It’s wild and rambunctious in the Entel Family Gallery yet in the presence of Beasts and Burdens curator Nathan Beard it somehow feels safe enough to dip a toe in the water at “Pool Party.”

But first, we talk spirit animals.

“Spirit Animals is a very popular and ancient idea,” Nathan says referring in part to the joyful exhibit occupying the Rossi Family Gallery. “What’s fun about spirit animals is that it asks everyone to connect with and express who they are as an animal.”

Nathan convinces me that his spirt animal is a private matter. He tells me this with a hand on his hip and then goes on to muse about the wolf and the aardvark. This fun banter could go on until the cows come home.

 

 

Instead, we turn our focus to the elephant in the room: Beasts and Burdens featuring mural-size carbon pencil drawings on paper by the wildly talented Adonna Khare of Los Angeles paired with the graceful, thoughtful, illuminating glass vessels produced for the exhibit by St. Petersburg, Florida artist, Christian Zvonik.

“I wanted to create a cacophony of animal-ness in here,” Nathan shares.

Fait accompli.

Marveling at “Pool Party”— replete with tigers and zebras and other unexpected species co-mingling—I call his attention to the waterbird wearing “swimmies” on the massive mural which stretches 199 inches wide by 6 feet high.

“Remember all of her works are metaphors for the human condition,” Nathan reminds. “These animals are symbolic stand-ins for predator and prey. Your first clue that this is a metaphor is that in nature, tiger and zebra ecosystems do not overlap.”

Yet here they are (sort of) frolicking (but not exactly) in “Pool Party” riding noodles with seagulls standing by. Why, oh, why is that heron messing with the zebra’s stripes? Find out the answers to this and all your other burning questions during a virtual conversation with both featured artists on Friday, October 22 at 1p.m.

“As an artist myself, I’m seeing the design tie-in of the stripes,” Nathan shares.

“Pattern mixing!” I second exuberantly.

“The rhythm of the pattern is like a dance,” Nathan says, “and so much of this piece is that dance between living and dying.”

 

 

“Our biggest burden as humans is dying. But actually dying is not a burden because it’s inevitable. So I came to our greatest burden as human beings is the burden of being forgotten.”

“We come up with things that give us meaning, purpose and connection to make our time here count. And then we do live on. We’re not forgotten. Because people tell stories about us.”

Pivoting from the walls which all showcase Adonna Khare’s murals, we discuss the striking glass vessels by Christian Zvonik.

 

 

“I wanted to pair Adonna’s black and white drawings with something colorful in the middle for contrast. Hers are playful so in the middle I wanted something a little more formal.”

Christian and Nathan have worked together before. “He made these beautiful glass jars with animal head and he called them “canopic” jars. I thought, how appropriate. It’s a vessel that holds things that you’ll need in a metaphysical realm rather than here. So it’s not a cookie jar,” he says lightning the mood.

With Adonna’s animals having a more international feel, Nathan wanted Christian to focus more on Florida species so there would be a tie-in to where we are.

“There’s a time when you trust a great artist to do what they do,” Nathan says of his respect for Christian. Here we are looking at the resulting glass manatee, flamingo, raven, bear and owl. There’s also a nautilus shell which Nathan points out is not native to Florida, “but it picks up all the stripes in ‘Pool Party’ and it’s such a beautiful form,” he says with clear admiration. Then he explains that for each glass vessel, Christian made metal molds and placed real Florida plant materials in them, then blew the glass around them in what appears to be a reverse embossment.

“For Christian, these are meant to honor our relationship with nature which is rapidly changing.  And that’s a great burden of our time, “Nathan cautions, “we’re all having to think about what planet we are giving these children.”

“A huge component in thinking about what we’re going to do is educational aspects because the Art Center is a place for learning first and foremost. All these exhibitions—which are all spectacular in their own right—serve this purpose.”

Looking back to the walls, I insist that we visit “Alligator Clothesline” to examine a delicately cut wildebeest stampeding off the page. Look closely and you’ll also find rhinos and an orca splashing around in a teacup.

 

 

“As a learning tool these drawings are amazing,” Nathan asserts. “Adonna uses her eraser as a drawing tool, not as a thing to get rid of mistakes.” He points out that she moves things all the time. As an educator this excites him because, “it tells students it’s ok to not have a master plan.”

Nathan originally set out to reimagine the Zodiac with Florida native and invasive species, and even though Beasts and Burdens is not that, it is no less thoughtful and layered and compelling and brilliant.

“I feel that this exhibition is both celebratory and elegant,” Nathan says. “There’s the fineness of Adonna’s drawing and the fineness of Christian’s colors and techniques and shiny bits that come from reflective light, down to the stands he made. There’s a certain elegance to the whole show even though some of these images are very rock and roll.”

We glare at the spectacular smoking giraffes.

“We hung this with rare earth magnets. Behind the heavy magnets on top are drywall screws that go into the wood. Not that you need that with paper, but the strength is there.”

Then he digs in further to discuss the deliberate placement of Christian’s pieces and goes on to say that he wouldn’t ordinarily place an object in a doorway but in this case he says, “It felt right to have to confront this burden before you enjoy the celebration to remind you that we have a limited time on this planet and to recall all the special people in your lives and the happiness you can have here.”

“Placement is really key to your first impression,” Nathan says. “Catherine gives me the privilege of curating a major exhibit every year. I just want them to be wowed.”

Become “wowed” by Beasts and Burdens on display now through December 23.

 

Story and Photography by Leslie Joy Ickowitz