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By Monique Bos “La Flora: A Celebration of Signature Style” showcases work by women artists whose mixed-media creations explore feminine identity. The exhibition, on display through Oct. 2 at Red Gallery, 201 E. Broughton St., features work by Savannah College of Art and Design professors Amy Freeman and Katherine Sandoz; alumni Kara D’Angelo, Susan Laney, Sarah Pulskamp McCarn, Suzanne Rader and Katie Runnels; and internationally renowned artists Liliana Porter and Jenny Watson. According to the exhibition’s statement, “Each work … is a highly dynamic personal exploration of feminine identity that ranges from ambiguous narrative to direct explorations of non-functional categories of feminine style in the media.” McCarn, who earned her M.F.A. in photography in 2003, created landscapes using household items, such as a doormat cut to resemble a marsh and purified sand and a broom arranged as a sand dune. “I’m interested in landscapes,” McCarn said, “and it’s difficult to find that pristine landscape. You have to edit the scene a good bit” to eliminate power lines and other human-made elements. Most of her works are about a foot square and can only be viewed through the lens of a camera. Through her art, she said, “you could travel to all these different places in your mind.” McCarn said her work “is really on my thoughts about nature and things that are manmade ... It’s my way of seeing the environment, being a woman in the environment.” D’Angelo earned a B.F.A. in fibers from SCAD in 1998 and went on to receive an M.F.A. in textile arts and costume design from the University of California at Davis. She creates 3-D clothing structures using soft fabrics, such as silk, shaped by wires to suggest empty yet occupied garments. “My work has to do with the idea of the absent body,” she said. “It’s about reminiscing about these entities, these things that exist, and bringing them back.” D’Angelo said textile art often relies on the concepts of either the empty garment or wearable art. “What I wanted to do was get into the center area and include the idea of the empty dress,” she said, “but bring movement and a glimpse of something that could be there — a body, the reminiscence of movement.” She said her art also ties in with the flower theme of the exhibition’s title. “Even though my work isn’t about flowers, you can see the influence of plants,” she said, citing palm trees and other foliage in South Florida, where she lives, as an influence on her work. Rader, who received her M.F.A. in painting in 2003, designed tufted panels for the exhibition. “I’m trying to evoke a flower garden,” she said. “Some have order, and some don’t.” She created her panels by adding layers of cotton padding, fabric and beadwork to stretched canvas. “It’s like quilting,” she said. “I meant for them to look like flowers, but they also look like dancers. They’re very feminine but also very pop.” Rader, who lives in Matawan, N.J., said she visits the New York garment district to find beads and also uses antique necklaces. She said her initial panel designs followed a grid pattern, but her work has evolved to include bead structures that resemble individual characters. In addition to beads, jewelry and fabrics, she uses materials such as wallpaper and Cartier boxes to add a unique flair to her work. Characterizing her pieces as “flirty,” she said the beadwork “gives it a feeling of sex and greed, but it also has a sense of humor.” Like McCarn, D’Angelo and Rader, the other six artists featured in “La Flora: A Celebration of Signature Style” also use a variety of media to express their diverse perspectives. The exhibition combines their visions into a cohesive presentation of the interplay of femininity with the creation of art. “La Flora: A Celebration of Signature Style” is on display through Oct. 2 at Red Gallery, 201 E. Broughton St., and is featured on the August Gallery Hop, Aug. 6, 5-7 p.m.
