Second Friday Art Walk at the Emerald Art Center — Mind-bending “techno art” and more

(Above: Max Rink, a member of the Museum of Techno Art, is one of the member artists whose work is on display at the Emerald Art Center.)

Edited by Randi Bjornstad

Maybe the best way to describe what’s going on at the Emerald Art Center in June is to explain how the local Museum of Techno Art (aka MTA) describes itself:

The Museum of Techno Art (MTA) is a collective of dreamers and makers, showcasing art with technology and industrial themes. Reflecting on the history of human invention, retro-futurism, and imaginative machines of the future, MTA brings traveling exhibitions that spark delight and inspiration. Using a wide variety of traditional processes and their industrial derivatives, which actually span millennia, they create one-of-a-kind sculptures, assemblages, and whimsical wall pieces—imagining and reimagining artifacts from possible futures, distant pasts, industrial influences, and repurposed consumer debris. Their vision transcends genres, united by a shared dedication to creating exceptional art experiences that bring fun, excitement, and wonder to every space they exhibit.

In this case, a traveling exhibit called Exostoria Mechanica: Lost Fragments, sponsored by MTA, has been installed, featuring a variety of mechanical marvels whose histories — and sometimes even functions — may be uncertain at best, but offer a glimpse into the brave new world that people in the 1880s began to experience as the world changed drastically and rapidly with the development of new technologies that grew out of the Industrial Revolution.

The Museum of Techno Art is peopled by local artists that include Joe Mross, Barbora Bakalarova, Rob Bolman, Steve La Riccia, Max Rink, Allen Ott, Ralf Huber, Neil Conner, and they will be joined at the Second Friday Art Walk in downtown Springfield by another afficionado of the genre, guest artist Steve Mast.

As a group, they and their counterparts elsewhere have been described as “a curious fraternity of devoted, discreet investigators (who) examine devices, illustrations, and relics whose unresolved purpose traces incomplete, conflicting, and arcane histories. These wondrous objects, on display, were long misfiled (or discreetly concealed) in forgotten dusty warehouses.”

Not surprisingly, these artists also try their own hands at creating mysterious inventions and sculptures from their own imaginations, as well as continuing the mental exercise of ferreting out objects from the past.

But that’s not all, folks …

Besides the MTA’s exhibit, the Emerald Art Center in June features work by a sketching group called Top Drawers — meaning not dresser drawers but groups of people who draw — and this group has been meeting for more than 20 years to sketch together.

They do drawings from their daily lives, personal interests, and experiences in sketchbooks, and many of these artworks have been extracted from their sketchbooks to make up this show, also aimed at encouraging others to take up the art, via this introduction:

Sketchbooks are the easiest way to practice mark-making and flexing creative juices. It’s also a wonderful place to explore and play with different mediums and techniques. They are a safe place to make messes, mistakes, and maybe even inspire a masterpiece. And over time they help develop and grow your skills. There is no wrong way to use them and anyone can start one.

Not only that, but the current show also features work by Emerald Art Center members Carmen Bayley and Harold Huestis. Bayley’s show is titled Mysterious Portals: Doors, Windows, Tunnels, Stairways, and Huestis’ is called simply, Stories, a reflection of his own experiences.