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April Issue 2005
Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC, Features Group Exhibition for Spring 2005
The Babcock School of Business Management and the School of Law, both housed in the Worrell Professional Center at Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, are pleased to present the Spring exhibition, Captured Memory: Time and Spaces. Six NC artists and one SC artist working in oil, acrylic, and photography are participating in the show. Several artists include nature imagery in their work; all capture a time or a place through various means. The exhibit will be on view through May 20, 2005.
Exhibiting artists include: Diane S. Behar, photography, from Winston-Salem, NC; Lee Breuer, acrylic, from Columbia, SC; Shannon S. Bueker, acrylic, from Pittsboro, NC; Aaron Hantgan, photography, from Winston-Salem, NC; Anita M. Kinnier, oil and pastel, from Winston-Salem, NC; Marilyn Murray Lindner, acrylic, from Waxhaw, NC; and Don Moore, oil, from Statesville, NC. Behar is exhibiting with the Babcock School, while Bueker and Kinnier have work at the Law School. All other artists have work on both sides of the building.
Diane S. Behar and Aaron Hantgan both freeze nature's moments in time via the medium of photography. Behar, a master of being in the right place at the right time, has captured such images as a bird of prey grabbing a fish, and a heron taking another fish off a line. "I find the process of photography exciting, challenging, stimulating, and very gratifying when just the 'right' moment or image is captured," shares Behar. "Being a photographer has helped me look at the world more closely, with more awareness and appreciation of the beautiful details of life. It offers a way to connect with nature, with myself, and with the people." Hantgan also loves photography's ability to capture any moment and make it visible forever. "A color photograph of the sun rising or setting shows a unique moment that can never be duplicated, while black-and-white reveals an eternal abstraction," says the photographer. He expresses nature's power: the mountains, the sea, the rivers, the skies, the seasons. "I also experiment with self-portraits, fires, and fireworks, and using a scanner to create images with objects," he explains.
Color is very important to artists Lee Breuer, Shannon S. Bueker, and Marilyn Murray Lindner, who all use acrylic, but in different ways. Breuer's dynamic, stylized works are the result of a limited vibrant palette applied in layers. "By painting in layers, I also achieve a topography to my work that gives it depth and movement," describes the artist. Since movement is an integral part of his paintings, he uses wavy, incomplete strokes rather than with straight, abutting ones. "As a consequence, my work straddles the line between abstract and realistic," Breuer explains. His faith is very important to the artist, who says he prays every day for guidance in his creative work.
In a gestural style, Bueker draws and paints things on the move: animals as well as people. "I am fascinated by and challenged to see how much shape and power I can express with the simplest of lines," explains Bueker. "I look for what is essential or of the essence." She sometimes starts from an observation she has found in her sketchbooks, but sometimes she lets the paintings make themselves initially, allowing the media to tangle together. "I let these be the beginnings of my paintings, these odd shapes and stains. Art being what it is, I see reflections of own life, memories, and dreams in those resulting shapes and blurs."
"My paintings are about the sensuality and aesthetics of color, form, and texture," says Marilyn Murray Lindner, from Waxhaw, NC, who paints gorgeous abstractions in acrylic. While remaining true to her roots in abstraction, Lindner's work has evolved to include biomorphic forms that evolve into explosive calligraphy based on striking and startling color juxtapositions. "Travel to Mexico, the Caymans, Cuba, and other tropical places had influence on my work because of the color that permeates these places," describes the artist. By often including materials such as sand or fiber from these countries, Lindner literally captures a bit of the places themselves within her expanses of color.
Oil painter Anita M. Kinnier believes that there are captivating and uplifting sights in our daily lives.
"Through my art I hope to lead myself and others to pause, observe and appreciate these simple pleasures," she states. "I see still life as the perfect vehicle to explore the emotional impact of art through color and form." Her still life paintings, created with vigorous brushwork, are filled with color.
Another oil painter, Don Moore, considers art to be a means by which he can share thoughts that are impossible to put into words. "How do you really describe a dream?" asks Moore. "Dreams speak to us symbolically and we have to understand them intuitively." He describes visual art as being like poetry. "In painting, choosing the right color, shape, symbol, is a personal search for expression. Like poetry, paintings aren't literal documents but they hint at inner feelings." Moore's often surreal paintings present symbols to inspire the viewer to think in a given direction. "We can't totally know what another person has experienced but because we have shared feelings like love, fear, and happiness, we can speak to each other best in a symbolic visual language," says Moore.
For further information check
our NC Institutional Gallery listings, contact Dusty Donaldson
or Patricia Divine at 336/758-4454, 800/722-1622, or at (www.mba.wfu.edu).
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