Discoveries
Discoveries: Jean Herman and Taylor Coble
Sync Gallery
931 Santa Fe Drive, Denver, CO 80204
May 19-June 12, 2022
Review by Livy Snyder
The artwork of Jean Herman and Taylor Coble is currently on view at Sync Gallery, located at the heart of Denver’s creative district on Santa Fe Drive. The exhibition is titled Discoveries.
Founded in 2009, Sync Gallery is a cooperative art space that promotes emerging and established artists working across genres, styles, and subjects. Sync currently has a total of twenty members and their exhibits are unpretentious and community driven. For those who have never visited the gallery, in each show two Sync members present a larger body of work in the front of the gallery for four weeks and the remaining members exhibit selected artworks in the back of the gallery year-round.
A view of the title wall in Taylor Coble and Jean Herman’s exhibition Discoveries at Sync Gallery in Denver. Image by Livy Snyder.
In the current exhibition, Herman’s quilts hang on the right and Coble’s mixed media pieces hang on the left, but on the back wall one artwork by Coble and one by Herman hang side by side. While both artists use vastly different styles, it is hard not to see connections between the two in subject matter and spirit and their use of mixed media. Both Coble and Herman use their respective materials to allow the viewers to see the world through their eyes.
Jean Herman, Running of the Bulls, mixed media fiber, 36 x 62 inches. Image courtesy of the artist.
To Herman, who became a Sync member in 2017, collaging a variety of recycled fabrics—including silk and cotton—to make quilts gives her the ability to convey a story in her own visual and emotionally-connected style. Often she creates a quilt with a particular composition in mind when a person or experience resonates with her. For instance, in Dazzle Jazz, Portrait of Friend, and Running of the Bulls, Herman fashions dynamic portraits of people she encounters, knows personally, or imagines.
Jean Herman, Let There Be Light, mixed media fiber, 24 x 36 inches. Image courtesy of the artist.
These works usually start out as a sketch from memory or compilation of photos. Herman then adds layers of fabric and accentuates shadows or highlights different sections with acrylic paint or oil pastel. The artist’s other works, including Let There Be Light, Night at the Opera, and In the Beginning, are abstract and stitched heavily with free motion machine stitching to create a circular texture. The arduous process of each piece can take hundreds of hours to complete, and as a result, Herman is able to create works in a detailed and vibrant visual language.
A detail view of Jean Herman’s Night at the Opera, mixed media fiber, 26 x 34 inches. Image by Livy Snyder.
Herman’s work brings to mind Faith Ringgold’s Story Quilts about the African American experience, the feminist artist Judy Chicago’s International Honor Quilt (IHQ) whose collaborative process would later inspire the AIDS Memorial Quilt, or the quilting cooperative Freedom Quilting Bee in Alabama that provided jobs to residents who faced harassment and discrimination for voting. These artists not only shattered the long-standing division between quilting and fine art but participated in meaningful political action for their communities. Though Herman’s work is not explicitly political, the use of fabric as a medium and presenting it as an artwork in a gallery is a statement in and of itself. The power of storytelling through quilting should not be forgotten or taken for granted.
Taylor Coble, Trail Blazer, oil and acrylic on photographic print, 22 x 26 inches. Image courtesy of the artist.
Coble is a recent addition to Sync’s membership, joining the gallery roughly six months ago. His works presented in the exhibition are primarily candid shots in urban environments featuring a person or home. The mixed media artworks are mostly black and white though occasionally in color and he combines them with paint and other media. The work Trail Blazer, for instance, is a high contrast black and white shot of a woman in a white dress and black coat stepping from shadow to light in a playful mood, akin to works by the photographer Richard Avedon.
Taylor Coble, Tea for Three, 2017, oil paint, acrylic, and charcoal on photographic print, 18 x 24 inches. Image by Livy Snyder.
Upon initial glance, the works appear to be photographic prints, but the texture of Trail Blazer draws the viewer closer. Coble hand-painted black paint on the shadowed areas and white paint on the highlights. This addition of pigment emphasizes human touch. While an important quality of photography is reproduction and its emulation of reality, the addition of the paint adds dimension to the work. It is one of a kind and Coble draws out certain qualities such as colors and shapes beyond the gelatin silver print.
An installation view of works by Taylor Coble in the exhibition Discoveries. Image by Livy Snyder.
While the exhibition title, Discoveries, could come across as commonplace, there is a wholesomeness in Herman’s explanation behind it. She and Coble “both approach the world looking for those discoveries that lead to our art.” By creating artworks and interpretations of their lived experiences, it is possible for both Herman and Coble to ensure that the story of these places and people grow richer.
Livy Onalee Snyder holds a Masters in Humanities from the University of Chicago. Currently, she serves as board president of Denver Digerati and works for punctum books advocating for Open Access.
