A 28-year Seal Beach resident Diane McLeod is a visual artist who doesn’t believe in the stereotype of the “loner artist,” although she has spent plenty of time creating artwork on her own.
In a press release she issued this week, McLeod said one way she disproves the myth pf the loner artist is by her participation in three different artists’ groups, particularly Lynk Collective, established in Irvine in 2017 and named in homage to the art instructor and collaborative printmaker Nguyen Ly.
The collective’s two dozen members collaborate on projects and exhibitions using a wide variety of printmaking techniques, and their latest exhibition, Material Recovery: Printmaking with Recycled Materials, is currently on view at Angels Gate Cultural Center in San Pedro.
Curated by Christina Yasmin Fesmire and Jared Millar, the show originated with the idea of using reclaimed items, such as the cardboard packaging that flows through the nearby Port of Los Angeles, to make art. The show brings attention to the fact that these resources will end up in the landfill if not recycled or reused.
All of the artwork in the show was made from recycled materials in one way or another. A playful example is the Discard project, a recent collaborative venture in which the artists gathered together to exchange a few prints that they had given up on, perhaps shoved to the back of drawers, and considered beyond redemption. Participants took their newly-adopted discards back to their studios and, looking at them with fresh eyes, performed a bit of creative magic. Some passed their work on to a third or fourth printmaker for additional contributions. The results of this project can now be seen on the second floor gallery at Angel’s Gate, in a building which itself is a discarded and recycled World War II military barracks.
For her painting Unraveled, McLeod cut existing collaborative prints by Laura Shapiro and Jared Millar into narrow strips and wove them back together, with added dangling figures. Tracy Loreque Skinner began the green and yellow They Only Come Out at Night as an 8” x 10” experiment that McLeod expanded into a larger 11” x 30” piece.
McLeod’s Phantom Sailing Ship is another print created with recycled materials, part of a large installation of prints by multiple Lynk Collective artists, each print measuring 24” x 24” and hung together to resemble the colorful shipping containers seen driving over the Vincent Thomas Bridge.
Material Recovery is a unique and resourceful exhibition that is well worth a trip across the bridge to San Pedro, perhaps with a group of friends or family. Open to the public on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., the show runs through March 23, 2024, at Angels Gate Cultural Center, 3601 South Gaffey St., San Pedro. A closing reception, artist talk, and catalog release party will be held March 23 at 2 p.m. Gallery entry is free to the public.
For more info, visit https://angelsgateart.org/exhibitions/material-recovery.
