital realm, 21st century art.

Their mixed-media work incorporates contemporary photography, as well as 19th century non-silver processes with painting, drawing, printmaking, and digital imagery. With the inclusion of naturally occurring elements from specific sites, three-dimensional configurations also play an expanded role.

Several ongoing series have included the nude and a focus on the American landscape vision as metaphor. The EARTH Series seeks to address varied perspectives on contemporary issues through the use of Landsat photographic surveys, exposed earth strata and the emergence of civilization's buried by-products. Areas of unspoiled beauty still in tenuous existence or the hidden, impending disasters within the sublime are captured and preserved in the LONG ISLAND/HAMPTONS, PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH and CALIFORNIA portfolios and those that have been forever altered as in the LOVE CANAL Series.

 

 

 

In 1993, a museum commission of a site-specific installation opened up a new phase in their exploration of the spirituality in contemporary art. What ensued was their collaboration with other artists of many disciplines, both living and deceased. The inclusion of digital sound, video and interactivity has become increasingly essential. This intricate layering of diverse imagery and multimedia weaves together many threads from past and present bodies of work and has resulted in a number of new series: EARTH ELEGIES and the KABBALAH with its GOLEMESS - PROTECTRESS FOR THE ARTS and LETTERS OF FOUNDATION, a Hebrew alphabet both ancient and modern.

 

Barnsdall Art Park, Los Angeles, California
Installation Detail

 

LYNN SMALL is an honors graduate of The High School of Music and Art, NYC and New York University where she studied with such renowned artists as Milton Resnick, Esteban Vicente, Hale Woodruff, John Opper, and Robert Kaupelis. In the early 1970s, while living and working in Spain, she began work on the Earth Stains series and had a solo exhibition at the USIA Cultural Center in Madrid. This has been an ongoing body of work that, along with her artist husband, Dennis Paul has evolved into the collaborative multimedia installations - Earth Elegies. In the mid 1970s, she began a series of anthropological, God-like imagery while the couple lived in Cuernavaca, Mexico. This major body of work would later inspire her Southwest Spirit Guides series. In 2003 Ms Small was a finalist for the Gottlieb Foundation Grant in Painting and the recipent of a Yaddo Fellowship in Painting and NewMedia.

 

DENNIS PAUL's work began while pursuing graduate studies in psychology at The City University of New York. In addition to his artistic endeavors, he is an arts administrator and consultant. In the late 1970s, under Commissioner Henry Geldzahler, he established the Development Office for the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs. Subsequently, he created the Development curriculum for the Graduate Program of Museum Studies, New York University where he lectured from 1980-85. Earlier in his teaching career, he wrote the pilot programs for RITA (Reading Improvement for the Arts) and AGE (Art in General Education) - both recipients of private and federal funding. These programs, now eligible for replication funding, are nationwide. In 2003, Mr. Paul was the recipient of a Yaddo Fellowship in Photography and NewMedia.


In the mid-1970s, Paul and Small were involved in the fashion industry in New York City as Fashion Metamorphosis, incorporating various art techniques into the design of women's apparel. This undertaking represented the earliest of their collaborations and evolved into the creation of the "third" artist, D. PAUL/SMALL.


The artists have lived and exhibited in New York, Europe, Mexico and Los Angeles. Their work has been shown in numerous galleries and museums. They have lectured at such places as The Museum of the City of Mexico, the Art Institute of Chicago, Brooks Institute of Photography, Santa Barbara, California and are the recipients of various grants and awards. The couple is represented in public and private collections both in the United States and abroad.

 

Having thematically intersected at various stages of our careers, the idea of collaborating to build upon our individual endeavors struck a responsive chord. During the past years, opening this further to include writers, musicians and visual artists of our own time, as well as those that preceded us, has helped in our efforts to blend these various disciplines.

It has also brought us an additional gift,
a fuller understanding of the creative spirit within us all.

 

 

 

 

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

D. PAUL/SMALL

 

2002
Ocean's Edge, Terrain.org - Issue No. 12, An Online Journal of the Built & Natural Environments,
Featured Artists - ARTerrain - Long Island /Hamptons Portfolio, Earth Series

2000-01
Tradition and Transformation, Inaugural Exhibit, Bell Gallery, Federation Los Angeles, CA


2000
The Art of the Alef-Bet, Bureau of Jewish Education, San Francisco, CA

1998-99
Elements, Municipal Art Gallery, Barnsdall Art Park, Los Angeles, CA

New Talent II, Lois Neiter Fine Arts, Sherman Oaks, CA


1995
Dialogues With The Deity, Solo Show and Artist Talk, ARTOPIA Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

Spiritual Matter in Contemporary Art, Solo Site-Specific Installation and Artist Talk,
Platt Gallery, University of Judaism, Los Angeles, CA

