Released: May 22, 2024
Exhibition will showcase the art of Gordon Fluke – artist, educator and activist, who died in 2023
Exhibition will continue through July 24, 2024
Santa Fe Community College Visual Arts Gallery will host an opening reception for the exhibition, “Gordon Fluke Memorial Retrospective,” from 3 to 6 p.m. Thursday, June 20. Gordon Fluke, who was an artist, educator and activist, died on Jan. 24, 2023. The opening will showcase Gordon Fluke’s artwork and honor his impact in the art world, at SFCC and in the community.
Director of Art on Campus Linda Cassel said, “SFCC was so incredibly fortunate to have the dynamic and creative energy of Gordon Fluke at the college for so many years. While he wore many hats including Director of Continuing Education before his retirement in 2016, he was first and foremost an artist who did not shy away from addressing social issues.” She added, “He never fully retired since he was drawn back to the college by his passion as an art educator and he continued as a part-time instructor teaching papermaking, letterpress and book arts through December 2022. While Gordon was an internationally recognized artist, he influenced so many artists in New Mexico through this teaching skills and passion for art.”
“Sewn and Patched,” artwork by Gordon Fluke 2020
Well-loved by his students, Fluke also taught at Corcoran School of the Arts & Design in Washington, D.C., Institute of American Indian Arts, University of New Mexico and the College of Santa Fe (now defunct). He also was a distinguished visiting artist for College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine, and University of Colorado, Boulder. In addition to teaching, he worked as a master printer at Pyramid Atlantic in Silver Spring, Md., and a bookbinder for Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., and The Press at the Palace of the Governors.
Language and image have a symbiotic relationship in Fluke’s art, which seesaws between political activism and personal reflection. Fluke said in 2016, “Many pieces are commentaries on social issues dear to my heart. Others are an outlet for my frustration struggling with a chronic health issue.”
Although the ideas behind Fluke’s work begin with a clear intention of indicting societal ills or sharing personal history, he often infuses it with levity though pop culture, bright imagery and his signature sarcasm. Fluke studied art at Temple University where he graduated with a B.S. Ed. Art Education, Cum Laude in 1981. A decade later, he received an M.F.A. in printmaking from Arizona State University.
While he began his career as a painter and mixed media artist, he gravitated toward printmaking and book arts, in which he excelled. He has earned recognition for his art – such as inclusion in The Best of Printmaking, an International Collection – and became a familiar name in the letterpress and book arts worlds. Fluke was the owner of J.D. Grahame Cracker Press, a small private press focused on working with hand-set type and hand-bound works of art.
He once said, “As a collage artist, piecing together images and thoughts from a wide range of sources, the techniques employed are mostly relief printing (letterpress, photoengraving, linoleum or wood cuts) or screenprinting. In addition to printmaking, my work includes papermaking and book arts. This is an indication of how important linear thought and processes in artmaking are to me.”
Fluke exhibited internationally, including exhibiting and curating letterpress art in Cortona, Italy; participating in the International Printmaking Workshop at the Xi’an Academy of Fine Art, China, and exhibiting in Indigo Print and Paperworks in Edmonton, Canada, and Blum Gallery at the College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine.
Collections holding Fluke’s work include the Library of Congress, Baltimore Museum of Art, New Mexico Holocaust and Intolerance Museum, National Gallery of Art, Szent István Király Múzeum (Hungary), Orfali Gallery (Amman, Jordan), Wake Forest University and Brown University.
Fluke was SFCC’s Director of Continuing Education from 2000 to 2016. During his tenure in college administration, much of his energy was focused on serving students both as an instructor and as a leader in designing and developing noncredit classes. But that time was not devoid of artmaking. In 2007, Fluke was one of nine artists from around the world invited to participate in the first International Printmaking Workshop at the Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts in Xi’an, China. Fluke worked at the college for almost 19 years prior to his retirement from his administrative role. Previously, he worked in the bookstore, community relations, and as an adjunct faculty member in the art department teaching introduction to printmaking, papermaking and book arts. He returned as a part-time instructor after his retirement as an administrator and he taught through December 2022.
In addition to his art, he was active in the community as a volunteer with Listening Horse Therapeutic Riding and was on the board of the Santa Fe Book Arts Group. Read more about his life in his obituary.
The SFCC Visual Arts Gallery is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, except when the college is closed. For more information about the SFCC Visual Arts Gallery, contact Director of Art on Campus Linda Cassel via email at linda.cassel@sfcc.edu or call 505-428-1501.
Santa Fe Community College celebrates its 40th Anniversary as the pathway to success for individuals and the community. SFCC provides affordable, high-quality programs that serve the academic, cultural, and economic needs of the community. The college welcomes over 10,000 students per year in credit, noncredit, workforce training, personal enrichment, and adult programs.
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Visit sfcc.edu or call 505-428-1000.
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