Nature Nurtured an exhibition on display at the Whitaker Center brought together the work of professors from the Savannah College of Art in the Department of Foundations. With the exception of Maureen Garvin who serves in the capacity of Dean of the School of Foundation Studies. Each artist chose to depict and interact with nature in different ways making for a diverse and interesting exhibition. In interpreting nature, Garvin is the most liberal, intentionally choosing distinctly symbolic references and using the necessity of vantage point. Garvin uses a bright discordant palette to identify a clearly symbolic narrative. In these works, the centrality of a house surrounded by invented vegetation, her works depict the guarded environment of the home. Surreally hearkening to the concept that home is truly, where safety is. With no clear entryway, the home, reminiscent of a monopoly house, is impenetrable. Seeking safety from invasion Garvin uses various voyeuristic vantage points. These richly colored, densely textured, and carefully framed pieces are like small vignettes from the outer limits. In the entry foyer, quiet in descript, are the works of Adriana Burgos, a testimony to the reflective quality of nature. Made using a technique called silverpoint in which the artist uses a silver tipped instrument as a drawing utensil. Over time, the image tints because of the silver tarnishing. The use of silver point enhances the concept of the work. In, From the Fishing Dock, the viewer identifies a densely forested place from a distance another at close vantage we see just how dense the location really is. Burgos uses drawing as a journalistic method sharing her exploits in her drawing blog listed at the end of this post. ettes from the outer limits. Terry Moeller chooses to place her viewer in the midst of the scene. The viewer enveloped by nature’s forces and in full immersion, can experience nature from a centralized vantage point. These images have a foreboding as if painted indoors there seems to be an imminent storm in each. Working in the fashion of painters from the Realist period who drew their subject matter outdoors then brought the images inside to translate to the canvas. These painters were without the advent of the tube of paint, thus, going into nature to paint was impossible. Moeller combines color harmonically, in Carolina Yellow and Violet Forest color comprehension in the reading of violet balanced by the amount of light emanated by the yellow. Stephen Gardner’s large format drawings portray a masterful technique of depicting careful contrasts. Subtractive and hard-edged, these drawing are by someone who has evidently mastered presentation. The narrative quality of Gardner drawings is evident here as he depicts a bush in, Fan Palm, in the way one would depict still life with direct lighting and dramatic shadow. What lends itself to narrative is the absence of the depth of field evident in outdoor landscape imagery. In the picture, Hen Pecked, Gardner shows an image of a hen next to a bush pecked clean at the bottom. By harvesting nature and repositioned, it is then revitalized by the artist to tell onlookers a tale of events. The large geometrically segmented painting by Debra Malschik depicts and organically overlapped space, natural wildness. Nature in this painting is uncontrollable. Layered between geometric shapes the organic fauna overtakes man’s need to organize. ere as he depicts a bush in, Fan Palm, in the way one would depict still life with direct lighting and dramatic shadow. What lends itself to narrative is the absence of the depth of field evident in outdoor landscape imagery. In the picture, Hen Pecked, Gardner shows an image of a hen next to a bush pecked clean at the bottom. By harvesting nature and repositioned, it is then revitalized by the artist to tell onlookers a tale of events. Karen Davies photographs seem hidden in a rear corner space of the gallery; however, the location of the work enables the viewer the privacy to contemplate this imagery. One of the necessities of art for a culture is that Art provides the audience with the ability to remember to contend with emotion. Davies chooses to depict images of fading flowers, in these intimate works time passes before us. In one image Abelard and Heloise hues of violet and amber graze the surface of the image in a gently intertwine. The in descript flowers are depicted on a dark ground in extended format nature becomes comforter. Jeff Markowsky's pieces in the show remind one that the challenge of depicting the landscape is also in becoming one with the subject matter. With works also on display at Gallery Espresso Markowsky's quiet presence is a force in the depiction of nature. Studies in this show depict the challenge of representing nature from life; by painting on site, Markowsky uses his vast knowledge of space by partaking in the amalgamation of it. In Nurture Nature the elucidation is as a means for protection, a challenge in its depiction of the technical, a place for restoration, a means to capture fleeting time, a subject to harvest, a place for immersion, a way to recall and remember, a thing to control. It is a place where man becomes reconnected. For more information:
Maureen Garvin MaureenGarvin.weebly.com Stephen Gardner StephenGardner.weebly.com Adriana Burgos http://www.adrianaburgosdrawing.wordpress.com Terry Moeller http://www.Terrymoeller.com Jason Zimmer http://www.jasonzimmer.org Jeff Markowsky http://www.JeffMarkowsky.com
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Laurie DarbyThis blog was created to share academic dialogue. My painting studio is based in Savannah, Georgia. Archives
October 2017
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