By Monique Bos Every month when her Glamour magazine arrives in the mail, Savannah College of Art and Design graduate student Jessica Schnebel begins a large-scale painting of the cover. She puts it aside when the next month’s issue shows up and begins the process again. The results are displayed in “Glamour Incomplete,” her M.F.A. painting thesis exhibition, showing at Alexander Hall, 668 Indian St., through Sept. 6. The exhibition features eight Glamour covers — Dec. 2003 - July 2004 — in varying states of completion. “It’s helped me learn to accept and love the incompleteness,” Schnebel said, “not being able to live up to that archetypal woman that has it all — she’s happy, she’s beautiful, and she can teach you these things.” She said a number of factors determine how much she accomplishes on each painting — such as how much time she has that month and whether she likes or dislikes the cover model. “I can’t decide if I love [Glamour] or hate it, so a lot of this work is a love-hate relationship,” Schnebel said. “When I’m working on it, I take it to a certain level of love. I love her, then I leave her.” She personalizes the paintings by using canvases that are her height: 5-feet-10-inches tall. In addition, she said, “By painting her through my hand I’m humanizing the inhuman. She is part of the machine, but bringing her into my personal world shows the obsession.” Schnebel’s ambivalence about Glamour extends to what she calls the “magazine machine” and the film industry, which propagate certain expectations for women. “It promises so much — love, happiness,” she said. “One of the paintings says, ‘12 ways to be happy now.’ Is that really possible from a magazine? But it sells things so beautifully.” For the exhibition, the paintings are mounted on shelving units that resemble a newsstand but also create a non-traditional way of displaying art. “I hope the viewer sees them as more than just paintings,” Schnebel said. “I want the viewer to walk in and question why [the magazines] are on the shelves.” In addition, a DVD titled “Self Portrait,” featuring YM Makeover Magic software, will run during the exhibition. “The piece continually alters my image,” Schnebel said. Another DVD will play at the closing reception Sept. 3. Schnebel said this piece will be shown in an auditorium rather than a gallery and will have a cinematic feel. “Glamour Incomplete” is on display at Alexander Hall, 668 Indian St., through Sept. 6, and is featured on the August Gallery Hop, Aug. 6, 5-7 p.m.
The King-Tisdell Cottage Foundation presents Napoleon Wilkerson’s “Retrospective 1988 - 2003” exhibition at the Beach Institute, 502 E. Harris St., through Sept. 19. The exhibition features watercolors painted by Wilkerson over the past 15 years. The artist said he first experimented with watercolors for an early exhibition at King-Tisdell Cottage. “It just felt comfortable,” he said, “and it’s been one of my favorite media since then.” Wilkerson was born in New York City but grew up in Savannah, where he graduated from SCAD in 1989 with a B.F.A. in illustration. This fall, he will begin his sixth year teaching at the Savannah Arts Academy and his 11th year in the Savannah public schools. “It all began with people seeing my work and asking if I could teach their child to draw or paint,” he said. He volunteered at the YMCA and church community-outreach programs and eventually received his certification. “It’s quite rewarding to work with students who are very talented and help them prepare their portfolios,” he said. Wilkerson’s paintings are realistic, representational portrayals of family members, childhood memories and scenes from African-American history. “My subject matter comes from people that I know, family members or certain things that I’ve seen,” he said. “I’m inspired by history. I have several paintings about the Civil War and the role black soldiers played.” He said his watercolor of a basket weaver traces the connection to Africa. He also portrays genre scenes, “things that I did as a boy,” such as a group of children playing marbles. “If you look at my work, I think anybody could relate to what I do,” Wilkerson said. “This shows what I’ve been working on for the past 15-16 years, and I want to share it with the community.” Wilkerson credited SCAD, City Market and the Savannah Art Association with nurturing Savannah’s artistic environment. “It’s a great town for artists,” he said. “Napoleon Wilkerson: Retrospective 1988 - 2003” is on display at the Beach Institute, 502 E. Harris St., through Sept. 19.
For “Letting the Accident Ride Shotgun,” his M.F.A. thesis show in painting, SCAD student Heath Ritch concentrates on the roles accident and control play in the artistic process. The exhibition is on display at Alexander Annex, 668 Indian St., through Aug. 26. Ritch begins his works by reproducing images from art magazines, such as Art in America and Artforum, on stretched canvas. After he completes a painting, he presses a loose piece of canvas — which he calls a “floating canvas” — against the wet surface, altering the original painting and also creating a new work. Ritch said the process originated from frustration with a painting he was working on. “I picked it up and turned it around and pressed it against the wall,” he said. The resulting changes in the colors and patterns of the painting intrigued him, and he began to experiment with pressing materials onto wet painted surfaces. In addition, he pours mineral spirits onto some paintings to alter the colors and layers. “It’s the idea of controlled and non-controlled,” he said, “allowing an accident to dictate the process and end result.” Rich characterized his technique as “not so much … reinforcing the original image but … responding to the image as it moves along.” He said his paintings are not typical abstractions in that he doesn’t use them to express emotion. “They’re not about any higher state of being through painting — it really is about the process of the application, using these accidental mark-makings.” Rich said he is motivated more by the act of painting than by the result. “I’m very process-oriented,” he said. “Letting the Accident Ride Shotgun” is on display at Alexander Annex in Alexander Hall, 668 Indian St., through Aug. 26, and is featured on the August Gallery Hop, Aug. 6, from 5-7 p.m. |
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