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Alan Weissling
Alan Weissling-Pallares (born Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1991) Weissling-Palleres spent his youth residing in New Braunfels, Texas; Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico; and Boerne, TX.
Through multiple familial generations of artists, craftsman, and teachers; and long held family tradition of road travel and exploration, Alan has developed a practice of producing works that aid in reflecting and meditating on past experiences. Through exploring the imagery of a time and space, he aims to explore the emotions and memories felt during that past window of time.
He began his undergraduate at The University of New Mexico. Then, returned to San Antonio to complete his BFA at The University of The Incarnate Word in 2016. Alan currently resides in Highland Park, San Antonio, where he works as an independent craftsman, metal fabricator and art handler. His interdisciplinary work as an artist includes analog photography, painting, woodworking, metalsmithing and ceramics in both functional ware and contemporary sculpture.
Alan has exhibited his work in several area galleries, including The Southwest School of Art Express News Photo Hall, Presa House Gallery, Ornamental Cabbage Contemporary Ceramics Gallery, and others. His work has been showcased in The Hall of Congress in Washington D.C., PhotoseptiembreUSA Exhibitions, and on The San Antonio Current. Through his work as an art handler and fabricator, Alan has worked within the community with the likes of Blue Star Contemporary, McNay Art Museum, ... view more »
Resume (PDF)
MORE ABOUT THIS ARTIST
Artist Type: Visual Arts: Ceramist, Painter, Photographer
Artist Style: Visual Art: Abstract, Contemporary, Functional
Artist Statement of Work
Tell us about your work (style, approach, philosophy, subject and/or theme):
My father is a geologist. His father was a geologist.
My upbringing was surrounded by rocks. Everywhere I looked there were rocks. Crates of rocks piled up in the yard, to be sorted later. Garage floor covered with rocks, to be cut and polished later. Around the house, little bowls and displays of of delicately cut and polished stones. Dad and Grandpa pointing out which ones came from what mountain range in West Texas, what state in Mexico, what long-since fenced in hidden creek in the hill country.
On the road, it was lectures on how this canyon was formed, or why that mountain has red stone on one side but white stone on the other. On the shoulder of the road bathroom breaks, it was short lessons on the silicate content of that stone on the ground next to the freshly formed puddle.
What is clay at its core but weathered down particulates of stone, organic matter, and water? Using a variety of methods, both in hand building and wheel throwing I aim to explore what this medium has to tell. To show its inherent beauty, and for myself to only assist in guiding it into a presentable and sometimes functional form.
My process of producing a piece often feels like an attempt to conjure up an image in my head, of a memory of a place I once was.
Through a tangible piece of color and texture, one can produce a mental picture of a time and a place. Through that mental picture, ones thoughts can be flooded with nostalgia and memory.
Albeit a strange and often unpleasant emotion, nostalgia serves the purpose of pushing back against something I dread even more - lost memories.