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 The show entitled Cosmos SW 6528 featured several pieces by the
featured artist as well as a few “group session” pieces that were
put together by the members of the Logan County Arts at Hoffman’s
studio.
The doors opened at 5 p.m. and included a reception with some
excellent food and drink for guests to enjoy as they perused the
art. Throughout the evening, the gallery at the Art Institute was
bustling with guests who came to view Hoffman’s work.
Enjoying the guests who came to see his work, Hoffman spent a great
deal of time making his way around the room greeting each and
spending one-on-one time with all that he could.
He also enjoyed taking a walk around the room and talking about some
of the pieces on display, beginning with the largest piece in the
room, the full Constellation map painted by Hoffman on two
extra-large canvases.
The map was the foundation of the show’s theme ‘Cosmos SW 6528.’
Hoffman pointed out a small podium display in front of the map. It
contained a black and white map of all the constellations in the
night sky. Hoffman said anyone viewing the larger artwork could find
a favorite constellation on the small map, and it would be in the
same location on the extra-large canvases.
The next stop on the tour was a fabulous table made of a variety of
woods and other materials. Hoffman said that for this item, he
wanted to be creative “without the sketchbook.” He had gathered
together materials that were already in his shop and then began
working with no preconceived notion of what the piece would look
like when finished.
On the wall right at the front door of the Institute was a piece
that consisted of a myriad of color. Hoffman said the work had been
hung earlier in the day, and it weighed over 200 pounds. He said
bringing it in and getting it on the wall had been a nerve-racking
experience. The work was made with the help of the membership of the
Logan County Arts. Hoffman explained that the small, thin strips of
wood in the project were from a single piece of six-foot by
eight-foot plywood that had been shaved into small strips. LCA
members then helped with all the painting of the strips that were
then mounted in a frame.
Another painting on display was an extension of the Cosmos SW 6528
theme. Hoffman explained that the work was version number eight. He
had begun the work with a collection of ball bearings in a variety
of sizes. He scattered the ball bearings on the canvas, then painted
over them. The first seven times, he was not satisfied with the
outcome, but on attempt number eight, he created a pattern that was
pleasing to him, and the artwork evolved from there to its finished
product.
 Hoffman noted that this painting was done immediately after he did
the large sculpture “Constellation” for the city of Lincoln, which
was also on display in three miniature versions on Saturday night.
He said when he removed the ball bearings, he saw the concept of a
constellation, and at that point, he came to realize that he had a
connection with the Cosmos, and that was the direction he would be
going with at least some of his art in the future.
He said he had also seen that he had found a process that he liked,
and now he wanted to exhaust that process.
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A collection of seven pieces mounted side-by-side took up a large
part of the wall toward the back of the gallery. The first
impression of the works shows that it is a progression of colors
with the first piece being very pale shades and the final piece
being rich colors. Looking at the seven pieces it was also notable
that they looked like stained glass, but were not.
This work was again done by the members of the LCA. Hoffman said he
hosted an art party at his studio. The group showed up, and they
were working toward the goal of creating quick art that could be
included in one of their shows that would be a "pick and pay" event.
At that event, viewers could come into the gallery and pick anything
they liked, pay whatever they felt led to pay, and go home with an
original piece of art by a local artist.
 Hoffman explained the process for the seven pieces. He said he had a
collection of paint swatches that he divided up according to the
depth of color. The swatches were then cut and laid out in a mosaic
pattern. Hoffman used automotive pen-stripe tape to create the black
lines in the pieces. Finally, he poured clear epoxy resin over the
works, filling the frames and giving the pieces the look of glass.
On the back walls of the gallery were two unusual pieces. The first
was a version of a Cosmos painting, but it was attached with a chain
to a small sculpture on the floor made up of a toy helicopter
mounted on an old roller skate. Hoffman had painted in the chain in
the corner of the canvas leading it downward to the real chain
mounted on the bottom of the frame.
On this piece, he sighed and said “There’s no connection – there is
nothing.” He said he wanted to do a sculpture that had no connection
whatsoever to the painting, but then intentionally connect them. “I
think I was questioning the connection between sculpture and
painting. A sculpture depicts a real image, where a painting is an
imaginary view of an image, so once the chain hits the painting, it
becomes two-dimensional, and it is then no longer real.”
Around the corner, a second sculpture connected to a painting on the
wall, Hoffman said it was a continuation of the same theory. What
was notable was that the sculpture was made of familiar items that
have been seen in some of Hoffman’s other sculptures - wood, metal
and stone.
Some of the other items on display around the room were the
beautiful wooden bowls for which Hoffman is known. These are smaller
pieces and reflect some of the work he does as a wood class teacher
at Lincoln Community High School. When asked if it was difficult to
transition from artist to teacher, he winced a bit and said it did
have its challenges. However, he said the real challenge was in
trying to open the door to art for his students and giving them the
opportunity to express themselves while at the same time working for
a grade.
“As an instructor, I try to instill within my students that maybe it
isn’t just about a grade. I want them to find something inside
themselves.” Hoffman explained that it would be this way throughout
his student’s adulthood, comparing making a good grade to making
money. He said life should be about more than making money, and that
art and self-expression would add another dimension to their quality
of life, and ultimately that is what he wants to teach his students.
Art for Hoffman is also about letting go, and not trying to control
everything. “Let the material speak to you and let the art speak to
you. When we first started the gallery and the LCA, I tried to
control the work, but now I want the work to speak to me.”
When Hoffman first began showing publicly locally, he was working
through a loss in his life, and reflecting his feelings in his work.
He said now, he has been working toward letting go of the loss and
moving on. He said as he worked through his sorrow, he started
thinking about what impression he was leaving the viewer.
“I think at the last, I was really questioning what the viewer left
with. I didn’t want the viewer leaving with (sad) feelings and
depression. I wanted the viewer to leave with almost a childhood
experience of wondering. Sometimes, I think when we get older, it is
hard to get back to those childhood moments. When I was younger, I
always used to look up and wonder, but now we are so focused with
what is going on down here, that we don’t look up. That’s what I
want people to do, look up with wonder and discovery.”
[Nila Smith]
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