Rie Palkovic Issue 14 William C. Bonaudi Library's Down the Research Rabbit Hole

Explain the range and type of art you create and show. Do you have an artist's statement?

I am a painter. I paint in oils and mixed media drawings. I do paint on different surfaces such as canvas, paper, frosted Mylar, copper, and wood. I paint in realism mostly from nature. I do have an artist’s statement that I submit for competitions or grants that I apply for. Here’s an excerpt:

The Japanese aesthetic ideals of suggestion, irregularity, simplicity, and perishability are the underlying principles that guide my painting and drawing. These four basic principles guide my efforts to explore the link between art and nature that ebbs and flows much like nature itself wanes, dies, then rejuvenates to live anew.

The integration of Japanese aesthetics into my art making is an expression of dealing with the dualities of my identities. My father was an Irish-American from West Virginia and my mother was from Okinawa. The tension of being neither Japanese nor American and yet being both is symbolized in my artwork by the ambiguities in space of the image. The images are tentatively floating in space creating an anti-gravitational buoyancy for the viewer. The compression of space evokes a sense of not knowing whether the image is receding or advancing. This feeling is a good analogy of wavering I have felt and continue to feel. It is an unsettling feeling of never feeling a part of your environment.

Because of that unsettledness, I focus on the flora and fauna of the area where I currently live. I am also a huge fan of gardening, so plants take up a good deal of my imagination. I do tend toward the sharp, prickly sorts of plants that look ambiguous and can be mistaken for bugs or animal life. It reminds of a common question I have heard, “What is your ethnicity or where are you from?”

What research informs your work? Have you ever done a great deal of background work on a piece or a show?

I am a voracious reader and feel that it all informs my artwork. I love to read the memoirs or journals of artists and writers for a view into process. For the last several years I have been heavily researching the Northern Renaissance artists like Jan van Eyck, Hugo van der Goes, Rogier van der Weyden, and Hans Memling. The Northern Renaissance painters focused on a hyper realism that is so beautiful and wonderful and showed the wondrous textures of fabric and fur, metal and glass, and so on. I can get caught up in that level of realism in my own work but like the addition of abstract elements, too.

As a working artist are there magazines, books, creators, or events that fuel your work and/or engagement in the art community?

I have felt very isolated as an artist living here. We came from a close-knit artists’ community in New Mexico before we moved here. Everyone we knew was basically an artist of some kind. Getting feedback is an important part of making art for me and we had a wonderful group. We worked together and played together. We are still close with many of those people and use social media for feedback and support. When we got to travel we met up every year or so to have some fun. One of my favorite memories involved some friends coming to visit. They are both painters and we set up four sheets of paper in the studio with materials, cranked the music loud, and played musical easels. We moved to each piece of paper and did our thing and moved on to the next after 15 minutes with no preset plans. The pieces are wild and colorful with energy. Such a great time! Later we sat around the fire pit and listened to our friend, Raul, read new poems he had written. All these kinds of events are not difficult but do involve action. It is too easy to get bogged down in theories without doing anything meaningful. But the meaningful does not have to be complicated. Art is not separate from life. It is such an integral part if we choose to acknowledge it. I read Homo Aestheticus Where Art Comes From and Why by Ellen Dissanayake some time ago. She posits the reflection that Art has been part of human life from the very beginning. Ancient humans painted on cave walls as well as found shelters and grouped in families. For some reason, Art was and is important and inherent in humans.

Is there an artist(s) or person(s) that have served as an inspiration to you?

That depends on the day! I dearly love the work of German artist Anselm Kiefer. We saw a solo exhibition of his in San Francisco a few years ago. I walked around the museum crying it was so beautiful. He took salvaged material from bombed out Dresden from World War II and made giant books with wings and shelves that look like they are from God’s waiting room. He referenced the constellations and ancient myths. His work is so opposite from what I do and yet I love it and am so inspired by it!

