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Hello Lightning Tamers!
Free artist talk and presentation, followed by a Q&A moderated by Ani Mnatsakanyan, Curator of Engagement and Education at MONA. Michael Flechtner has made a lasting mark on the artform of neon through his technical skill, mastery of the 3d neon sculpture, employment of visual puns, as well as his role mentoring future generations of neon benders. Flechtner’s best-known public work in Los Angeles is the Neon Aquarium at Olympic and Sawtelle, completed in 1998. In 1999 he became a J. Paul Getty Trust Fund Fellow. He was commissioned by the USPS in 2011 to design a postage stamp for the Forever series: the Neon Celebrate! stamp. In addition to his own work, he fabricates neon for other artists including Bruce Nauman, Laddie John Dill, Frank Romero, Stephen Antonakos, Michael Hayden, AVAF, Doug Aitken, Dan Attoe, Alexandra Grant and Betye Saar. Flechtner had an early interest in colored light and electronics, which he incorporated into some of his first artworks while a student at Columbus College. He enrolled in a 6-week neon fabricating class in Kansas, which taught him enough hands-on skills to work in a neon sign shop, after relocating to Los Angeles. He pursued commercial neon by day and his own sculptural neon by night at his own studio in Van Nuys. Flechtner is the Vice President of the Board of Directors at MONA. During this free Zoom artist talk to learn about Michael, his art, and his journey to becoming a neon artist in an intimate, virtual setting.
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Hello Lightning Tamers!
Free artist talk and presentation, followed by a Q&A moderated by Ani Mnatsakanyan, Curator of Engagement and Education at MONA. Linda Sue Price began creating neon art works in 2004 after attending a bending workshop at MONA. She continued to develop her craft and style into a freeform bending technique, without use of a pattern that is often used as a guide by conventional sign benders. Her playful work explores luminosity and glow through abstract shapes and lines. She combines form, light, texture and reflection through mixed media approaches that layer neon tubing with clear acrylic rods, reflective backgrounds and refractive objects. Linda’s background includes video production and the production of motion graphics, which informs the way she animates her work. Linda has been an active member of MONA since 2000 and is currently the Treasurer of the Board of Directors.
Hello Lightning Tamers!
Free artist talk and presentation, followed by a Q&A moderated by Ani Mnatsakanyan, Curator of Engagement and Education at MONA. Perry Pfister is originally from New Orleans, Louisiana. In 2006, Perry relocated to Portland, Oregon where he became immersed in the art, music, and design communities. His education in neon began with a workshop in 2012 at Peterson Neon in Oakland, California, and culminated in an apprenticeship with Shawna Peterson in the years following. The Tiny Spoon Neon Signs is his neon shop in Portland, where he fabricates neon for a wide array of projects, from personal artwork to business clients. Perry’s original neon work can be seen around the USA, as well as in Japan, where a solo neon exhibition of his work was presented in Tokyo in the Fall of 2018. He is also fortunate to work with other artists including Hank Willis Thomas, Mira Dancy, and Barry McGee.
Hello Lightning Tamers!
Free artist talk and presentation, followed by a Q&A moderated by Ani Mnatsakanyan, Curator of Engagement and Education at MONA. Over the past 35 years Craig Kraft has gained international recognition in creating original works of art that advance the techniques he has developed while working with drawn neon lines and sculptural light volumes surrounding the figure. He has created indirectly lit negative body casts sited on buildings around the world and monumental outdoor rolled aluminum and neon sculptures. He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. For the past 25 years, he has been a faculty member of the Smithsonian Institution Studio Arts Program, teaching neon light sculpture. His artwork has been featured in over 120 exhibits throughout the United States, with 17 being solo. He has also been a leader of the International Sculpture Conference twice, as well as invited to exhibit at The Busan Biennale Art Festival in South Korea and Hermandades Escultóricas in Merida Yucatan Mexico. His “Falling Man” ,‘95, a negative body cast lit with hidden neon tubing generating a holographic style image, is sited permanently on the facade of the cell theater in New York City. To explore the universal urge to connect through marking, Kraft has traveled to Europe, Indonesia and Africa to visit 26 ancient cave sites viewing, first hand, drawings, paintings, and etchings made by early homo sapiens from up to 40,000 BP. From these experiences, Kraft has created such pieces as “Ancient and Contemporary Symbols” a collection that includes “Infinite Spiral” and “Arrows Coming and Going”, using neon as a contemporary marking tool. Kraft’s “Damaged Spirit of the African Elephant” is an 11ft x 8ft installation generated by 75 neon tubes made from vertical segments spaced 1 1⁄2 inches apart. This art piece highlights the horrific poaching contributing to their extinction. Kraft Resides at 1239 Good Hope Rd SE, Washington, D.C. His work can be seen at his home gallery and studio, a historic building in Anacostia, DC.
Hello Lightning Tamers!
Free artist talk and presentation, followed by a Q&A moderated by Ani Mnatsakanyan, Curator of Engagement and Education at MONA. For David Otis Johnson, neon is the ideal medium to explore the mixing of light material and form. His use of steel, mirror, and concrete alters the experience and behavior of light while his work plays with the experience of space, light, and color through the use of geometric forms. He often uses symmetry, opacity and line blurring between the two-dimensional and sculptural form. In 2002, Johnson began incorporating neon into his artworks when he learned how to bend glass at the Hollywood School of Neon in Florida. While there, the glass blowing and chemical processes that enabled the material to illuminate captivated Johnston. His work is informed by his years of experience working for sign companies and conceptual and aesthetic approaches honed during his time as an MFA at the San Francisco Art Institute.
Hello Lightning Tamer!
Free artist talk and presentation, followed by a Q&A moderated by Ani Mnatsakanyan, Curator of Engagement and Education at MONA. Robert Haus's passion for neon goes back to his childhood days when he built Tesla coils, collected antique electrical and mechanical items—and practically grew up in surplus stores that offered all manner of parts and artifacts to work with and learn from. Like many neon tube benders, he spent several years in the sign industry but also pursued experimental and some artistic uses for the medium. While more recently employed in other lines of work, neon has continued to play a large role in his activities. Today he combines his love of neon with his background in antique restoration and documentation. He enjoys researching, collecting, and restoring vintage neon shop equipment and tools, creating unique art and experimental pieces that draw on his wide technical background, and doing some writing on the subject. One avenue of enjoyment that grew out of his appreciation for being able (and allowed) to indulge his scientific curiosity over the years is the act of passing on the knowledge gained, teaching others about neon and other vintage technologies and their history. As a result, Haus has often made himself available to assist others in dealing with the inevitable questions and puzzles that arise in their neon pursuits. IG: @hausrobert
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Image: Return to Hieroglyphics by James Akers
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Welcome to Taming Lightning, I'm Percy Echols II. I'm the creator and host of Taming Lightning, as well as the emerging plasma tech at Pittsburgh Glass Center, where I'm researching and developing a space to explore Plasma and Neon Light as an Artist Medium.
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