Allen Schmertzler

Allen Schmertzler



ARTIST STATEMENT: ALLEN SCHMERTZLER “FREEDOM TO FIGURE” BRODERICK GALLERY 2006 Looking back to a year ago when I started painting for this show at the Broderick Gallery, one “sound” kept resonating in my mind: Freedom! In many ways the darker side of humanity stayed in the social conversation in America this year as well as in my mind. It surely jumped out at us following the devastation of Katrina and the government’s pathetic response to it. As it also has in relation to the war in Iraq and the government’s handling of it. Human suffering and our suffering to make sense of our social-political environment is creating unrest in many of us. I remember trying to get a flu shot this past year. Not enough flu vaccination. Long lines, long waits, wondering about the effectiveness and the humanity of my government that collects taxes and does what with it and for whom? War on terror, war on drugs, war on people, war on culture, war on freedoms! How many liberties do we sacrifice before slipping into such a dark void of culture that that which we love is lost forever? Hey, but look! Here I am, an artist with the capacity to continue to express my love of paint, my love of the human figure, my love of expressing my expressions. I still have the freedom to figure: to figure out what is socially and politically happening, to figure what I figure, to figure the figure, and this is why I titled this show “Freedom to Figure”. You will notice dark figures in some of my paintings. But please be sure to notice also the celebration of light, movement, dance, and color. One last comment to share, please. I had the fantastic privilege to travel to Cuba this past Spring. There I experienced people still capable of celebrating life through dance, art, and finding clever ways of Freedom to Figure despite daily hardships. ONE-PERSON EXHIBITIONS Broderick Gallery - Portland, Oregon 2006 Talisman Gallery - annual exhibitions 2000-2005 Multnomah Art Center - Portland, Oregon 1999 GROUP EXHIBITIONS Newport Visual Arts Center, "Human Form" - Newport, Oregon 2004 Beaverton Arts Showcase - Beaverton, Oregon 2004 Columbia Art Gallery "Political Art" - Hood River, Oregon 2003 Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts - Lake Oswego, Oregon 2002 White Gallery PSU - Portland, Oregon 2001 Macri Gallery "4 Play the Figure" - Portland, Oregon 1999 Feinlein Gallery - Portland, Oregon 1997, 1998 Tualatin Art Splash - Tualatin, Oregon 1998 Wentz Gallery " Go Figure" - Portland, Oregon 1996 AWARDS “President’s Choice Award” at Beaverton Arts Showcase 2004 “Blue Ribbon Award” at Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts 2002 ART AFFILIATIONS Portland Open Studios 2002, 2004 & 2005 Founding Member of Talisman Gallery 2000-2005 PUBLICATIONS local Multnomah Village Post Editorial Cartoonist, 1994-2005 “Portland Reflection”, 1981 state PAC for Oregon Term Limits - “Oregonian” 2002 Portland State University - “Metroscape’ 1998 Lewis and Clark College - Law Related Education Publicaton 1980 - 1986 Oregon State Bar - “Oregon State Bar Bulletin” 1979 - 1980 COMMISSIONS Hillsboro School District 1980 - 2000 Lewis and Clark College Writing Project 1990 Kaiser Permanente of Oregon 1983 - 1985 Committee to Elect Tigard Representative Paul Phillips 1983 J. Westin Walsh Publishing, Portland, Maine 1980 -1981 ART EDUCATION Private Studio Figurative Painting with Arvie Smith 1997 - 2002 Animator, cartoonist, filmmaker Bill Plymptom 1980 -1984 Apprenticeship with Los Angeles editorial cartoonist, Merle Cunnington. 1975 - `1977 Los Angeles Magazine and New Yorker Cartoonist , Eric Teitlebaum 1976 - 1978 Life Drawing and Painting , Bill Garnett 1989 - 1994 Painting/ Drawing at Pacific Northwest College of Art - Portland, Oregon 1979 -1997 Sculpture, Michihiro Kosuge at Portland State University, Portland, Oregon 1984 DEGREES NOT RELATED TO ART Graduate work at Portland State University, Lewis and Clark, Penn. State, Western Washington University, Seattle Pacific University 1979 - 1995 Oregon Standard Certification, Social Sciences 1980 California Secondary Certification, Social Sciences 1975 Bachelor of Arts, California State University, Northridge, California 1974