I also love the work of Japanese American artist Ruth Asawa. She made hanging wire sculptures that were woven in organic forms. When hung with spotlights they cast wonderful shapes on the walls that change as you walk around them.

These artists work in entirely different ways from the way I work but serve to inspire and fire my imagination in huge ways. It is so good to look at a variety of things. You don’t want to eat the same food all the time but need to change it up.

Rie's quote about her father.

What book, poem, or study have you read that engaged you so deeply you were changed?

I started going to college when my children were small (ages 4, 6, 10) and I was 28 years old. The more I learned the more I wanted to learn. And the more I learn the more I know that there is so much out there. I read everything I could. I found the poem by Mary Oliver called The Journey. She has been my guide for so many years with other poets. Poetry is an ancient art, too, and very much a deep part of human nature. Other than the new friends I made at school I had no support at home. I had to dig down deep to who I was to continue my education. My determination to finish my education grew stronger each time I took a class. I remembered my father’s advice to get as much education as possible. And I am still in school.

Follow Rie on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/riepalkovic/

POEM: The Journey by Mary Oliver

Poem The Journey Mary Oliver

SELECTED SOLO AND GROUP EXHIBITION

August 2016 Between Shadow and Space, solo exhibit
Unsettled Gallery
Las Cruces, New Mexico

November 2015 Casting Indra’s Net, Six artists group show
Moses Lake Museum and Art Center(MAC)
Moses Lake, WA

May 2014, 2015, Featured Artist for Cellarbration!

BBCC Foundation fundraiser
2016

June 2013 Betwixt and Between, MAC
Solo exhibition
Moses Lake Museum
Moses Lake, Washington

April 2011 Medicine Show invitational, SLAM
Soap Lake, Washington

January 2011 MAC juried show, Moses Lake Museum
1st Runner up People’s Choice
Moses Lake, Washington

December 2010 Winter Show, Soap Lake Art Guild
Best Painting Award
Soap Lake, Washington

December 2009 Holiday Show, Imbibe
Moses Lake, Washington

August 2009 solo exhibition
Soap Lake Art Museum
Soap Lake, Washington

July 2009 Yin/Yang
Garage Gallery
San Francisco, California

June 2009 Solo Exhibition, Imbibe Gallery
Moses Lake, Washington

April 2008 Shouts and Murmurs Solo Exhibition, Tilde
Portland, Oregon

Oct 2007 Waterline, a group show about fish
Crossing Tracks Gallery
San Diego, California

Oct 2006 Solo Exhibition
Seven Muses Gallery
Tacoma, Washington

April 2006 New Work, solo exhibition
Soap Lake Art Museum
Soap Lake, Washington

April 2006- River of Memory: The Everlasting Columbia

Sep 2008 Curators: William Layman and Terri White
Traveling exhibition to Wenatchee, Tacoma, Spokane, WA; Nelson, Victoria, BC; Pendleton, OR

Jan 2006 MAC Annual juried exhibition, 3rd Place Award
Juror: Scott Bailey, Art Dept. Chair at Wenatchee Valley College
Moses Lake Museum & Art Center
Moses Lake, Washington

Jan 2006 Ink and Clay 32, Kellogg University Art Gallery
Jurors: Marilyn Zeitlan and Peter Held
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, California

Feb 2005 Gallery 76, 21st National Juried Exhibition; 2nd Place Award
Jurors: Carol Hassen of Larsen Gallery and Robert Fisher of Yakima Valley Community College
Wenatchee Valley College, Wenatchee, Washington

Jan 2005 Moses Lake Museum & Art Center Juried Exhibition
Moses Lake, Washington

Sep 2004 Seven Muses Gallery, Dual Exhibition with Francis Palkovic
Tacoma, Washington

Apr 2004 Gallery 76 National Invitational, Gallery 76
Wenatchee Valley College, Wenatchee, Washington

