In-person Gallery Opening on Friday, November 6, 5-8 PM
Virtual Gallery Opening on Tuesday, November 10
Show will exhibit at the ZACC through the month of November, and online after the Virtual Opening

The ZACC is delighted to exhibit work by Tim Thornton and Shalene Valenzuela in a collaborative show titled 'After Image/Broken Image' in our Main Gallery throughout the month of November, with an in-person gallery opening on November 6, from 5-8 PM, and a virtual opening on our website on November 10.

TIM THORNTON
ARTIST STATEMENT
The subjects I choose to paint are emblematic of popular themes in American media and pop culture; I want my paintings to read at a glance like a billboard or a traffic sign.

I was raised in a Sunday church-going family, and as a youngster, I had little tolerance for the inevitable weekly service. In a desperate bid to quiet an unruly child, my mother seized on a reliable fallback, and provided me with a pencil and paper; I covered the religious pamphlets with my scribbling, and happily, this diversion proved to be successful. It has been working ever since. Making art continues to have a pacifying effect on my psyche.

I also have an unshakable tendency to identify with the character(s) from novels, the stage, and/or the movie screen. As a child, this process of identification lasted long after the book was closed, the curtain drawn, or the end credits rolled. In the film, “Being There”, the character of Chance the gardener says, “I like to watch.” I find that it’s neither accident nor chance event, that I too like to watch.

TIM THORNTON BIOGRAPHY
In 1984, Tim T. Thornton received his Bachelor’s degree from the California College of the Arts, in Oakland. Upon leaving art school, he found full time employment as a scenic artist in Hollywood, painting sets for film, television, and theater. He was later hired by the University of California at Berkeley, as the charge scenic artist for the Performing Arts Program. In 2005, he relocated to Montana, with his wife, Patricia, where they have made a home in the supportive and lively community that is Missoula.

His large-scale paintings are in several collections, and have been included in both the Missoula, and the Yellowstone Art Museum’s annual auctions.

Tim's work has been featured in various community fundraisers for the Zootown Arts Community Center, as well as the annual Potsketch event for the Clay Studio of Missoula.

SHALENE VALENZUELA
ARTIST STATEMENT
My ceramic sculptures reflect upon a variety of issues with a thoughtful, yet humorous and ironic tone. I reproduce everyday common objects primarily through slip casting, and illustrate the surfaces with hand painted imagery. The narratives I create reference fairytales, urban mythologies, consumer culture, societal expectations, etiquette, politics, and environmental issues. Stylistically, my imagery is pulled from somewhat dated sources that represent an idealized time in society and advertising. Beneath the shiny veneer of these relics hides a complex and sometimes contradicting truth of what things seem to appear as upon first glance.

My works are essentially a form of trompe l’oeil with a twist. In using clay to reinvent everyday objects, I play with the notion that things are not what they initially seem to be. The object being referenced remains recognizable while the illustrations are imperative in creating the narratives that weave various dialogues and statements within and about the physical object. 

Exploring issues focusing on women is important to me for many reasons, most notably in examining my own personal history and how I evolved into who I am today. However, my investigations speak to a greater issue of how women in general perceive themselves and are seen in society, historically and today. My exploration of self-perception and expectations address how assumptions of character based on societal biases leads to a precarious and unbalanced state of humankind.

SHALENE VALENZUELA BIOGRAPHY
Shalene Valenzuela was born and raised in Santa Barbara, California. She received a BA in Art Practice at the University of California at Berkeley and an MFA in Ceramics from California College of Arts and Crafts, and spent several years developing her studio practice in Oakland, California. She currently resides and maintains a studio in Missoula, Montana and is the executive director at The Clay Studio of Missoula.

Shalene has participated in artist residencies at the Archie Bray Foundation (2006), The Clay Studio of Missoula (2007-2009), Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts (2004, 2011), and the LH Project (2016). She has taught a variety of classes at Flathead Valley Community College, University of Montana, Oregon College of Art and Craft, The Clay Studio of Missoula, Missoula Art Museum, Richmond Art Center, ASUC Studios at UC Berkeley, and CCA Extended Education. Shalene has been a guest artist and speaker at a number of art centers, colleges, and universities, and was the recipient of the Jessie Wilber and Frances Senska Individual Artist’s Innovation Award from the Montana Arts Council in 2013. Her work has been featured in several group and solo exhibitions nationally and is in a number of private and public collections.