Hi-Line Living: Painting from the unconscious

From a lifetime of experiences and curiosity, Havre native Garth Volbright's artwork expresses the unconscious self and in many different artistic mediums.

Volbright's artist reception for his artistic debut show, "Curiosity," was last Friday in Artitudes Gallery in the Atrium Mall.

"Unconsciousness starts at the end of knowledge," he said.

His show runs through January.

Volbright was born and raised in Havre, although he has moved around the state working various jobs throughout the years, including working as a construction worker, a farmhand and for the railroad, he said. He added that in 1968 he was drafted into the U.S. Army and was deployed to Vietnam. When he returned two years later, he worked a variety of jobs and attended a number of different schools pursuing an array of education.

"I didn't realize that you could probably be a hell of a lot happier if you were doing art, living on food stamps," he said. "I always had the idea ... that it wasn't good enough."

He said that even now he doesn't define himself as an artist. Instead, he considers himself retired and creating art is something he is passionate about. He added that he never has been formally trained and has no professional credentials, but rather has a love and curiosity about creating.

He has been painting and doing art pieces for a number of years, but he said it was not until he moved back to Havre in 2004 that he really blossomed with his craft. Volbright moved back to Havre to take care of his father, who later died in 2011.

Volbright's main artistic medium in 2004 was wood carving, but after years of carving he moved to painting. He said that his arms would often get numb while working the chainsaw and it was a good choice to change to another medium.

Volbright added that he also changed his artistic medium because wood carving is about detracting, and he wanted to do something different.

"It's a different kind of mindset," he said, adding that he also finds painting to be a little bit more civilized than wood carving.

He first became interested in painting in the '80s and '90s while living in Missoula attending the University of Montana, he said. He added that he attended at university three different times and also attended the vo-tech there for metal work. He said that while in school he had a burning curiosity for art and philosophy.

"I got to wondering, how and where do these people get this stuff," he said.

He said that while he was at the vo-tech he attempted to be a metal artist, but soon left the program to pursue other interests. He added that while living in Missoula he worked at the Salvation Army and a lot of other students at the University of Montana would take old paints and and art supplies to the Salvation Army. He would then buy the art supplies for himself and work on different artistic styles.

But what he found underneath his art was philosophy and his curiosity in the unconscious, Volbright said. He added that if he was to categorize his artwork he would put it under expressionism because what he tries to do is shut the personality away and work from his unconcious.

"It's not like being guided," he said, adding that it's a state of mind he has to be in to paint.

One of the biggest influences on his artwork is Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, he said. Jung, who was not an artist, was influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, philosophy and religious studies. Volbright said that Jung wrote a number of things about the subconscious and unconscious minds.

"It's just a place for the undefined, I suppose," Volbright said.

There are a number of symbols and images that can have meanings which vary depending on the person who is looking at it, he said, and because of that the images and symbols themselves transcend the self and understanding.

"Art, I think, that line of thinking, tends to communicate with that inner state of consciousness and develop a relationship which is what I'm trying to do with these pictures," he said.

He added that people can see and interpret a lot of different things in art.

"The main thing is to enjoy the damn thing," he said.

An artist he also admires, he said, is Jackson Pollock, an American painter who was a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement in the mid-1900s. Volbright said that before Pollock, people had stiff categories and rules about art, but the abstract expressionist movement shattered the rules and made it creatively legal to make art styles whatever people wanted them to be. Volbright added that while he admires Pollock, he doesn't want to do drip painting. Pollock was a great man in some ways because it was a bold thing to go against the rules of the time, Volbright said.

"You have to have curiosity, you know you can look at stuff, you pick up techniques and stuff from other people or books, but you have to have a reason why you are interested," he said.

He said that he also paints in a different way than many other artists.

"Before you start you have to kind of let go," he said. "I don't like to plan a picture out to the end and fill out the blanks, although sometimes you do that anyway, but ideally you get in a state where you're not obligated to do anything - all the degrees of freedom."

The hardest part for any painter is to start, he said, and for him, he always finds it a good idea to do some sketches before or during the painting process.

"In order to keep going you have to examine the nature of creativity itself," he said.

Once the first line is made, he said, it is all about following the composition. Occasionally there are mistakes, though, but artists have various ways to deal with it, he said.

"Sometimes you look at it again and the mistake fits right in," Volbright said, adding that the thing with abstract expressionism is that he doesn't have any base image to compare it to.

With a picture of a dog or a cat, building or scene, artists spend a lot of time and effort to get everything perfect and exact, Volbright said. But expressionism is different.

"If it offends the composition, then you have to fix it - because your message won't come across," he said.

After he has completed a painting he steps back from it, looking at it as a viewer would, and ties to see the creative response of the viewer to the piece, he said.

He added that he will also be working on trying some new techniques and styles with his artwork in the future. Volbright said that in the future he wants to start painting on wooden boards. Sheets of plywood are much cheaper than canvas and he wants to experiment with how the paint will penetrate the plywood.

Volbright also hopes to be able to do more art shows in the future, he said. He added that he is grateful for Artitudes and Kris Shaw and for the opportunity to show his art.

He said art has always been something that has followed him throughout his life, and now that he is retired art is something he is more than happy to pursue.

"So I'll paint till I croak I guess," Volbright said.