Feb 2004 Art, Technology, & Culture, Gallery 76, Dual exhibition with Paul Stout, sculptor
Wenatchee Valley College, Wenatchee, Washington

Jan 2004 Columbia Basin Invitational, Moses Lake Museum & Art Center Moses Lake, Washington. Award: Honorable Mention

Jan 2004 Greater Midwest International Exhibition XIX, Central Missouri State University Art Gallery, Warrensburg, Missouri, Juror: Douglass Freed, Director, Daum Museum of Contemporary Art

Jan 2004 Ink & Clay 30, Kellogg Art Gallery, California Polytechnic University

Pomona, California, Juror: Hollis Goodall, Curator of Japanese Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art

March 2003 Okinawan American Princess Diaries, Moses Lake Museum & Art Center, Moses Lake, Washington

Apr 2002 18th National Juried Exhibit, Gallery ‘76, Juror’s Award
Wenatchee, Washington

Jun-Jul 2001 Forms 4, Chase Gallery
City Hall, Spokane, Washington

Mar-Apr 2001 17th National Juried Exhibit, Gallery ‘76
Best of Show Award, People’s Choice Award
Wenatchee, Washington

May-Jun 2000 Conversations from the Garden, Moses Lake Museum & Art Center
Solo Exhibition
Moses Lake, Washington

Jan-Feb 2000 Two Central Washington Ladies, High Spirits Gallery
Wenatchee, Washington

Jan-Feb 2000 Baked, Mashed, & Fried, Moses Lake Museum & Art Center
3rd Place Award, Potato Commission Purchase Award
Moses Lake, Washington

June 1999 Columbia Basin Invitational, Adam East Museum & Art Center
Moses Lake, Washington

Mar-Apr 1999 Group Exhibition, High Spirits Gallery
Wenatchee, Washington

Dec 1998 Solo Exhibition
Wallenstien Theatre, Columbia Basin Allied Arts
Big Bend Community College, Moses Lake, Washington

Nov 1998 43rd Annual Central Washington Artists Exhibition
Larson Gallery
Yakima Valley Community College, Yakima, Washington

Mar 1998 The Many Lives of Women, Kent Hall Museum
New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM

Feb 1998 Hanging Around, Faculty Exhibition
El Paso Community College

The People’s Gallery, El Paso City Hall, TX
Sep 1997- Arte Sin Limites: Exposicion Fronteriza

July 1998 (Invitational; one of twelve artists representing Las Cruces)
Traveling Exhibition to Four Cities:
Museo de Arte, Juarez, Mexico, Centro de Arte Contemporaneo de Chihuahua ,Chihuahua City, Mexico, the Las Cruces Museum of Art and Culture, Las Cruces, New Mexico, and the Chamizal Gallery, El Paso, Texas

Sep 1997 Contemporary Asian Artists in America
Smithtown Township Arts Council
Mill’s Pond House Gallery, St. James, NY

Mar 1997 At Random, Faculty Exhibition
El Paso Community College
The People’s Gallery, El Paso City Hall, TX

Dec 1996 December Group Show Invitational
Galeri Azul, Mesilla, NM

July 1996 Border Artists and Friends Invitational
Adobe Patio Gallery, Mesilla, NM

Nov 1995 Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition
Kent Hall Museum, New Mexico State University, NM

June 1995 Image and Icon Exhibition (Invitational)
University Art Gallery, New Mexico State University, NM

April 1995 Solo Exhibition,
Galeri Azul, Mesilla, NM

Feb 1995 Annual Juried Student Exhibition
Juror’s Choice Award
College of Arts and Sciences Award
University Art Gallery, New Mexico State University, NM

Oct 1994 2 x 4 Faculty/Alumni Invitational
Todd Madigan Gallery, Cal State University, Bakersfield, CA

June 1994 Close to the Border, Bi-annual juried exhibition
University Art Gallery Award
University Art Gallery, New Mexico State University, NM

Is there a book, a movie, or something in particular that drove you to your studies in Philosophy & Religion?

