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February Issue
2008
Tyndall Galleries in Chapel Hill, NC, Features Works by Mary-Ann Präck and Wayne Trapp
Tyndall Galleries, located in University Mall in Chapel Hill, NC, is presenting, New Ceramic Sculpture, featuring works by Mary-Ann Präck and New Paintings, featuring works by Wayne Trapp, on view through Feb. 23, 2008.
Mary-Ann Präck's ceramic sculptures are imbued with luminous color and sharply-etched detail tensioned against sensuous organic forms. "Simple in form yet endowed with a profound sense of ancient wisdom, they are sublime and full of wonder," said Renee Phillips, of Manhattan Arts International.
"My background includes three generations of family art tradition, encompassing both fine art and architecture," says Präck. "From this foundation I have developed sculpture that transforms the visual language of form, color, line and texture into what are for me spirited, serious and elegant large-scale clay abstractions. My work stems from an intuitive source, rather than a response to social trends and movements, moral causes or political statements. My subjects are vehicles which connect my inner spirit to a tangible sculptural form, expressed through the use of intense, luminous colors and sharply defined shapes, tensioned against sensuous organic forms and surfaces. Much of the joy I experience as a sculptor arises from transforming raw material, such as clay, into a work which has its own individual presence, spirit, timelessness and mystery."
Präck hand-builds each abstract expressionist work, primarily using stoneware clay. She has developed ceramics as a sculptural medium while using glazes, colors, and stains with a painter's approach to surface treatments. The line work and textures are carved into the clay's surface; the piece is then dried, bisque fired, glazed or stained and finally glaze fired.
Originally from Canada, Mary-Ann Präck now resides in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. She studied at Florida Atlantic University, the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, the European Study ProgramItaly, France, England, and the University of Guelph. Präck has received numerous awards for her work, which is collected nationally by private collectors.
Wayne Trapp's richly layered and textured oil paintings dance off the canvas delivering a feast of color and gesture saturated with passion and confidence.
"For me, my art is a combination of many things - two of which stand out. First, I've always believed it necessary to have dreams, at times bigger than life, and then to make those dreams become a reality (many of my large corporate sculptures are examples). To look at a raw piece of marble, or a sheet of steel, or an empty canvas and dream of what it could be, and then transform it from a dream to a tangible form - this is what I live for," says Trapp.
"Secondly, to always remain curious and surprised by all things and thoughts. This very curiosity propels me to invent, to make, to do, to create my art. There is a joy of innocent wonder that children possess which sadly enough we tend to lose as we grow older. Why and How and Wow??? Shedding all preconceived notions we learn to accept as adults, I try to look at only the colors, the light, the shapes of the world around me and turn this into art."
"People often ask me, 'What were you thinking when you made this painting, what does this sculpture depict?'. That's the beginning of curiosity and appreciation. Abstract art is a challenge to the senses. Often I'll offer some sort of concrete description for the person who asks, but I'd much rather suggest that it's totally an interpretation of whatever they simply feel, and see, and dream from my work."
Trapp received his BFA from Ohio State University. He also studied at the Pratt Institute, the Art Students League, and The Institute of Art in Pittsburgh. His bold and exuberant works grace innumerable public and private collections.
For further information check our NC Commercial
Gallery listings, call the gallery at 919-942-2290 or visit (www.tyndallgalleries.com).
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