About Flagpole. (Athens, Ga.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (April 13, 2011)
THE LYNDON HOUSE AND ITS REFUSES The Chosen Ones: With two juried exhibitions (the Lyndon House and OCAF) happening simultaneously, we are given a chance to survey the local art scene in a cross-section of media and artistic approaches. The 36th annual Juried Exhibition at the Lyndon House Arts Center includes 160 pieces of artwork from local artists. Curated by Carla Hanzal (The Mint Museum), the exhibition indexes all varieties of two- and three-dimen sional work: paintings, prints, photographs, sculpture, jewelry and fiber art—with both familiar names and new talent in the mix. Providing a fitting welcome to the exhibition is Jonathan Jacquefs "Daisy and Victor (The Ongoing Conversation about Art)," as you enter the gallery. This allegorical painting in oil on panel depicts two children sitting at a round wood table scattered with objects including art history textbooks tied with string—which the girl slurps up like spaghetti—and a picture of Goya's "Saturn Devouring His Son." Upstairs, Jacquet's "Red Hen of Clarke County" is a magnificent chicken painted mid-cluck in a faux-folk style—a likely mascot for our local Pro-Chicken contingent. The large folk art paintings of June F. Johnston are rendered in acrylic on a rough, cement-like surface. Dark grays and browns with splashes of light and color depict subjects like a homeless woman sitting on a park bench, or a man on a porch rocking chair with a church fan in his lap. High-profile Athens artists Jaime Bull and Ar.dy Cherewick also appear in the show. Bull's "Chimney Swifts," a brightly colored painting on a gold background looks like a tribal mask and reminds me of Chris Ofili's paintings (without the cow dung). Cherewick's "Ocean Loves Croker, Croker Loves the Sea" is highly textured with paint built up to create a choppy, rip pling surface washing over broken bodies. Several photographers are represented here as well. "Murano Abstract: A Venice Landfill" by Thom Houser is a rectangular "landscape" of shards of colored Murano glass amid trash and weeds. A colorful composition of such precious debris makes a pointed juxtaposition of trash and treasure. Controlled chaos appears in David Noah's "Birds arid Wires"—a small black-and- white photo of birds sitting on and flying through telephone wires. The square shape of the photograph emphasizes the geometric composition and shows the photographer's patience (and maybe a little luck) in getting just the right shot of birds filling the spaces and breaking free of the grid to fly from the picture plane. Documenting beautiful decay in domestic scenes is Ginger Goekjian, with two photographs, including "Aunt Lucy's Sink": a reverent image of a sink in an old bathroom lit up like a shrine with yellow light. Representing the three-dimensional category, local artist Cindy Jerrell has two stage constructions with puppet charac ters playing different roles. "A Song for You" stars a mythical cat-like woman in a burgundy dress and ballet slippers playing the lute. Behind her, a stag leaps through the sylvan night like a lost scene from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. (See last week's Flagpole cover.) Perhaps the most stunning art work is not a painting or a photograph, but Olivia Terrell's "Honeycomb Bib" necklace. This complex piece is as much sculpture as it is wearable art: a copper neck lace fashioned as a honeycomb with golden and bronze enamel glistening in the chambers. Some cnambers are more built up than others, giving it a topographic quality that is simply breathtaking. The exhibition fills four rooms and includes fine examples of artwork in other media not described here. Check out the show through May 10 and don't forget to stop by the "Refuses" exhibition located at the Bob M. Snipes Water Resources Center on Barber Street to see 25 works by Athens artists not included in the juried collection. < Down the Road a Piece: The 16th annual Southworks juried exhibition at the Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation is also on display at the OCAF building in Watkinsville. Curated by Phaedra Siebert (Arkansas Art Center), this show pulls artwork from across the country with a strong representation by local artists. Again, a survey like this provides a snapshot of artistic life in our community. Knowing that several artists are represented both here and at the Lyndon House indicates the artists' interest in participating in these kinds of events and the curators' shared taste in choosing their work to represent the local scene. On the whole, the selection of fiber and 3-D artwork is stronger here, with Caroline Montague's bronze "New Stag" sculpture winning the Best in Show award. Elizabeth Barton's "Double Exposure Spire" collage quilt is also noteworthy, an abstracted and jewel- toned architectural silhouette against a gray- and-black background. A new name for me is Walt Curlee (Phenix City, AL), whose highly controlled and detailed pastoral scenes take on Currier and Ives with an almost manic preci sion. While at OCAF, don't miss Jim Collins' large mixed-media box assemblages of found objects and worn-out industrial materials. T hese make for romantic storytelling sure to please any fan of Joseph Cornell. The Southworks exhibition is on view through May 7. GMOA Surrealist Exhibition Events: On Apr. 21 at 5:30 p.m., Arielle Saiber (Bowdoin College) and Elliot King (University of Colorado and the University of Denver) will discuss "Hyperdimensionality in Salvador Dali's Illustrations of Dante's 'Paradiso'." Also on Apr. 21st from 7 p.m. to midnight is "Keepin' It Surreal: Student Night at GMOA." The event will include live music, crafting, a photo booth, tours and the Surrealists' parlor game, Exquisite Corpse. Bloomin' Heck: Enrich your enjoyment of the spectacular spring blooms we've been witnessing with a drawing workshop at the State Botanical Garden on Tuesday, Apr. 26 from 4-6 p.m. Artist Toni Carlucd will teach techniques for drawing flora and fauna in this free workshop. Pre-registration is required, call (706) 542-6156 to reserve a spot. Caroline Barratt arts@flagpole.com Jim Collins' ariwork is part of the 16th annual Southworks exhibition at OCAF through May 7. pamco on: api tase pai cegalle FINE WINE • DOMESTICS & CRAFT BEER • LIQUOR Low Price Huge Selection LARGE SELECTION OF CRAFT BEERS & MICROBREWS 4388 Lexington Rd. 265 North Aye. 706.583.4066 706.543.0005 PERRY’S STORE #1 PERRY’S STORE U2 1195 Cedar Shoals Rd. 4390 Lexington Rd. 706-353-0057 0-Haul: 706-3530630 NO I.D. - NO BEER. DRINK RESPONSIBLY. rWWWI'OTWWIW^MIllll i I APRIL13.2011-FLAGPOLE.COM 11