The Fabric of the Heavens: The Development of Astronomy and Dynamics by Stephen Toulmin and June Goodfield (Harper & Row, 1965) was the first assigned college text that I absolutely devoured and was excited to discuss in class. I was an engineering student in my hometown Wichita State University and taking philosophy courses on the side because I was an atheist in a town full of Baptists and I enjoyed reading Nietzsche’s critiques of religion and finding Christianity’s origins in Plato. Ben Rogers’ course “Science and the Modern World” introduced me to the history and philosophy of science which showed me that my knowledge of math and physics could be connected to my interest in historical philosophers.

What's your approach to research? Do you go in with a plan or are you random?

I use it as an excuse to go to experts. When I wanted to write about Aristotle’s theory of catharsis, I found a recent collection Essays on Aristotle’s Poetics by Amélie Rorty and the essays about catharsis were all discussing Martha Nussbaum’s theory. That gave me a good excuse to finally read her famous book The Fragility of Goodness: Luck and Ethics in Greek Tragedy and Philosophy. Sometimes it’s a good excuse to talk to someone I know about something they know a lot about. When I wanted to know more about the variations of Superman or the Greek mythology in Wonder Woman, I talked to Eric Van Woert at Olde World Trading Company in downtown Moses Lake where we spent hours looking at old comics. Cara Stoddard, a former BBCC English Instructor, encouraged me to read more Slavoj Žižek. Thinking about the travels of Bilbo Baggins gave me the excuse I needed to read Cosmopolitanism by Kwame Anthony Appiah.

Do you have a set of "go to" journals, authors, blogs, databases, or websites you use to keep up to date in your field? And also - as your field is inherently cross-disciplinary - anything else you use to keep intellectually tuned up?

My dissertation was on Charles Sanders Peirce and so for many years, I subscribed to The Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society. I achieved a life-goal by presenting an essay at The Charles S. Peirce International Centennial Congress in 2014 at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

I try to regularly attend local philosophy conferences such as PLATO-WA and the Northwest Philosophy Conference. I have a huge backlog of philosophy books that are waiting for me to read including a new translation of the Bhagavad Gita. And I’m always on the lookout for online resources for my students such as this YouTube cartoon presentation of The Trolley Problem narrated by Harry Shearer.

You’ve caught me at a funny time in my life because I’ve put my research projects on hold. I’ve got about three or four essay ideas in my head but I’m waiting until I can take a sabbatical to pursue them. Instead, I’m using my brain to be a Dungeon Master to play Dungeons & Dragons. I’m more likely nowadays to be reading Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes to research the Blood War between the chaotic evil demons from the infinite Abyss and the lawful evil devils of the Nine Hells. Writing is such a private occupation while DMing is a way that I can obsessively research and use it to play a game with others.

You recently hosted a philosophy conference in Moses Lake. What were some of the hot topics covered? Also, which topics were most robustly - and maybe most loudly - discussed?

PLATO-WA is the Philosophy and Logic Associated Teachers of Washington. We are a group of philosophy instructors at community colleges in our state. Basically, this is my peer group. My friend Paul Herrick organized us in a successful effort to keep the SQR status of PHIL&120 Symbolic Logic. We’ve kept it going as a place to discuss teaching philosophy and logic in community colleges. Paul likes it when we meet east of the mountains and so I hosted the 2020 event.

All of our presentations were about how to explain difficult philosophical ideas to introductory students in freshman-level courses. There were presentations on the Socratic Method and on using open educational sources, but there was also an emphasis this year on non-Western ideas with presentations on Brahma in Hinduism and how to lead a discussion on Taoism given that the Tao that can be spoken is not the true Tao.

However, I like to think that my presentation caused the most discussion. I spoke about teaching Marshall McLuhan’s The Medium is the Massage and I shared about ninety examples of memes that my students had submitted on a variety of philosophical topics.

