December 2011

Pickens County Museum in Pickens SC, Features Works by Michael and Lynda Slattery

The Pickens County Museum of Art & History in Pickens, SC, will present the exhibit, Michael & Lynda Slattery: Drawings and Collage, on view from Dec. 3 through Feb. 9, 2012. A reception will be held on Dec. 3, from 6-8pm.

Exploring the path of two artists sharing a duality in their careers, inspirations and interests, this exhibition of drawings and collages will feature the work of Michael and Lynda Slattery. Both artists are vital members of the creative culture at Bob Jones University; Michael as the head of the studio department in the Division of Art and Design, and Lynda as an illustrator with the Bob Jones University Press and affiliates.

Michael Slattery has been teaching at Bob Jones University for more than twenty years. Currently he is the head of the studio department in the Division of Art and Design where the majority of his classes concern art theory and history. A large portion of his time as a faculty member is spent teaching Art Appreciation to the non-art students and discussing concepts of aesthetics with the art department majors.

Born in Greenville, SC, Lynda Slattery demonstrated her interest in art at an early age. She began working professionally while still in high school as an illustrator at the Bob Jones University Press. She graduated from the Division of Art at Bob Jones University in 1988 where she studied with Carl R. Blair. Lynda has worked as an illustrator for more than twenty years with Majesty Music, the Super Duper School Company along with Bob Jones University Press compiling thousands of illustrations in print. She has exhibited at the Anderson Arts Center, the Pickens County Museum of Art, the Spartanburg County Museum of Art, Art and Light Gallery and the Metropolitan Arts Council in Greenville.

Michael and Lynda, soon to celebrate their twenty-fifth anniversary, reside in Taylors, SC with their three children.

When asked about his art making, Michael responded, “My very first works as an artist were done with a Rapidograph technical pen when I was about 15 years old. I always liked to draw but one day I had noticed an illustration of a statue on a stamp that was stippled. I showed it to my mother and commented to her that I would like to learn to do that. Within a few days she had bought me a Koh-i-noor Rapidograph and I started in with it immediately.”

Michael went on to say, “I tend to work in a series, yet I regard each piece as an individual work as well as a component within a collection that can also be considered as a single work of art. For this exhibition I’ve selected pieces from several series, the most common which involves surveillance or security camera images. Another series involves images from World War II. Growing up I had a kind of fascination with that particular war and these images investigate various ways in which we see reality. The work is ‘constructed’ by photographing on location and then burning those images onto a DVD and then re-photographing them while playing on an old TV screen. These images are then digitally manipulated; sometimes combined with others creating a sense of sequence. The black ink that you see is added by hand after the digital process is complete, essentially rebuilding the image from the ground up using dots of ink. It’s editing on a microscopic scale.”

Contrasting her husband’s black, grey & white ink work, Lynda presents a range of colorful works created from cut paper. When asked about her work Lynda shared, “I think that this quote from Henri Matisse sums up what I am trying to do with my work; ‘What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter - a soothing, calming influence on the mind, rather like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue.’” She continued saying, “My work is composed of bits of paper meticulously cut to precisely fit together to form the image. I have been influenced by the Cubists, particularly George Braque and Francoise Gilot. It is their interest in form and the abstract qualities of art that have been a primary influence in the way that I think about my subject. I have been drawn to domestic images of tranquil serenity detached from the complexity of modern life and hoping the pictures I create will be like a good armchair for the viewer.”

The Pickens County Museum of Art & History is funded in part by Pickens County, members and friends of the museum and a grant from the South Carolina Arts Commission, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

For further information check our SC Institutional Gallery listings or call the Museum at 864/898-5963.

[ | December 2011 | Feature Articles | Carolina Arts Unleashed | Gallery Listings | Home | ]