What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1281647
"As it grew longer and longer and more uncertain, we had to cancel all visiting artists and special exhibits, not knowing when we could open or whether we could hold events. We then decided to focus on our local membership and the works we were creating as we were all sheltering at home." Artist Dale Heath was back East when the pandemic struck. "I cut short my visit in New York City as the virus fired up there," he relates. "I returned to Fayetteville for a two-week self-quarantine, only to discover within a few days that Arkansas was experiencing a relatively similar covid-19 crisis." Heath says he has "generally sought a somewhat reclusive studio life that has perhaps changed somewhat in its constancy, but not in a way that has changed my work or work habits." But the choice of subject for the three pieces on show as part of "Chaos, Confusion, Creativity" was "definitely influenced by life now, i.e. immense social and economic distress, fragile world health and an unpredictable political landscape," he says. "The iconic Lady Liberty has long stood for welcome to the oppressed — the poor, tired, huddled masses longing for freedom — and the promise of that freedom. She lights the way to vast uncertainties these days. "It seems that art itself has always lifted the ubiquitous layers of hiddenness and secrecy common to us human beings," Heath muses. "It cannot do otherwise. Some makers want to do that intentionally. I do not. I guess I pass on a message that comes from the part of me that makes the painting. "For me, the painting is finished when I can walk away from it," he adds. "From that moment on, the fate of the work is in the viewer's hands. What the viewer sees or doesn't see isn't any of my business." Foster says this exhibit will be unique in that it will be "rather fluid. As we add new members to the Fenix group, new works will be rotated into the exhibit as others are removed. It will be worth a second and perhaps third visit throughout the exhibit." As for her own art, "I think that the uncertainty will be an underlying theme in my work for some time to come." "I don't think the pandemic has changed my perception of the world. Pandemics are a natural phenomenon. What has had a profound effect on my world view is the American reaction to the crisis. I find the denial of science and the politicalization of our health and well-being outrageous and unfathomable in this 21st century. It feels as though America has lost its way, and I'm not sure we can get back to a place that feels like home." Go to: facebook.com/BestBranson Like The Best of Branson on Facebook for a chance to win some Really Great Prizes! This week's prize: New contest each week! facebook.com/BestBranson LIKE our Facebook page before 11:59 pm this Tuesday, August 25, to be entered to win: 2 passes to 40 WHAT'S UP! AUGUST 23-29, 2020 PRESIDENT Brent Powers EDITOR Becca Martin-Brown 479-872-5054 bmartin@nwadg.com Twitter: NWAbecca ASSOCIATE EDITOR Jocelyn Murphy 479-872-5176 jmurphy@nwadg.com Twitter: NWAJocelyn DESIGNER Deb Harvell 479-872-5029 REPORTER Lara Hightower 479-365-2913 lhightower@nwadg.com WHAT'S What's Up! is a publication of the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. ON THE COVER "Tigris T-1" by Anne Lemanski is part of the tem- porary exhibition "Crafting America" — the first exhibition in Crystal Bridges Museum's 2021 lineup — opening Feb. 6. COURTESY IMAGE/CRYSTAL BRIDGES MUSEUM, PHOTO BY STEVE MANN Fenix Continued From Page 5 FAYETTEVILLE