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April Issue 2007
Corrigan Gallery in Charleston, SC, Features Works by Jennie Summerall
Corrigan
Gallery in Charleston, SC, will present, The Uses of Enchantment,
featuring works by Charleston native, Jennie Summerall. The exhibit
will be on view from Apr. 19 - 26, 2007. Summerall's new series
features oil paintings inspired by mythology and are figurative
oils exploring the mythological imagery of Circe.
Summerall, now lives and works in Belmont, MA. She has been painting portraits and other figurative work for twenty five years. Her paintings hang in a number of private and institutional collections. Her latest honor is the acquisition of her portrait of biologist E. O. Wilson by the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery of Art. Harvard University displays her portrait of Seamus Heaney.
Summerall describes her thought process for this series as her "returning to figurative work that has interested me since my first days as a painter (if not childhood!) Drawing from classical and other mythology, I'm interested in nude figures in colorful settings which convey longing in one way or another. Longing for the beloved, and especially now, longing for a lost Eden. I am very preoccupied with the fact that the human species is systematically destroying the natural world, which is the most profoundly sad thing I can imagine. But I don't want to convey that in a literal way. Rather I've been reading mythology for human/animal transformation themes in my search for imagery. I'm curious to see how this gets distilled. Another thread is that the main figure I'm using is based on a statue from the 3rd century exhibited in the Metropolitan Museum which has attracted me for a long time. She is a goddess, possibly Isis, but I'm using her as a stand-in for goddesses in several stories."
Circe was a legendary enchantress in Greek mythology who changed men into animals at whim. It is she who, in the Odyssey of Homer, detains the hero Odysseus on her island for a year. Like many goddesses, the beautiful Circe had charms that few men could resist. A lovely female singing while she weaves, Circe lures the men into her lair, where she transforms them into swine or other animals. Odysseus comes to the rescue of his crew members and with the assistance of the god Hermes is able to retain his male form but does not completely resist the charms of Circe.
Summerall's non-portrait work showed extensively in 2003, in two groups. A figurative oil series entitled Lessons in Survival (images of lifesaving maneuvers and bandaging techniques) was displayed in solo exhibitions at the MAC Gallery in Belmont, MA, and at the Deer Isle Artists Association in Deer Isle, ME. Her series of collages of animals made of handmade papers from around the world, entitled Paper Ark, was shown at St. Mark's School (Southborough, MA) and at the Weston Public Library (Weston near Boston.). During 2004-2006, various pieces from these series were exhibited at the Boston Athenaeum, the Belmont Gallery of Art and the Deer Isle Artists Association. In the past, Summerall's work has shown in Charleston and the Turtle Gallery on Deer Isle, ME.
For further information check our SC Commercial
Gallery listings, call the gallery at 843/722-9868 or visit (www.corrigangallery.com).
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