MAY 19, 2006
iustout 25
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EUROPEAN & ASIAN
Its All Fair Game for Jerilyn Adams
Mike Kabler Reclaims Sacred Images
For Jerilyn Adams, art is akin to a spiritual
experience or “a really good fuck.” This should
come as no surprise from a woman who has
worked in every media from welded steel to sticks,
stones and her own body. “Anything is fair game
if it can function as art,”’
says Adams.
Though her planet of
origin is yet to he deter­
mined, Adams grew up in
Indiana and earned her
bachelor of fine art from
Heron School of Art in
Indianapolis.
She
received a master of fine
arts degree at New
Mexico State University
before
moving
to
Portland 10 years ago.
An out lesbian and
working artist her entire
adult life, Adams has
grappled with many
important issues in her
art. Whether her sculp­
ture or two-dimensional
piece touches on queer
issues, women’s issues or
issues of religion vs. spiri­
tuality, Adams believes it
all boils down to the
viewer. “At that moment
when the viewer comes
in contact with the art,
my intent is suspended.”
Adams is excited
about joining the Portland Association for Gay
and Lesbian Artists and showing at City Hall. She
plans to hang her piece “Where to Keep Your
Constitution" at the First Thursday exhibit. The
answer is apparently hidden inside a picket-fence-
clad copy of the Patriot Act. She also
hopes to show “Jagged Baby,” a new
piece that includes poetry around the
perceptions of being defective and
dangerous.
In her artist statement, Adams
explains the motives behind her polit­
ical work. “In these violent times, art is
one of the few things that continues to
make sense to me. When I feel power­
less, I find strength through the cre­
ative process.”
Art can be heady stuff,
but it can also be a thing of
beauty to touch the right
soul. “My art makes a beauti­
ful, thoughtful gift for a
loved one or oneself. Just
Out readers will feel blessed
when they help support
artists and the arts, for these
are rhe signs of a civilized
culture!”
Adams welcomes mem­
bers of the community to
make an appointment to vis­
it her studio and see more of
her work. Send inquiries to
jerilynadams@yahoo.com.
Mike Kabler has been a QuArt collective mem­
ber since he moved to Portland from San Francisco
last year. His medium of choice is paper collage. “I
use 20th century advertising imagery as a means to
explore the role of pop culture as a social engineer,”
he explains.
Several of his collages
appear in QuArt s Miniatures
Group Show, which is on dis­
play through May 24 at Cup
and Saucer Northeast. “New
Wave Killed My Family” is a
piece Kabler describes as
autobiographical. “It’s about
me coming of age as a queer
teenager and the immense
conflict that caused within
my family," he says.
Kahler’s piece for the
upcoming City Hall exhib­
it will include another
autobiographical collage
chronicling his difficult
coming-out process. “Collage has histori­
cally been used as a tool for social
activism,” he points out. “I’ve always used
collage work as a means to subvert the
sacred images of American culture by
transforming those images in a way to
reclaim them for people who are on the
margins.”
A member of QuArt's development
committee, Kabler says his involvement
with the collective has helped him hone
the public relations skills necessary to any
successful artist. “QuArt also challenges me
to make more art because we show once a month
and it’s just a great way to socialize with like­
minded queer artists,” he says.
Kahler’s identification with the word “queer”
goes beyond his sexuality. “I like the old-school
definition of queer from
the ’50s as being an odd
person, a square peg,” he
says. “My use of the word
queer definitely denotes a
sort of otherness from the
mainstream, and that
feeling goes into a lot of
my pieces.”
When he’s not mak­
ing provocative collage
art. Kabler enjoys cook­
ing, gardening and
spending time with his
partner of seven vears.
The two were the
eighth couple to be
married
in
San
Francisco when same-
sex marriage was bnetlv
legal there. Thev also
have a Canadian mar­
riage license, which is
recognized as valid in
all countries where
same-sex marriage is
legal.
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