Three Powerful Shows of Abstract Art Debut at The Dairy

Abstract portraiture, finding evocative imagery in the mundane and chaotic, and mankind’s emotional dance with nature, are the directions of three artists who have created powerful abstract works in different media. William Stoehr’s “Facebook,” Brad Hatch’s “Extraordinary Images of Ordinary Things” and Steve W. Whitehead’s “Serendipity: Unexpected Paths to Expression,” open in the galleries at The Dairy Center for the Arts with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m., Friday, February 19th. 

As president of National Geographic Maps, William Stoehr’s career life was the structured, technical world of cartography. Four years ago, he mapped a new course for himself by leaving the publishing world and turning to visual art. The individual portraits in “Facebook” are acrylic over charcoal on canvases that measure 48 x 36 inches. The viewer is immediately struck with the intensity of each subject’s eyes. Well executed portraits are dramatized with bold sweeps of red across these faces, animating them in a way that is moving and haunting.

Whitehead once made his living as a graphic designer, producing hard-edged identity marks and typography for corporate clients. Turning to fine art, he now transforms the cast off detritus of product marketing and photographic images of a chaotic urban landscape into vividly colorful, large-scale mixed media art. Whitehead’s work is highly abstract, though the subtle precision of the work in his “circle series” (part of this exhibit) give testimony to his graphic skills. 

Brad Hatch began his career life in the complex world of multi-channel music recording. His path quickly turning to exploratory techniques in music and early performance art. In “Extraordinary Images,” Hatch takes photographs of man-made objects undergoing nature’s ‘reclamation processes’ of rust and decay, then manipulates them in Photoshop®, playing with contrast, hue and color saturation to create transcendent abstract images that resemble paintings. 

The artists present an artists’ talk March 10th from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. These exhibits will remain at The Dairy through March 26th. Visits to the galleries and artists’ talks are free to the public. Gallery hours are Monday – Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. To purchase art or for more information, contact Mary Horrocks, Gallery Coordinator, maryh@TheDairy.org, 303-440-7826, ext 103. The Dairy Center for the Arts is located at 2590 Walnut Street in Boulder, on the southeast corner of Walnut and 26th Street.