Dennis Knepp list of Pop Culture Publications, April 2020.

I’ve long been interested in presenting philosophical ideas to a broader audience and so this is a list of my publications that were meant for the public. I challenge myself to write about a different topic each time. Most of these are published by John Wiley & Sons or the Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series edited by William Irwin.

“A Phenomenology of Christmas,” a five-part series, Columbia Basin Herald, December 2004. Each essay was an examination of Christmas through one of the five senses.

“Bella’s Vampire Semiotics” in Twilight and Philosophy: Vampires, Vegetarians, and the Pursuit of Immortality, John Wiley &
Sons, Inc., 2009. I use Bella’s discovery that Edward is a vampire to introduce the triadic semiotics of Charles Sanders
Peirce.

“’You’re Nothing But a Pack of Cards!’: Alice Doesn’t Have a Social Contract” in Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy:
Curiouser and Curiouser, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2010. I justify Alice’s rejection of the guilty verdict of the sham trial
using the social contract theories of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke.

“Why We Enjoy Reading about Men Who Hate Women: Aristotle’s Cathartic Appeal,” in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and
Philosophy: Everything is Fire, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2012. I use Martha Nussbaum’s interpretation of Aristotle’s
theory of catharsis to understand why we enjoying reading violent stories about abused people rather than stories of
nice people doing nice things.

“Bilbo Baggins: the Cosmopolitan Hobbit,” in The Hobbit and Philosophy: For When You’ve Lost Your Dwarves, Your Wizard,
and Your Way, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2012. I use Biblo’s appreciation of other cultures outside the Shire to introduce
Kwame Anthony Appiah’s theory of cosmopolitanism.

“Gods, Drugs and Ghosts: Finding Dionysius and Apollo in Black Sabbath and the Birth of Heavy Metal,” in Black Sabbath and
Philosophy: Mastering Reality, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2013. Series editor William Irwin requested that I write about
drugs and Black Sabbath and so I used it to introduce Nietzsche’s analysis of Apollo and Dionysius in the birth of
ancient theater. This is my most experimental published writing.

“Superman Family Resemblance,” in Superman and Philosophy: What Would the Man of Steel Do?, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.,
2013. I use the different variations of Superman to introduce Wittgenstein’s concept of a family resemblance.

“’We have an indigenous population of humanoids called the Na’vi’: Native American philosophy in Avatar,” in Avatar and
Philosophy: Learning to See, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2014. I use the Na’vi to introduce contemporary Native
Americans philosophers and Scott Pratt’s Native Pragmatism.

“Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophistication,” in Steve Jobs and Philosophy: For Those Who Think Different, Carus Publishing
Company, 2015. I use Steve Jobs’ theory of design aesthetics to introduce Slavoj Žižek’s interpretation of the Hegelian
dialectic.

“The Mind of Blue Snaggletooth: The Intentional Stance, Vintage Star Wars Action Figures, and the Origins of Religion,” in The
Ultimate Star Wars and Philosophy: You Must Unlearn What You Have Learned, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2016. I use
playing with action figures as an introduction to Daniel Dennett’s philosophy of mind and his speculations about the
origins of religion.

“Merciful Minerva in a Modern Metropolis,” in Wonder Woman and Philosophy: The Amazonian Mystique, John Wiley & Sons,
Inc., 2017. I use the Greek mythology found in Wonder Woman to introduce Hegel’s philosophy of history. This
became the basis for a public lecture at the Salon Series at the Moses Lake Museum and Art Center.

“Remembering, Reminding, and Forgetting with Leonard Shelby, in The Philosophy of Christopher Nolan, Lexington Books,
2017. I use Leonard Shelby’s tattoos in Nolan’s Memento as an introduction to the triadic semiotics of Charles Sanders
Peirce as a means of finding knowledge but then undercut that search with Plato’s critique of writing found in
his Phaedrus.

