A Look at Two University Gallery Exhibits

I've been a part of two wonderful exhibits this October in both the University of Tennessee Downtown Gallery on Gay Street, Knoxville, TN, and Tipton Gallery, the downtown gallery of East Tennessee State University in Johnson City. (The university is also home to Slocumb Gallery, and the Carroll Reece Museum). 

Ossuary 

October 4-26, 2013 UT Downtown Gallery

ABOUT THE CURRENT EXHIBITION

(information copied from UT gallery page)

Three hundred artists have contributed to this Ossuary. Their work, in many media, includes single bones, clusters of bones, and art works inspired by, using, or playing with the idea of bones. These bones are political statements and personal elegies, memorials to individuals and statements about mortality. They represent connections to our ancestors and/or to our descendants. Some works are serious and some use bones in a completely playful manner.

Gallery manager Mike Berry checking on last minute details

Ossuary was developed in response to the repositories of bones that have accured in countries like Cambodia and Rwanda, but Ossuary is not a project about those traumas. Rather, Ossuary offers a poignant counter-image to mass violence. It is a project about the hope that art brings.

Images and statements for all the bone works from this iteration can be found online at  www.ossuaries.net

Ossuary is a cummulative traveling project. It began in Madison, Wisconsin. Artists interested in contributing bones to future exhibitions should write to ossuaries@gmail.com.

This relational project was initiated and developed by the artist Laurie Beth Clark. Clark, who is a Professor in the Art Department at the University of Wisconsin, has shown work in galleries, museums, theatres, and public spaces in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Extensive documentation of prior projects can be found at www.lbclark.net 

Ossuary features over 300 works from artists around the world. Many contributions come from Knoxville-area artists.

 

My piece, center

Landfill Consumption Legacy: 8.5” x 8.5” x 15” -  2013

Charcoal on paper, polymer clay “bones”, glass bottles,  plexiglass box, trash and detritus

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The remains of human life are much more than a mere collection of bones, ash, or preserved body. It is rather an amassed collection of mostly buried remains of consumption over a lifetime that seems to grow steadily over time for each individual in the developed world. Despite attempts at recycling, the world of just a generation of two ago was much more adept at this skill, by simply using thrift as guide. My example of a rather physical manifestation of human extreme over-consumption might end up in small jars, but the history of their activity and behavior commands much more space.

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Envisioned Landscapes 

September 30-October 25, 2013, Tipton Gallery, 126 Spring St. Johnson City, TN

visitors checking out "One Epoch in the Life of a Garden Goddess"

"One Epoch in the Life of a Garden Goddess"ceramic, wood, glass, hand built portable houses, plant material

Suzanne Stryk talks about her work (7 pieces behind on wall)

Mary Bates Nuebauer talks about her 3D work in case

Diane Fox talks about her photography

My "One Epoch" piece on pedestal, Adriane Little's work on wall and video screen

Ceramic work by Allisone Luce

Adriane Little's bulb and transparency wall shadow projection

my "Her Lust Lay Heavily Upon Them" right, on pedestal

"Her Lust Lay Heavily Upon Them" ceramic, wood, fake grass and plant material

artists Suzanne Stryk (VA), Theresa Markiw (TN), Denise Stewart-Sanabria (TN), Mary Bates Nuebauer (AZ),Diane Fox (TN), not sure, Mary Barton Nees (TN), and ETSU's Womans Studies Program Director, Dr. Phyllis Thompson 

 

Event Description  (text info from Slocumb Gallery website)          The landscape as a genre is one of the most popular subject matters in the history of art. From the realists to impressionists, even the surrealists, the landscape as a changing muse has inspired artists for centuries.  The landscape as an art concept has further evolved in contemporary art, at times veering away from the romanticized picturesque images of nature toward other planes, like earth art, installations, and multimedia images.  Women’s deeper understanding of birth origins, connections of the womb and Mother Earth are perspectives that imbue art with distinct terrain, a geography embodied differently from the dominant male-dominated landscape.      Opening September 30, 2013, and running through October 25, 2013, “Envisioned Landscape: A Group Exhibition” explores the landscape from the female point of view.  An Opening Reception, with artists’ talk, is scheduled for First Friday, October 4, 2013, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. with guest of honor Dr. Wilsie Bishop.  Location is the Tipton Gallery, 126 Spring Street, Johnson City, Tenn.  The exhibit is co-curated by Karlota Contreras-Koterbay, Slocumb Galleries director and intern Michael Hale.

