volumes 2: women bound by art opens at the Curtis R. Harley Art Gallery

 

volumes 2: women bound by art, an altered book exhibition, will be on exhibit at the Curtis R. Harley Art Gallery, University of South Carolina Upstate (USC Upstate), at 800 University Way, Spartanburg, SC 29203 from January 17 - February 21, 2014. This show will be exhibited in conjunction with selected works from volumes: women by by art which was created in 2012 and was exhibited at the main branch of the Lexington County Public Library, Lexington, SC and at Portfolio Art Gallery in Columbia, SC.  The women featured in the exhibition will participate in a panel discussion at 4:30 p.m. on January 30, 2014, which will focus on their respective creative processes. A reception will follow the discussion.  All Gallery events are FREE and open to the public.

The art exhibition includes a collection of 17 altered books created by 18 women artists: Eileen Blyth (Columbia, SC), Cynthia Colbert (Columbia, SC), Jessica Cruser (Columbia, SC), Heidi Darr-Hope (Columbia, SC), Janette Grassi (Charlotte, NC), Tonya Gregg (Columbia, SC), Mary How and her young daughter Macy How (Columbia, SC), Doni Jordan (Columbia, SC), Susan Lenz (Columbia, SC), Susan Livingston (Orangeburg, SC), Gina Moore ((Columbia, SC), Yukiko Oka ((Columbia, SC), Kay Reardon (Columbia, SC), Liisa Salosaari Jasinski (Newberry, SC), Virginia Scotchie (Columbia, SC), Kathryn Van Aernum (Columbia, SC) and Katie Walker (Greenville, SC). The group includes art therapists, art professors, potters, fiber artists, graphic designers, illustrators, mixed media artists, painters and photographers.

Conceived and curated by artists Susan Livingston and Doni Jordan, each artist was given a volume of an encyclopedia and complete creative control.  volumes 2:women bound by art is the result of that creativity. The Standard International Encyclopedia,1954, was donated to the artists by Hal McIntosh, thanks to help of artist Cynthia Colbert. Encyclopedias, the forerunners of todays electronic search engines, where first written by an ancient Roman scholar and focused on grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, musical theory, medicine, and architecture.

ABOUT THE CURTIS R. HARLEY ART GALLERY

The Curtis R. Harley Art Gallery is located at 800 University Way, University of South Carolina Upstate, Spartanburg, SC 29203 and is located on the first floor lobby of the Humanities and Performing Arts Center (HPAC). The gallery showcases nationally and internationally established artists and exhibitions that support the academic mission of USC Upstate. Most recently the University was the recipient of 5 original screenprints by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts to enhance the current collection of 150 Polaroid photographs by Andy Warhol. Hours: 9am-5pm /Monday - Friday.

Alexander Wilds & Yukiko Oka at Gallery 80808

Billed simply as "an exhibition of sculpture, painting, and unique objects from America and Japan," the new show that opened this past Thursday at Vista Studios/Gallery 80808 (at 808 Lady Street) only runs two more days, Monday 3/5 and Tuesday 3/6, but you owe it to yourself to stop by. Featuring new work by husband and wife Alexander Wilds and Yukiko Oka, you'll be surprised at the diversity of the pieces on display, the intricacy of detail, the innovation of style, and the simple elegance of many works done in stark tones.

In fact, you might have missed hearing about this show altogether, given that five new exhibitions opened around the corner on Main Street on First Thursday, Le Corsaire and La Traviata ran at the Koger Center on Friday and Saturday respectively, and for many, spring break has begun. Nevertheless, the attendees at the opening reception Friday night were treated to a fascinating mix of sculpture, painting, figures, abstracts, photography, and especially in some of Oka's work, a complex mix of media that combines some or all of the above.  Much of her work features images in primarily black, white, grays, and muted browns. In many cases the frame or matting is an integral part of the piece itself, often with as much or more pattern and texture than the image or photo within. Sometimes a three-dimensional effect is used where the viewer is looking through a window or portal into another world, space, or time.  Wilds' work includes a large number of free-standing sculptures. Currently an associate professor of art at Benedict College, Wilds says that he is a southerner who spent much of his adult life in Japan, but if someone had told me that these statues were treasures from the court of some 17th century sultan of Mali or Ghana, I'd have believed it in an instant.  At his site, Wilds sums up his mastery of different forms:

I am a sculptor by training and predilection. I make sculpture, I draw like a sculptor (3D images, not flat composition), make prints like a sculptor (process process process) and paint like a sculptor (it's all about material). I do a lot of architecture and furniture, which is just useful sculpture. Still, my work is not just sculpture - lots of painting, etching, drawing. At first blush it might seem like a lack of focus. Not so. All my work has the same hand, same taste, same treatment; only the formats vary. Many of the pieces featured in this exhibition can also be seen online at http://alexanderwilds-art.blogspot.com/ and at http://yukiko-art.blogspot.com/ . And remember, there are only two more days to see Wilds and Oka's work on display at Vista Studios/Gallery 80808 at 808 Lady Street in the Vista.

--August Krickel

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