Art as Experience / Experience as Art. A Conversation with Veron Ennis

Veron Ennis is a talented young artist, arts writer and curator based in Downtown Fort Myers. Passionate about art history, Ennis has nourished her style by learning from Kandinsky, Dadaism, American Abstract Expressionism and German Expressionism. In her most recent series, “Transference,” she expands the limits of abstractionism by creating emotional landscapes that dialogue with the viewers. Ennis talked to ARTDISTRICTS about the conceptual and technical process behind her work, her trajectory, her goals and her upcoming solo exhibition at the Sidney and Berne Davis Art Center early in August.

By Raisa Clavijo

Raisa Clavijo - You grew up near Washington, D.C., but relocated to the Sanibel and Fort Myers area after finishing your studies at Virginia Tech University. Why did you decide to move to Florida?

Veron Ennis - We had plans to live in L.A. after school, but we changed our minds while we were hiking the Appalachian Trail. Michael, my husband’s only brother, is much younger than us, and was growing up in Cape Coral. We wanted to be near him during his formative years.

R.C. - Tell me about your professional background. When did you choose to develop a career as a visual artist?

V.E. - It was my plan since childhood to be a career artist. My heroes were Calder, Motherwell, Kandinsky, Miro. . . In my punky teenage years, I was worshiping the Dadaists. While in college, I was encouraged to study graphic design instead of painting by my parents. Painting classes were reserved for majors, so I could never get into them. Instead, I took every art history class available. It kept me focused on the art world as I was studying design.

When I moved to Florida in 2003, I began painting, but maintained full-time positions in the interior design market, as the building industry was booming. I had a few shows, one was a group show in Chelsea, NYC. Then, in 2008, I landed a curatorial position at Ferrari Gallery. The owner, Barron Dietz, preferred modern and contemporary art, so we were a good fit. I had a studio I worked in next to the gallery space and would intermittently paint and manage the gallery. During this time, I met many of the artists in Fort Myers and Naples. Soon after, I began writing about the arts for Times of the Islands, Bonita Living, RSW Living, and Gulf & Main magazines allowing me to come in contact with even more of the arts community.

R.C. - You work in a wide variety of media, what is your favorite medium to work with? Can you share with us the creative process behind your works?

V.E. - I use a custom acrylic-based recipe for my primer as well as my paints. I combine ground aggregates, polymer and a small amount of adhesive to create a soft, non-reflective medium, and prepare a jar of each color ahead of time, refining my palette before I start a body of work.

The application of the medium is the most exciting part of the process for me. I use a precious few favorite tools to pull paint-a metal, a rubber, and a plastic straight edge are used to apply the paint. Varying the pressure and the angle of the tool determines the texture and thickness of the pull, affecting how luminous the layer. As controlled as the act of application seems, I depend greatly on the unpredictable forms and spontaneous specks created while pulling the paint, as they direct the majority of the composition. I draw using archival pens, and stamp and mask in paint using found objects-anything from machine parts to children’s toys.

R.C. - Is there a research process behind the creation of your paintings?

V.E. - I pay close attention to the effect combinations of colors have on me and other people and collect items with these palettes, eventually preparing a line of colors based on what I’ve determined is the right blend for the best aesthetic experience. I decide on sets of colors that I feel are energizing, and because they are mixed with the compound, they are absorbent and soft, resulting in an inviting and comfortable surface texture, allowing the viewer to spend time with the composition without being overwhelmed with saturated color.

R.C. - What artists and artistic movements do you consider that have influenced your career?

V.E. - The Abstract and German Expressionists, also the Dadaists, influenced my desire to paint spontaneously, creating a visual recording of my subconscious. My initial applications of paint are completely unplanned and what follows is instinctive improvisation. The potential of dialogue between line and form as separate entities was first introduced to me in Kandinsky’s paintings and continues to be something I am drawn to in art.

In the current contemporary art world, I love installations. Being completely surrounded and absorbed into a work of art is a powerful, otherworldly experience, and is what I believe to be a vital component to successful art. Also, the complex planning and calculated execution of an installation project is stimulating and challenging, which really appeals to me. I’ll be moving in that direction in the future.

R.C. - In 2010, you inaugurated “The Paper Milk” series at daas gallery. This signifies a sort of turning point in your path as an artist? Can you tell me about the process of conceiving these works?

V.E. - When David Acevedo and Xavier Brignoni offered me the space, I had the perfect opportunity to create an aesthetic experience that would transcend the typical gallery installation. I was expecting my son, due in the coming October, and was intensely alive. I wanted to not only convey that this was how I felt, but I wanted everyone that came into the space to feel it as well.

I created 60, 10 x 10-inch paintings on hand-torn white paper using the pulling technique and pencil. I used a very limited soft palette of colors and only applied two to three pulls each. After the paint was applied, I let go and cherished being childlike and so innocently in love with creation that I interpreted each painting into animals and simple scenes, drawing details in with pencil.

When you entered the long narrow gallery, the feather-light paintings hung from miniature white clothespins that were tied to white strings hanging from the ceiling’s molding. The movement of the air when the doors opened made the paintings slightly sway. Overhead, we installed white branches that surrounded the gallery, nesting in the space. It was euphoric! We almost sold out opening night.

You should take only one pill browse around now purchase levitra at a time to better to say once in a day. The other two are pharmacy cialis, which is produced by Eli Lilly, and cialis, which is manufactured by Bayer Pharmaceuticals. There are traditional medicines and therapies and there are also supplements that contain natural herbs for Aphrodisiac also that is most popular and effective for the overall health of men, because it viagra sample is made of gel substance that gets broke down in the blood stream and directs blood to the penis. Yes it’s difficult to buy viagra professional match the intensity of sexual performance.

