Dave Wertz's recycled object sculpture
The artists chosen for this exhibit had to pass muster from three very
competent jurors: Michael Haga, Associate Dean at the College of
Charleston School of the Arts, Charleston, South Carolina; Jeffery Allison; Paul Mellon Collection
Educator and Manager of Statewide Programs and Exhibitions Virginia Museum of
Fine Arts and Robin Boucher; Art Programs Director Virginia Tech Student
Centers and Activities.
The
challenge in choosing work for this exhibit was recognizing that mixing high
craft with fine art is ok. The breadth
of technique and media expertise is a true representation of the art work being
produced in our region. Because of the
wide geographic distribution of the artists-all within a 150 mile radius of
Blacksburg- you are getting a snapshot of how the mountains, valleys, hills,
and streams create nooks and crannies that influence creativity. Although one could think the artists are
isolated in this environment the opposite is true. Within each niche is a rich influence of
culture, travel, and the forms created by both man and nature.
Darcy Meeker Mineral Spirit Italian Alabaster
Artists
represented in this exhibit include professors (not all in art), former Fed Ex
Drivers, Virginia Tech graduates (also not all in art), world travelers, mothers,
and fathers. But over and over as the
bios and statements are read from each artist a common theme emerges, and that
is their mention of their sense of place within the region.
The work of
the artist involves helping us to see something new. No matter how familiar the subject may be to
us, the artist’s hand challenges our perceptions at some level. A realistic portrait offers us the chance to
see more than a face, but also to ponder the emotion caught at a fleeting
moment. Or seeing an abstract work may
trigger a response unexpectedly because we don’t always understand what we are
looking at in a logical manner.
My challenge
while designing the exhibit was finding a commonality in work so that the
viewer could “read” the show as they walked through it. You may choose to see each piece as a
separate or individual work, or you may walk through and dare yourself to see
the collective response of artists living within the unique geographic region
of the East Coast Mountains, rivers, and piedmont. See if you can discern commonalities in form
or color as you move from piece to piece. Perhaps the same idea is being
explored by different artists using different media. Possibly there is an overall “sentiment” that
is pervasive in the art represented and maybe this is reflective of a global “sense
of place or time.”
It is
ultimately the viewer who puts the show together. The artists make the work and the curator
connects it into a holistic statement.
You, the audience, like the person who reads the words in a book, make
the ideas come to life. Otherwise what
is on the walls of a gallery are really just things to look at.
Robin Scully Boucher-curator
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