“Collaborationism” is one rather tongue-in-cheek description of the 12+ year working relationship between three artists/educators who met during a brief period when three all taught at Morningside College (now University) in Sioux City, Iowa. In wartime the term refers to complicity with an occupying power, but here it is more of a play on the endless string of “isms” with which historians have endeavored to categorize an increasingly complex visual art scene. (Stuckism, anyone?) Within those twelve years Bowitz, Knedler and Sargent have produced hundreds of multi-media two-dimensional artworks, working together on each piece with only a very minimal set of rules, much like those governing polite conversation. No yelling, no hogging the limelight, pay attention to what others say, keep things interesting, and interrupt only when absolutely necessary.

They each bring something unique to the conversation. John Bowitz, Professor Emeritus at Morningside, often weaves free-form narrative elements in and out of a composition, visual and literal puns and provocations often engaging art history.

Cory Knedler, printmaker and Chair of the Art Department at the University of South Dakota, is responsible for layers of decorative motifs and mutations, screen patterns, and arabesques that appear courtesy of the numerous technical processes and found objects that have occupied his practice.

The boldest color and form can generally be traced to Shannon Sargent, who teaches a sculpture class alongside his duties as Exhibitions/Collections Coordinator of the Sioux City Art Center. In many regards he is the organizing force behind the alliance, clarifying a focal point, fine-tuning a composition, and even storing and archiving the work.

But the collaboration is less about recognizing the efforts of each artist than it is about engagement, questioning, and the exploration of the unexpected response. Will the next person’s addition add to a sense of balance or destabilization? Contradiction or harmony? Perhaps the greatest challenge here is to avoid becoming too attached to one’s own creations, but that is the direction where much innovation lies.

At some point all three artists must agree that a work is complete. As viewers we can then “eavesdrop” on their conversation, free to tease out the meanings within the work, embellish them with our own narratives, and enjoy the synergy that brought it all together.