R.C. - In “Chroma Tone” series you incorporated numbers, symbols and letters into your paintings. Where do these symbols come from? What significance do they have in these series?

V.E. - They are representative of people, of elements of my faith, of dates and names in some paintings. Beyond what they symbolize, how they interact with the composition was of high importance and I was also very interested in the sound of each letter, word or number. While looking at the painting, the sound would be resonating in your mind and would be a part of the experience. In Winter, the painting recorded in my short documentary, I chose each letter and number because the stream of sound they all created when “read.” The order in which they were placed was just as important considering sound, as it was considering visual composition.

R.C. - What role does the public play in your works?

V.E. - I love people, very much. I care deeply about us. I feel responsible for creating work that enlightens, that heals, that encourages an enlivening of the senses in a positive manner.

R.C. - You will exhibit your new series “Transference” at the Sidney and Berne Davis Art Center this August. In these series, you expand the limits of abstractionism to create a sort of landscapes, in which forms are suggested by lines, silhouettes and colored stains. What is the idea behind “Transference”?

V.E. - I have an incredible vantage point of the city (Fort Myers) from my studio, 22 stories up and it has certainly influenced the series. As I’m painting these works, I think often, “I want to live in there” (in the painting) and in my mind I do. My son, Liam, has pointed to areas and showed me how he would traverse the landscape by making his fingers jump from shape to shape. That is where there is happiness in art-the childlike, innocent ability to enjoy the fantastical experience a painting can provide.

“Transference” is my intention to give the viewer an exceptionally enlightening experience causing them to feel intensely alive. While I’m painting, I enter a state of creative meditation that is very focused and also joyful. I’m focused on thanks, love and of the desire to give. I pour this energy into the work and it is then transferred to the viewer. That said, I believe I have a responsibility to put work out into the world that has a positive effect on the state of the viewer. There is definitely an important place in the world for artwork that spreads awareness of issues and the like, however my commitment is to be uplifting. Aware of the hardships and struggles of life, but also of the good, I take it all in, filter them, finding the best outlook and express that in my work.

R.C. - You are a founder of the OPT (Open Positive Transference) movement. What is OPT? Is it related from a conceptual point of view to your “Transference” series?

V.E. - OPT is directly related. I am not alone in my intention to create positive art. Numerous artists, of all career levels, have discussed this intention with me and prompted me to launch this movement, starting here in Florida. We had an  incredibly successful show in Naples last February and have already started to hear from artists all over the world since we put up our website.

R.C. - Beside your artistic career, you have curated several exhibitions in the Gulf Coast area. Are you currently working on a new curatorial project?

V.E. - I just began work on the first exhibition of the Movement of Aleatoric Modern Artists. I’ve chosen 12 of the 49 artists in the movement to be included in a show at the Alliance for the Arts in Fort Myers, May of 2014. Aleatoric art is “artistic composition depending upon chance, random accident, or highly improvisational execution, typically hoping to attain freedom from academic formula and the limitations placed on imagination by the conscious mind.” I am one of the original 12 artists in this movement after they found my work online. I, finally, after a year of emailing each other between Texas and Florida, met J. Coleman Miller during Art Basel Miami Beach in 2009 at Aqua, and joined them. The exhibition will include artists from California, Texas, Florida, Washington, the Netherlands, Ontario, Massachusetts, Montreal and Bulgaria, and will include painting, sculpture, digital, photography and video.

R.C. - Fort Myers has a vibrant art scene, with many artists living in the area. I know that you have been very active in the area, working and getting involved with different institutions. Can you share with us your experiences working with local artists? How do you visualize the future of the Fort Myers art scene? What needs to be achieved to consolidate the local art community?

V.E. - When I was the curator at Ferrari Gallery, I quickly met a large percentage of the artists and patrons of the arts from Fort Myers to Naples. Writing for the arts kept me active in the community as well. Fort Myers Art Walk was a brilliant addition to downtown Fort Myers, driving an extraordinary amount of business to the area. Years went by before I missed a single Art Walk. It was a great time to see new work from local artists and run into everyone, discussing what was going on in all of the institutions and groups. Rents have gone up recently and some of my favorite galleries are no longer located downtown. I am naturally sentimental to the galleries that were there during the launch of Art Walk. On a positive note, Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center is steadily growing and expanding in its potential. The Alliance for the Arts has an amazing exhibition schedule this season with shows like Andreas Franke’s “The Sinking World.” UNIT A, Marcus Jansen’s gallery, is hosting openings every Art Walk. Arts for ACT is doing very well and has been a part of the downtown art scene for, I think, longer than anyone. The streets are still vibrant and alive during Art Walk as well as during Music Walk. A gorgeous new library is approaching completion a couple blocks from SBDAC. I see the city continuing to grow economically and hope to see more funds appropriated to the growth of the arts. It’s a hot topic among us all. Continuing to support the arts will naturally help the city grow culturally and financially.

R.C. - What pieces are you working on at the moment?

V.E. - Cubes. I have a high demand for them and they take a long time to create. They require such a high amount of focus and precision so they also take a lot of energy. I would love to see a totem pole of cubes, but even painting every day, I can’t make them fast enough.

“Veron Ennis: Transference” is on view from August 2nd to 23rd at Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center at 2301 First St. in the Historic River District of Downtown Fort Myers, FL 33901 / www.sbdac.com / For more information about Veron Ennis’ work, visit www.veronennis.com / Studio Phone: 239 849 7772

Raisa Clavijo is the editor of ARTPULSE and ARTDISTRICTS magazines.