           “Envisioned Landscape: A Group Exhibition” features work that manipulates the landscape and embeds it with a more complex content.  The co-curators are interested in exploring the artists’  ‘created’ and ‘imagined’ terrain as opposed to its traditional representation of scenery as it is. Some of the envisioned landscape presents its subject as apocalyptic or mystical and even psychedelic, revealing the artists’ exploration of media and their efforts to push the boundaries of what is considered ‘landscape’.
            The participating artists are: Diane Fox (Tenn.),Megan Levacy (Ga.), Adriane Little (Mich.), Allison Luce (N. Carolina), Theresa Markiw(Tenn.), Mary Nees (Tenn.), Mary Bates Nuebauer (Ariz.), Esther Randall (Ken.), Suzanne Stryk (Va.), and Denise Stewart-Sanabria (Tenn.). Sculptor Mary Bates Neubauer will present a lecture at the Art Annex on October 3, Thursday at 11:30 a.m.
            The “Envisioned Landscape: A Group Exhibition” is sponsored by Department of Art and Design, Urban Redevelopment Alliance, Women’s Studies Program, and Women’s Resource Center.  For more information, contact Karlota Contreras-Koterbay at 423-483-3179 or the Women’s Resource Center at 423-439-5772.  The Tipton Gallery is open on First Friday receptions from 6 to 8 p.m., Thursdays from 4 to 6 p.m. and by appointment. The exhibit and lectures are free and open to the public.

Exhibit Road Trip/ The Bascom

American Art Today: Figures

The Bascom

Highlands, North Carolina

September 7 through January 5, 2014. Bunzl Gallery, The Bascom

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Features two-dimensional and sculptural works of 50 artists from across the nation. The juror is Jonathan Stuhlman, Curator of American Art at the Mint Museum of Art in Charlotte, North Carolina. 

The full online image list of work is here

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Road Trip

This was my third time having my work shown in various exhibits at The Bascom in Highlands, NC. The venue is a combination of both galleries and teaching facilities, with a concentration on ceramics. They also bring in solo exhibits from all over, and temporary environmental installations from artists for the grounds that surround the facility,including my favorite, Patrick Doughery . His massive stickworks construction would still be up if not for the tail end of a hurricane passing over and putting an early end to it I think last year.

The most direct route to get to Highlands from Knoxville, TN involves driving directly through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which is good. What is bad is having to go through Pigeon Forge to get there. Every year, this is the weekend where they have a car event that causes gridlock of monumental proportions that involves people dragging in everything from classic cars to outright pieces of rusting crap, jeeps, and even golf carts. Exhibitors sit on lawn chairs on the side of the main drag by their parked vehicles, while everyone else cruises. Two years ago, I came straight back at night by mistake, and it took 3 hours to drive 12 miles. There are a couple attractions there that are worthy in town, such as the Titanic Museum, and Dollywood, but basically it is an amusingly (and embarrassing) trashy strip where the only food seems to be Pancakes. (We are grateful for the revenue and ironic photo ops, thank you very much). Cherokee is at the other end of the park, where there is the casino, a decent Native American living history museum, and where you can pay a local wearing full something-or-other feathered "Chief" regalia to do a native dance of indeterminate source. And you can buy moccasins. From there, you shoot through the incredible beauty of the old gem mining counties of NC, and up a winding road that goes about 2,000 feet up past endless waterfalls into the 4,000 ft.+ elevation of Highlands.

You can still buy moccasins here, but this type of shop is more the norm. The Nantahala National Forest that edges the west of town turns into endless golf courses, country clubs, and gallery/antique shopping going north all the way up to the awesome town of Brevard, where you once again you get close to entering the massive park systems at the Pisgah National Forest. Beware of the motorcyclists up there. They think the entire area is their private race track, and everyone else is in the way. Speed limits are suggestions, no passing areas are a joke. The cops hate them but you can't stop speeders on switchbacks. One almost bit it in the gravel after he passed me- his handlebars almost touching my car. I saw his buddies laughing at him through the rear view mirror. Jerks.

Well-back to Highlands. We like Bucks coffee shop. There is also a great place to eat breakfast down the street inside an old drug store with 20th century prices. There are some good outfitter shops-great sale prices on hiking boots and stuff. There is also a strange "Auction House" that is like micro Southeby's wanna be. Lottsa good restaurants. Big fancy vintage Inns. We stayed in a horribly overpriced hotel, but it was either that or sleep in the van.

At The Bascom, they have a trash bin by one of the ceramic studios with this stuff in it. Some of it looks too nice to be rejects.

Center painting, Alberto Carol of FL

The exhibit is primo. Realism to conceptual. Bronze sculptures with zipper heads. A spinal column made from translucent pig stomach linings below, to the right. I've got gallery images from a couple angles, and some favorites. The reception was terrific. Artists came in from as far away as CA.

My multi-figure drawing on plywood, "Social Situations #2" in center

On the back wall: Chris LaPorte's "Navarres of Woodside"

I was excited to see Michigan artist Chris LaPorte in the exhibit (above). His work is well known particularly through the Grand Rapids incredible ArtPrize event, where he won the big one in 2010-the biggest monetary art award in the world. In fact, I was told he submitted the piece that won that award, but the dimensions were monumental, and there were concerns about it fitting, so they took the smaller one even though they wanted the bigger one.