1994
Angels, Ancestors & Spirit Guides, MYTHOS Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1993-94
Aishet Hayil/Woman of Valor, Site-Specific Installation Commission, Yeshiva University Museum, NYC

1990
Third Annual Hudson River Photography Annual, Fish Library, Garrison, NY

1989
Artists Night, Bergen Museum of Art & Science, NJ

Nature - Fact & Fantasy, Rockland Center for the Arts, NY

Second Annual Hudson River Photography Annual, Butler Gallery, Marymount College, Tarrytown, NY

1988
The Expert Eye, Wunsch Arts Center, Long Island, NY

Group Show, Nassau County Museum of Fine Art, Long Island,

NY Hudson River Open, Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY

1985
Collaborative Works: Pennsylvania Dutch Series, Solo Show, Freedman Gallery, Albright College, Reading, PA


1984
Artists Members Show, Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, NY

69th Hudson River Annual, Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY

1983
Gallery Artists, Kathryn Markel Gallery, NYC

1982
Photo Start, Bronx Museum of the Arts

FotoVision 82, Foto Gallery, NYC

Perceptions, SoHo Photo, NYC

1980
Paperworks 80, Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY

1978
Group Show, 80 Washington Square Galleries, NYC

1977
28th Annual New England Exhibition, Silvermine Guild Galleries, New Canaan, CT

1974
Women Artists Working in the City, Group Show, Museum of the City of Mexico

Inaugural Group Show, Galeria Uno, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

1973
Group Show, Galeria Trini, Cuernavaca, Mexico

Photo/Graphics, Solo Show, Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY

1972
The Spanish Series, Solo Show, USIA Cultural Center, Madrid, Spain

New Talent in Printmaking, Anschel Gallery, London, England

1972&71
31st & 30th Annual National Print Exhibition, Jersey City Museum, NJ

1971
New Work, Solo Show, Bronx Council on the Arts Gallery,

NYC Group Show, Avanti Gallery, NYC

 

 

SELECTED COLLECTIONS: PUBLIC/PRIVATE

Arbor Group, New York
Atwater State Bank, Minnesota
David Steele, San Francisco, California
Richard Catalano, Greenwich, Connecticut/Stowe, Vermont
Anne Clivot, Paris, France
Moriyah Colaine Singh, Topanga, California
Cull House, Long Island, New York
Patti and Marvin Demoff, Beverly Hills, California
Elisabeth Dudley, Redding, Connecticut
Suzanne and Howard Feldman, New York
Rosy Foster, Zurich, Switzerland
Angela Scalpello and Charles R. Foy, New York
Rabbi Don Goor, Temple Judea, Tarzana, California
Charles and Jill Shira Guice, Berkeley, California
Judy and Adam Haut, Far Hills, New Jersey
Rachel and Jonathan Herlands, New York
The Hidden You, New York
Deborah and Jonathan Himmelfarb, Falmouth, Maine
Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Michigan
Dr. Roy and Barbara Kaplan, Oakland Hills, California
Suzanne Lewin, Naples, Florida
Jose Ramirez, Madrid, Spain
Reader's Digest Collection, New York
Sandra and Mariano Rechy, Mexico City, Mexico
Bonnie and Richard Reiss, Jr., New York/East Hampton, Long Island
Sarabeth's, Inc., New York
Joy and Robert M. Timperio, Indian Wells, California
Harry Wils & Company, Inc., New York

 

GRANTS AND AWARDS: Partial Listing

2003
Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, NY, Residency Fellowships in Painting/Photography/MultiMedia

2000
Judah L. Magnes Museum, Berkeley, CA, Photography Award

1993
Yeshiva University Museum, NYC, Installation Commission

1989
Rockland Center for the Arts, Mixed-media Award

1978
Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, NY, Residency Fellowships in Painting/Photography

1973
Westchester Art Society, Mixed-media and Graphics Awards
White Plains Arts Festival, Graphics Award
3M Corporation, Madrid, Spain

1970-71
H.E.W./E.S.E.A. Title III, "Language Arts Through Visual Arts"
Polaroid Corporation, Matching Materials Grant

1970
Bronx Council on the Arts Annual Show, Painting Award

 

LECTURES/ARTIST TALKS: Partial Listing

2002
Brooks Institute of Photography, Santa Barbara, California, "The Making of Marks: Art, Technology
and Philosophy in the Digital Age"

