January 2014

NC Wesleyan College in Rocky Mount, NC, Features Works by Assemblage and Collage Group

NC Wesleyan College in Rocky Mount, NC, will present Off the Wall: Assemblage and Collage Group Exhibition, featuring works by ten artists who work in the modernist tradition of mixed media of assemblage and collage, on view in the Mims Gallery at the Dunn Center, from Jan. 10 through Feb. 9, 2014. A reception will be held on Jan. 24, from 7-9pm.

By invitation the participating artists are: Pamela Andrejev, Charron Andrews, Tammi Barnes, Susan Fecho, Andrè Leon Gray, Santo Maggio, Everett Mayo, Eric McRay, Melanie Statnick, Jan Sullivan Volz, and Myra Williamson.

Assemblage and collage are modernist traditions originated by Pablo Picasso in 1913. Reality displaced realism as an artistic concern and throughout the twentieth century; the camera, the automobile and the mushrooming urban experience amongst other things shaped reality. With assemblage, odd found objects, even junk, from chewing gum to cuckoo clocks, are collected and fabricated into sculpture to express ideas and possibilities from deeply meaningful to comical.

Collage is immediate kin to assemblage, except it is two-dimensional; artists will select from photographs, typography, book and magazine illustration, cut with care or ripped free and torn to be pasted down flat. In this exhibition both assemblage and collage are wall mounted and hung.

Each of the exhibiting artists in Off-The-Wall have their own story; what motivates each is expressed in their art. Susan Fecho’s collages are layered personal narratives. Artist Charron Andrews’ calls herself the shrinemaker, while spiritually motivated artist Tammi Barnes will sample Biblical scripture.

The abstract expressionist tradition informs the collage work of both Santo Maggio and Everett Mayo. One’s personal cultural background can inspire celebration or social criticism.

African American artists Andrè Leon Gray and Eric McRay give us a different view in their respective response to black culture. Proud of her Oklahoma Cherokee heritage, Pamela Andrejev will reference Indian symbols and beliefs.

Jan Sullivan Volz combines a variety of materials to invite discovery with assemblage. Myra Williamson and Melanie Stanick take a more painterly approach to collage.

All in all there will be something for everyone visiting the gallery. All of the work is for sale and the Mims Gallery encourages the public to collect original art; original art appreciates and often becomes a family heirloom.

For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery listings, call the Gallery at 252/985-5268 or e-mail at (eadelman@ncwc.edu).

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