Summer Studio Salon at Marcia Wood Gallery

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Other Summer Group Shows

To Leo, A Tribute from American Abstract Artists

Summer Invitational at Elizabeth Harris Gallery

Color as Structure at McKenzie Fine Art

In the entry: Benjamin Britton watercolors and George Long mixed-media work

I've been with the Marcia Wood Gallery in Atlanta since 1999, through three changes of venue, numerous exhibitions, and an evolving roster. One of the consistent aspects of the gallery program is Wood's inventiveness. 

One year she invited her gallery artists to each select an artist to include in her summer show, thereby creating a bounty of collegiality among established and emerging artists--and a great-looking exhibition. Another time she focused an exhibition on a then-emerging medium, encaustic. Yet another, she organized six of us to create a print portfolio in Connecticut and then showed the artist proofs. Still another time, she let me curate a show that remained up for the entire summer. I'm sure Wood's other artists have similar stories of her willingness to explore and expand opportunities for us.

This summer it's the Summer Studio Salon: An Evolving Exhibition of Works on Paper. Wood selected 13 artists, myself included, and hung the work salon style. Most of it is unframed, secured to the wall with magnets, which has allowed us to bring or send new work as we complete it. Wood was looking not only for new, but for work in which we stretched some personal boundaries. What follows in a visual walk-through of the show.

 George Long, Dilated Sequence, 2014; mixed media, venetian plaster, oil graphite; installed in gallery entrance, shown above
(Iimage from the gallery website)

Panning around the entrance with a view into the gallery proper: two gouache and watercolor works by Benjamin Britton; Joe Peragine on the far wall

An imperfect panorama to orient you to the main gallery

I'm not providing dimensions for any of the work, because you can see the scale in these photos

From left: Three Rich Gere cyanotypes; my Swipe 6;  Joe Peragine Wrestling Portraits

Joanne Mattera, Swipe 6, 2014, oil on prepared paper

Joe Peragine, Oliver, 2014, watercolor on linen

From the Peragine installation we continue around the gallery: a selection of work by David Humphrey; two from my Swipe  series

Above and below:  Closer views of the long wall
Above: with Peragine and Humphrey
Below: Humphrey and Mattera

David Humphrey 

Joanne Mattera, Swipe 1, 2014, oil on prepared paper

This work is just to the left of the door as you're facing it from the gallery . . .

Continuing around to the right side of the door . . .

Nancy Baker, Rich Gere, Marcus Kenney, Benjamin Britton

Nancy Baker, two framed paper constructions, left, with Magic Carpet Ride, right

Nancy Baker, Magic Carpet Ride, paper construction with acylic paint and archivally printed sections, cut and joined (gotta say that I love this piece!)

Rich Gere, Benjamin Britton

Rich Gere,  Work in Progress II (above) and III, 2014, cyanotype on rag paper

Benjamin Britton,  above and below: gouache and watercolor paintings on paper; bottom image from the gallery website

You can see that we've made a 360 of the front gallery, so . . .

. . . with the Britton gouaches to our left, we look into the second gallery and see three paintings on paper by Alan Loehle

Alan Loehle, Somebody, 2013, acrylic on gessoed paper

I love You, 2013, acrylic on gessoed paper

Untitled, 2013, acrylic on gessoed paper

To orient you, we're going to make a clockwise tour of the gallery

Installation of Timothy McDowell prints

Timothy McDowell, Imagined Landscape #3, 2014, archival inkjet, ed 1/3

Closeups of two of the three prints that are arranged vertically

Moving around the gallery, we see three oil on paper paintings by Brian Novatny, two of which are shown below

Brian Novatny, Uncertain Passage, 2014, above; The Devil's Due, 2014, below; both oil on paper

Corner view as we continue clockwise: Novatny, left, and Katherine Taylor

Katherine Taylor installation of oil or gouache paintings on paper or intaglio prints, 2014

Closer view below

As we step back to view Taylor's work, we glimpse the front gallery before continuing to a vertical installation of acrylic on paper paintings by Amber Boardman

Amber Boardman, above and below

Continuing around, three George Long monoprints

George Long, Murmuration 3

Let's return to the front gallery . . .

. . . and head back to the entrance

My three Swipe paintings (#4, #3, #1); and three by Marcus Kenny

Marcus Kenney, Alled, above, and O the Sun; both mixed media

I've refrained from comment, because I don't want this to be mistaken for anything other than what it is--a first-person tour of an exhibition in which my own work is included--but now that you've seen the work, I think that I can offer this remark: It is always gratifying to see the range of expression by a geographically diverse group of artists with a two-decade age range working within a thematic or material slice of expression. (And the gallery parties, which take place on the back terrace, are the best ever!)

If you're in Atlanta, Summer Studio Salon is up through next Saturday, August 30. Otherwise, you can the gallery's installation images here and peruse the work of the exhibiting artists here.

Nancy Natale: Reflections and Shadows

Summer Solos, Part 1: Brenda Goodman   

Summer Solos, Part 2: Debra Ramsay  

Summer Solos, Part 3: Helen Miranda Wilson

Summer Solos, Part 4: Karen Schifano

On a recent trip to Boston’s Arden Gallery, I had a chance to visit a splendid solo exhibition of work by Nancy Natale. Based in Western Massachusetts but known nationally through her work and her blog, Natale has created two-dimensional mixed-media constructions that would fall under the rubric of painting (she describes them as bricolage), but which embody the luminous translucence of stained glass, pieced in the manner of quilting, and "stitched" together with canvas tacks in the manner of a cobbler. The multiplicity of references is mirrored by the sheer volume of visual activity in each work.

Shimmer,  2014, mixed media, 48 x 36 inches

In viewing the work however, what matters is the way light appears to flow across the surface, or how inserts of copper or other metal intensify an existing glow. Those tacks, hammered at regular intervals but not rigorously measured, not only hold the whole thing in place but also create vertical polyrhythms against the horizontality of the pieced composition. So add a suggestion of music to the energetic mix.

Installation views at Arden Gallery

Above left: Red Pair, with Cugat and Montalban;  right, Shimmer

(Sculpture is by Michelle Knox)

Below: Shimmer and All Good Intentions

Closer examination reveals a trove of “reading material”—book spines and pages, some cut-up album covers, even paintings. In a blog post about her work, Natale writes, “I began thinking of this series as a collection of memories, organized not consecutively or to relate a narrative, but rather as strokes of paint on a canvas. Memory jumps around sometimes and juxtaposes yesterday's movie with the crush you had on a movie star at age 12.”

Green Shade, 2014, mixed media, 36 x 36 inches

Installation with Green Shade several smaller works 

You can read more on Natale's blog.  

The exhibition is up through August 30. Be sure to visit Kim Bernard’s solo exhibition in the front gallery and (insert shameless plug here) a peek into the back room, where the work of gallery artists, including my own, is on salon-style display.