Swanton artists to draw raves in area exhibition

By DAVID J. COEHRS

Enterprise Staff Writer

Until her freshman year at Anthony Wayne High School, Carlee East had no interest in pursuing art. She took Art 1, a prerequisite class, just to get past it.

But "as soon as I took a painting class I just knew that's what I wanted to do," she said.

East's painting, "Colorscape," which she calls "an expression of space," will be shown along with sculptures by fellow Swanton residents Chris Rom and Geoff Buddie at the 91st Annual Toledo Area Artists (TAA) show. Their selected pieces will be among 119 exhibited from 96 artists at the Toledo Musuem of Art from July 10 through Aug. 23.

The prestigious juried art show will be held in the Canaday Gallery to spotlight regional talent.

It will be East's first exhibition. When she received notice, she didn't realize the TAA show is one of the country's oldest and most prestigious.

"I wasn't aware of how big it was," East said. "I was already excited about getting accepted, but once I understood I was very excited."

Now about to enter her senior year at Bowling Green State University, the art education major isn't yet sure which artistic path she'll take.

'I just really want to pursue everything I want to before I settle down," East, 21, said.

She does know she will eventually earn a Masters in Fine Art degree. She also wants a certificate in interior design. Beyond that, East is ready to explore all options.

"I'm at the age where what I do in the next five years is going to be a big impact. It's just something you have to take and run with," she said.

Her grandmother and aunt both briefly attended the Pittsburgh Art Institute, and her mother has also shown artistic flair. Even though East grew up such a creative atmosphere she doubted her own potential.

"I really wasn't interested in it. I didn't think I was very talented," she recalled.

In 10 years East hopes to be making a decent income doing what she loves, possibly both painting and interior design.

"It's ever-evolving. It's never the same. It's always changing," she said of the art profession. "I'm very driven. I think I can do it."

It has also become her passion.

"It's very much like, 'This is what I need to do.' It's like a magnetic force type of thing. You just need to. If I take a few days off, it just feels like something isn't there."

Chris Rom and Geoff Buddie were pleasantly surprised to find themselves accepted into the TAA show. Because it took awhile for the married couple's art to catch on, the recognition is, in a sense, sweet vindication.

"People didn't get it at first. It was edgy and abstract," Rom, 37, said of their work's debut in 2004. "People liked it but didn't necessarily plunk down the money just yet. We knew we were on track... but we didn't make much money."

Five years later, she and Buddie, 39, travel the fine craft and fine arts circuit across the U.S., where the Swanton residents and their three-dimensional mixed media pieces have become appreciated.

Two of their sculptures, "Cumulus" and "Parameter," will be featured in the TAA show. The multi-piece works with movable wooden blocks are designed to allow visitors to create their own individual interpretations.

"There's an infinite number of ways to set it up. It's about the light and the shadow - how the ambient light changes the composition," Rom said. "We make the art turn so people can manipulate it and make it their own."

The sculptures are done in milk paint, a natural product which dries to a hard finish and contains no chemicals. However, Rom and Buddie work primarily in clay and selted wool.

They have been exhibited in the Pewebic Pottery Studio in Detroit, and will have five ceramic pieces on permanent display in the Crocker Musuem in Sacramento, Calif., later this year. They will also participate in the Ann Arbor Street Fair in July, and have a Web site, thebinaryproject.com.

Both are fine arts graduates of Bowling Green State University, and have collaborated professionally since 1996. They started out selling $20 items through their pottery studio before their artwork evolved.

"We love it. We get to travel around the country. We get to meet people from all over. We're really fortunate," Rom said. "You never think you can make a career out of art, so you hope. But I don't have a back-up plan, so I go for it."

She agrees that producing art comes from an insatiable need for expression.

"If that's repressed I think we'd become emotionally distraught and physically unhealthy. It's a basic need for well-being," she said.

Judges for the TAA exhibit will announce awards for artistic achievement on June 21. The exhibition is co-organized by the Toledo Museum of Art and Toledo Federation of Art Societies.

Admission to the exhibit is free. The public is invited to an opening reception July 10 beginning at 6:30 p.m.