A Donald Robson diptych to the left. He is a professor at Kennesa State in Georgia. I really like his work. He does lots of strange people in odd uniforms doing things that aren't clear.

A Sharon Roadcap glass etching to the right. She runs an impressive glass studio in Virginia Beach where they produce work for public art installations with 2 of her children.

A Ronald Gonzalez from NY. I love this creature.

A Cara Sullivan from New Mexico. It kind of reminds me of my friend Alison Oakes work.

We ate dinner on the outside patio of a local restaurant, where even the Ace Hardware is classy.

 On the way back the next day, we had great food at Hobnobs in Brevard. I had fried green tomato caprese salad with smoked fresh mozzarella. Italian/Southern fusion locavore food at it's best served on the front porch of an old renovated house!

 

Museum Biennial Inclusion

My recent painting FD&C Red # 40 will be in From These Hills: Contemporary Art in the Southern Appalachian Highlands at the William King Museum  in Abingdon, VA

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William King Museum continues to celebrate the diversity of regional artistic talent with its biennial exhibition, From These Hills: Contemporary Art in the Southern Appalachian Highlands, a major exhibition of new works by artists working in all media in Southwest Virginia, Northeast Tennessee, Western North Carolina, Southern West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky. The 2013 exhibition will open in The United Company Contemporary Regional Gallery of William King Museum, Abingdon, Virginia, on October 18, 2013, and will continue through February 16, 2014.
This exhibition will be guest-curated by Steven Matijcio, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Southeast Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

FD&C Red # 40     oil on canvas       4' x 6'

Inclusion in "American Art Today: Figures"

I'm really looking forward to this exhibit. Both the town of Highlands and The Bascom are really intensely cool-just getting up there through waterfall row is something else. In addition to regular local and national exhibits, The Bascom is a teaching venue, like Arrowmont. They host amazing outside sculptural installations, including a monumental Patrick Dougherty environmental stick installation that I hope is still standing. (Dougherty will be a visiting artist at ETSU this fall: http://www.etsu.edu/cas/arts/volunteer/news.aspx )

American Art Today: Figures

The Bascom

Highlands, North Carolina

September 7 through January 5, 2014. Bunzl Gallery, The Bascom
Opening Reception and Awards Presentation: Saturday, September 7. 5:00-7:00 pm
Juror Talk: 6:00 pm
This prestigious, juried exhibition features two-dimensional and sculptural works of approximately 50 artists from across the nation. The theme for the exhibition is “Figures.” This year’s juror is Jonathan Stuhlman, Curator of American Art at the Mint Museum of Art in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Social Situations #2 Charcoal and pastel pencil on plywood: 76"H x 60"W x 24"D

Inclusion in Creative Quartely Journal/ Issue No. 30 + 31

I have a 2 page spread focusing on some of my Produce Portraits in the latest issue of Creative Quarterly Magazine . Pictured, clockwise from upper left: Inquisition Vanitas, Moon Pie Zinger, Double Zingers, Gastronomical Attraction, and Produce Butcher.

 

Upcoming Exhibits at University Galleries

I've got work in two university galleries this October:

Ossuary 

at the University of Tennessee/Knoxville UT Downtown Gallery, Knoxville TN
Dates: October 4 - 26, 2013
Reception: Friday, October 4, 5-9pm 

Ossuary is a project curated by Laurie Beth Clark of University of Wisconsin at Madison.

It's first showing was at  the Chazen Museum of Art..

Installation views can be seen here.

It's second iteration will include the work of selected Tennessee artists.

Landfill Consumption Legacy: 8.5” x 8.5” x 15” -  2013

Charcoal on paper, polymer clay “bones”, glass bottles,  plexiglass box, trash and detritus

~

The remains of human life are much more than a mere collection of bones, ash, or preserved body. It is rather an amassed collection of mostly buried remains of consumption over a lifetime that seems to grow steadily over time for each individual in the developed world. Despite attempts at recycling, the world of just a generation of two ago was much more adept at this skill, by simply using thrift as guide. My example of a rather physical manifestation of human extreme over-consumption might end up in small jars, but the history of their activity and behavior commands much more space.

~

Envisioned Landscapes

Envisioned Landscape: Group Exhibition
September 30 October 25, 2013, Tipton Gallery at ETSU
Reception: October 4, First Friday, 5 to 7 p.m.

A preliminary list of participating artists includes Diane Fox, Megan Levancy, Adrienne Little, Allison Luce, Theresa Markiw, Mary Bates Neubauer, Esther Randall, and Suzanne Stryk. 

One Epoch in the Life of a Lawn Goddess

Rotation at Gallery Asheville!

I've got a new inventory of work at Gallery Asheville as of delivery this Tues., June 4th. There are produce paintings and seven of my Altar series! Asheville's biggest art crawl of the year is this Friday, June 7th.