Rhonda The Librarian's Random Reading & Research Review | March 2021 | Weather

Video

eZine

Shakespeare’s representation of weather, climate and environment : The early modern “Fated Sky”.

Necroclimatism in a spectral world (dis)order? Rain petitioning, climate and weather engineering in 21st century Africa.

Variability of the sun and sun-like stars : from asteroseismology to space weather.

A hard rain: America in the 1960s, our decade of hope, possibility, and innocence lost.

Rain shadow.

A storm of witchcraft : The Salem trials and the American experience.

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Similar Posts

Explain the range and type of art you create and show. Do you have an artist's statement?

What research informs your work? Have you ever done a great deal of background work on a piece or a show?

As a working artist are there magazines, books, creators, or events that fuel your work and/or engagement in the art community?

Is there an artist(s) or person(s) that have served as an inspiration to you?

What book, poem, or study have you read that engaged you so deeply you were changed?

Follow Rie on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/riepalkovic/

POEM: The Journey by Mary Oliver

SELECTED SOLO AND GROUP EXHIBITION

Database of the Month: Business Source Elite

Is there a book, a movie, or something in particular that drove you to your studies in Philosophy & Religion?

What's your approach to research? Do you go in with a plan or are you random?

Do you have a set of "go to" journals, authors, blogs, databases, or websites you use to keep up to date in your field? And also - as your field is inherently cross-disciplinary - anything else you use to keep intellectually tuned up?

You recently hosted a philosophy conference in Moses Lake. What were some of the hot topics covered? Also, which topics were most robustly - and maybe most loudly - discussed?

Dennis Knepp list of Pop Culture Publications, April 2020.

Rhonda The Librarian's Random Reading & Research Review | March 2021 | Weather

Video

eZine

Shakespeare’s representation of weather, climate and environment : The early modern “Fated Sky”.

Necroclimatism in a spectral world (dis)order? Rain petitioning, climate and weather engineering in 21st century Africa.

Variability of the sun and sun-like stars : from asteroseismology to space weather.

A hard rain: America in the 1960s, our decade of hope, possibility, and innocence lost.

Rain shadow.

A storm of witchcraft : The Salem trials and the American experience.

Leave a comment

Commenting on blog posts requires an account.

Login is required to interact with this comment. Please login here and try again.

If you do not have an account, Register Now.

Similar Posts

Explain the range and type of art you create and show. Do you have an artist's statement?

What research informs your work? Have you ever done a great deal of background work on a piece or a show?

As a working artist are there magazines, books, creators, or events that fuel your work and/or engagement in the art community?

Is there an artist(s) or person(s) that have served as an inspiration to you?

​What book, poem, or study have you read that engaged you so deeply you were changed?

Follow Rie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/riepalkovic/

POEM: The Journey by Mary Oliver

SELECTED SOLO AND GROUP EXHIBITION

Database of the Month: Business Source Elite

Is there a book, a movie, or something in particular that drove you to your studies in Philosophy & Religion?

What's your approach to research? Do you go in with a plan or are you random?

Do you have a set of "go to" journals, authors, blogs, databases, or websites you use to keep up to date in your field? And also - as your field is inherently cross-disciplinary - anything else you use to keep intellectually tuned up?

You recently hosted a philosophy conference in Moses Lake. What were some of the hot topics covered? Also, which topics were most robustly - and maybe most loudly - discussed?

Dennis Knepp list of Pop Culture Publications, April 2020.

Shakespeare’s representation of weather, climate and environment : The early modern “Fated Sky”.

Variability of the sun and sun-like stars : from asteroseismology to space weather.

A storm of witchcraft : The Salem trials and the American experience.

Login is required to interact with this comment. Please and try again.

What book, poem, or study have you read that engaged you so deeply you were changed?

Follow Rie on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/riepalkovic/