Up & Coming Weekly

April 27, 2021

Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.

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WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM APRIL 28 - MAY 4, 2021 UCW 13 COVER After bending matboard to create forms with hard edges, painter and printmaker Stout envisioned combining her images with curvilinear forms. As an artist, Stout sees the possibilities of light and illusion to create meaning in her work and is always inspired by the portrait as a subject. After experimenting with malleable mate- rial, Stout stated: "the hard edges of the plane and the printed image did not evoke the emotion I wanted to convey, it became evident I needed to research material I could easily bend, and the material would hold its curvilinear shape. I purchased ma- terial rigid enough to go through the print- ing press but could become malleable with heat to support to the expressive qualities of the portrait images. Material, image and form now have the potential to convey a feeling and evoke emotions." Artists Shani Lewis and Alfie Frederick collaborated on a work titled "Insert 2020." A shadow box is filled with a collection of CO- VID-19 masks individually stamped with the letters of a different state and the number of people infected with the virus during March 2021. Both artists have an art background, yet their "non-art" career path influenced the sculpture. Lewis, a graphics designer, left her art career and is enrolled in school to become a physical therapist. Frederick, with a back- ground in printmaking and painting, is employed in the field of Geospatial Informa- tion. Lewis' background in health services and Frederick's career in statistical tracking influenced the direction of their work titled "Insert 2020." Both artists were asked how combining imagery and a 3-dimentional form influ- enced the way they could express them- selves. Frederick quickly responded by saying, "I realized mixed media was another way to view ideas about the multiple print." Both agreed, "in the mixed media sculpture they created, meaning in the work is more readily interpreted instead of an image il- lustrating the narrative image." Due to Jonathan Chestnut's background in sculpture, digital arts, 3D printing and the laser printer, he effortlessly resolved the combination of image and form. In the sculpture titled "Fatherhood," Chestnut combines stacked children's building blocks with laser printed images. Depending on the viewpoint, the viewer will see a changing image on both sides of the form. For the print element, Chestnut cut the individual blocks on a table saw, then using the laser printer, cut a letter from the alpha- bet on each block to create stamps he could use repeatedly. Although juxtaposing image and the 3-di- mensional form was not new to Chestnut, he said, "due to the challenge, I now have an inventory of lettered stamps to inspire future works." Art educator Cornell Jones is a painter and mixed media artist. Inspired by Faith Ringgold and Pacita Abad, Jones' resolved the challenge by silk-screening one image graphic image of a female on pieces of fab- ric, each piece of fabric hangs from mount- ed wall hooks. Jones creates an alternating rhythm between three images screened on a flat black background of muslin and six im- ages screened onto hanging red fabric. His title, "An A and B Selection from the Choir," invites interpretation and the symbolism of using black, red and white. Jones stated he was "inspired by the works of assemblages of Faith Ringgold and Pacita Abad. My approach to making this work was to think of it as an assemblage and to pres- ent the print as an object. I thought about the content of the work of as I decided on using fabric as my support." e unifier between the eight very differ- ent artists is a contemporary trend since modernism: artists continually alter their materials, techniques and processes. Off the Wall: An Approach to the Print is an exhibi- tion that combines traditional and new print techniques with innovative ideas, printing on nontraditional surfaces and using digital technology to convey meaning. In contem- porary art, there is no one way to make a work of art or establish what a work of art should be made from. Visitors to Off the Wall: An Approach to the Print will not only see successful works of art, but they will also experience contem- porary trends and theories in art since the early 20th century. ere are no discernible features for what a work of art should look like or what it should be made from; instead, value is dependent upon a complex open- ended system of possibilities and a work of art, quite simply, is experienced. e public reception for Off the Wall: An Approach to the Print is May 4 from 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. and the exhibit will remain up until mid-July. Gallery 208 is located at 208 Rowan St. in Fayetteville. Guests are asked to wear a mask at the reception. For information call 910- 484-6200. "Torn" by Angela Stout SONI MARTIN, Gallery 208 Curator. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomin- gweekly.com. 910-484-6200. "Arbor Day" by Beverly Henderson

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