Exhibitions

A Natural Divergence

What do photography and sculpture have to do with one another? A Natural Divergence, a gallery exhibit which combines photographer Frances R. Johnson’s photo’s with Nicholas Sikma’s sculpture this August at Huron Valley Council for the Arts, may provide the answer.

Sikma commented on the show’s theme and how it relates to his sculptures that will appear in A Natural Divergence. The show’s opening reception takes place from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, Aug. 6 at HVCA, 205 W. Livingston Road in Highland.

“Natural divergence. What is that about? I often ask myself a lot of questions when I work, and usually end up asking more questions to answer the questions,” Sikma says. “How does one connect photography and sculpture? I feel that our work is connected through natural elements found in forms. The photos depict nature, capturing unique volumes and lines in which I apply to my sculpture. As the work transforms, the photography becomes more natural, fluid, classic, whereas the sculpture becomes more rigid, structured, and modern. As time progresses, new lines are created while others end, volume is created.

“When I work, I try to use what is there to create volume in the negative and positive space. My work is often about the interaction of two or three objects, I like to think of the forms as people interacting with one another. What kind of connections do they make? Together what do they create?”

A 2004 MHS graduate who also attended Oak Valley Middle School and Baker Elementary School, Sikma has moved a lot throughout his life, living in Highland, Lansing and Grand Rapids, MI as well as Carpinteria, CA and Placerville, GA, while growing up. He earned an art degree at New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in Alfred, NY.

Johnson, who received education from the Ann Arbor Public Schools, earned a bachelor’s degree in advertising design and two postgraduate degrees in educational psychology from the University of Michigan. In addition, she completed a bachelor’s in art education through Wayne State University. She spent three years as an art teacher in Detroit before coming to Huron Valley Schools, where served as an art teacher and counselor at Milford High School until her 1984 retirement.

“I always referred to my classes as my garden,” Johnson explains. “I learned as much or more from my students. Each student and each class was different. I have always thought of teaching as an art, because nothing is ever the same and those differences are so interesting to see develop and grow. …my photography is me expressing my thoughtful observations that I like to catch in the fleeting moment of time, growth and the beauty all around us.When I take my camera out I go into a different view of the world.”

Sikma adds, “My parents always taught me to be creative, which has had a significant impact. I have always liked making things: I can remember as a young child hammering nails into boards trying to make something. As I got older, I learned a lot from my grandfather. He was a very good woodworker —we used to build toys together in his wood shop. I also learned a lot from my dad. My first metal casting experience was with my father. We used to heat lead washers on the stove top and cast it into a hardwood mold to make sinkers. Maybe that is why I am a little crazy. The sinkers were a T-shape, which prevented your fishing line from rolling across the ocean floor. My dad also used to make me skim boards and repair surf boards for me while we lived in California. I have learned to create, not out of choice but out of necessity.”

In 1976, Johnson became inspired by Ansel Adams’ last show to rush back to Michigan, buy a camera, and use her photography as a means of meditation. During this time, she discovered her new medium of expression and a style.

“I went home and gota camera and went into the fields and shot a roll of 36 and came home and felt like I had had a 24 hour nap.It was at that time that I realized this was what I was looking for: making time to treasure hunt for all the beauty around me; people, animals, color, flowers, designs and more. I also found that people liked my photographs.I knew when I looked at my prints and said ‘ah’ they were good, but when I ‘held my breath in,’ they were really good.I had finally found my style and could lose myself in it like I did with my teaching.”

Sikma’s education inspired him pursue art as a profession, “My middle and high schools offered several art classes, of which I took advantage,” he explains. “Actually, I did it to avoid having to take band class or choir. In high school, I took creative metals and pottery classes, but really got hooked on pottery. When it was time to look at colleges, I was told that Alfred was the place to go for pottery. Once I was at Alfred, many doors were opened — I was able to take many different types of art studio classes. I soon got into metal sculpture, and was caught hook, line, and sinker. I began to feel the bigger, the better. I aspire to someday make sculptures that are sixty feet tall.”

Both artists have taken part in several past exhibitions.

Sikma’s exhibitions include: Midwest Sculpture Initiative 2010, Dearborn, MI; ArtPrize 2009, Grand Rapids, MI; Gridlock senior BFA exposition, Alfred, NY; curator of Jones Memorial Hospital Sculpture Show, Wellsville, NY; Drinking Town with an Art Problem, Alfred, NY; Foundry Spring Outdoor Exhibition, Alfred, NY; Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) Art Auction, Wellsville, NY and Foundry Fall Outdoor Exhibition, Alfred, NY.

In 1977, Johnson was accepted into her first show, which launched her rise within the photographic community. In 1978 she won her first Best of Show and Purchase Award in a juried Michigan Art Education Association exhibition. Her other awards include multiple purchase prizes in Michigan and Arizona-based juried art shows; three more MAEA-R juried purchase prize awards; Museum Director’s Award of Merit from the Tubac Art Institute, of Arizona; League of American Pen Women of Arizona “Award of Excellence”; National League of American Pen Women “Award of Excellence”; Michigan State Fair First place and Best of Show awards in 2000; First Place prize for the 2008 VFAA Poetry and Art Night (P.A.N) Exhibition and a juried exhibition of two poems and photos in the 2009 VFAA P.A.N. Exhibit.

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