2001
University Women, University of Judaism, Bell Gallery, Los Angeles, "The Kabbalah Series"

2000
Los Angeles Judaica Collectors Club, "The Kabbalah Series"

1998
Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Barnsdall, "In the Beginning - Earth Elegies II"

1995
University of Judaism, "The Threads That Bind Us - Earth Elegies"
Artopia Gallery, "Dialogues With The Deity"

1993
Yeshiva University Museum, Docent staff, "Woman of Valor" exhibition

1981
NJ Committee Arts for the Handicapped, "Developing a Fundraising Strategy"

1979
NYC Metropolitan Historic Structures Assoc., "Public Funding Opportunities"

1974
Art Institute of Chicago, "Utilization of Film Techniques in Communications & Modern Art"

1973
Museum of the City of Mexico, "Photography as Art" & "Women in the Arts"

1972
USIA, US Embassy, Madrid, Spain, "Trends in Contemporary American Art"

1970
Board of Education, NYC, "Language Arts Through Visual Arts"

 

LANDSCAPE STATEMENT

 

The landscape work is often difficult and time consuming. Our desire to capture a sense of place particular to a specific region, yet release more universal memory traces, make a difficult task even more so.

The presence of obstacles - difficult terrain, harsh weather, exhaustion - often corresponds to the nearness of treasure, a moment of time, light or physical presence which always brings us closer to the desired. Through the details of a specific landscape - the macrocosm of nature - one can meditate on the wonder of creation itself.

For the last twenty-five years, we have dedicated ourselves to the pursuit of the vanishing American landscape.

 

To date, our ongoing series has focused on specific geographical areas such as LONG ISLAND\HAMPTONS, CATSKILL\ADIRONDACKS, PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH, SOUTHWEST, CALIFORNIA, and early on, the environmental disaster area known as LOVE CANAL.

It encompasses many themes, waterfalls, farms, desert, etc., and integrates satellite imagery from the mid-1970s onward. Our newest multimedia, site-specific installation series, EARTH ELEGIES - The Threads That Bind Us, In The Beginning, and the works-in-progress, Voice of the Landscape and Coastal UpLift, utilize diverse digital media, i.e., SoundScapes, multiple video projections, web interactivity, the latest printing processes, etc.

Our EARTH Series encourages reflection upon the various implications inherent in the utilization of the earth's natural resources. It reflects the spiritual nature of all creation and encompasses both individual and collaborative works. It explores these issues in varied media and from three distinct perspectives of above, at and below the Earth's surface.

It is our belief that it is only through the finite nature of every existing thing
that we may deduce the existence of the infinite.

 

 

 

Those who facilitate the completion of Coastal UpLift will be richly rewarded
Contact us

 

888.VIEWART (843.9278)

email: CoLabART@viewart.com

website: www.viewart.com/CoLabART/landscap.htm

 

 

 

TECHNOLOGICAL INFORMATION

· Giclée Iris Print:

The Giclée process is an evolution of the European craft of printmaking. Each print edition produced requires extensive time to create a perfect piece. Giclée prints represent the fusion of traditional art disciplines and 21st century technological processes.

This unique graphic reproductive technique merges technology, photography and the artistic worlds. This process generates stunning collectible fine art prints. Digital data is transferred through the Scitex Iris, a high-end ink jet printer, so that 6 million droplets of color a minute are digitally controlled for direct placement onto a hand-made paper sheet. These beautiful prints present a velvet-like finish and astounding color integrity, making them a welcome addition in both private and museum collections.

Printed on Heavy Somerset, an English archival watercolor paper, some images are hand-colored, thus enhancing its value and, in effect, making each one unique. This process represents the very latest in cutting-edge technology while retaining the traditional collaboration between printer and artists.

 

· Toned Gelatin Silver Prints:

The use of selenium and sepia to create atmospheric effects for black and white photographs, richer darks and lights and overall painterly surfaces.

 

· Calotype Print:

For the first time, this early 19th century process made it possible to make successive prints of the same image. Extremely labor intensive, this earliest of photographic techniques entails the creation of a paper negative and was replaced by other methods that allowed for a more expeditious way to make duplicative copies of a desired image.

 

· LightJet Print:

This step forward in the history of photographic processes, a very high-resolution print, is printed directly from the computer code file using a new, state-of-the-art outputting device. The LightJet is both an enlarger and printer capable of imaging onto conventional, archival photographic papers and film directly from the digital information. With the recent new materials, the archival lifespan of color photo prints has been greatly extended.

 

©1993-2012 - CoLabART, D. Paul/Small - Lynn Small + Dennis Paul
All rights reserved