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June Issue 2004
Summit One Gallery in Highlands, NC, Offers Two Exhibits in June 2004
The Summit One Gallery in Highlands NC, has
opened the 2004 exhibition season with the exhibit, Wild Women...,
Is it the Art, the Women, or Both?, on view through June 23,
2004. The gallery will also present, Edward Rice: Recent Monotypes,
on view from June 26 through July 28, 2004.
Four very popular regional artists are included in the exhibition
Wild Women..., Is it the Art, the Women, or Both? - Rosemary
Clark Stiefel, Diane McPhail, Jane Smithers and Kathrine Coleman.
Stiefel combines botanical and architectural forms in her paintings;
choosing to abstract from these forms and create something that
is more involved with line and color and pattern relationships,
than with reality. Diane McPhail concentrates on manipulated photographs
and thematically has been drawn to the "wildness" of
the human connection with divinitymatter and spirit. Her work
has taken on the personalities of the feminine figures from the
world's spiritual traditions of the Greek and Native American
mythology.
Jane Smithers, well known for her European and regional landscapes,
has ventured beyond realism into abstract realms; fusing the two
with color. She says, "Painting with a palette knife is almost
like sculpting impressions into permanent images, being in constant
motion...sometimes big and bold, sometimes delicate and soft".
This new work offers a glimpse of something familiar and evokes
an emotional response from the viewer.
Kathrine Coleman has taken the "still life" to a different
plane. She has taken everyday subject matter and has literally
stitched together an unusual collage of acrylic paintings while
retaining the familiar "still life". Her paintings are
usually strong in color, so as a challenge she decided to remove
most of the color forcing her to concentrate more on composition
and values.
Edward Rice
Edward Rice: Recent Monotypes, will be on view from June 26 through July 28, 2004.
Rice's first monotypes were exhibited at the Morris Museum in
Augusta, GA, last year. Summit One Gallery is the second exhibition
featuring these monotypes. The artist's landscapes and architectural
details are usually painted in oils on canvas, the monotypes are
an exciting new genre for him.
Rice's works are included in the permanent collections of several
major southern museums, including the Ogden Museum of Southern
Art in New Orleans, LA.
Concerning his new work with monotypes Rice says, "Upon first
becoming aware of the monotype process, I wondered, what was the
point? Why paint on a plexiglas plate and then run the plate through
a press to produce only one print? Why not paint directly on the
paper and forego the entire printing process? Several years later
after my first session with Phil Garrett at King Snake Press,
I found the answer: results. Results that are achievable with
monotype are simply unachievable by any other means. This is due
to the nature of the process: the brush glides over the plexiglas
surface like a skate on ice, the paint (or printer's ink) crawls
about the plate with something like a life of its own, and, finally,
there is the alchemy of the printing itself. One is never entirely
sure of the exact end result."
"The value of collaboration cannot be overstated," says Rice, adding. "Working with an expert printer (and fellow artist) took me to places I would not have otherwise known. The entire experience was most instructive. When applying paint to canvas now, I find I am well served to remember the wonder of the glass plate. I would like to thank June Lambla at Hodges Taylor Gallery (Charlotte, NC) for encouraging me to make the monotypes, Phil Garrett at King Snake Press for his collaboration and printing, and Kevin Grogan at the Morris Museum of Art for his invitation to exhibit these works."
Philip Garrett of King Snake Press offers the following about the medium of monotype.
"What is a "monotype? Essentially a 'painting pressed into paper', it incorporates elements of both painting and printmaking. As the name implies, each work that results from this process is one-of-a-kind, a unique work of art.
"An original monotype results when an artist draws or paints an image onto a printing surface with printing inks. (In Ed Rice's case, the 'printing surface' is a sheet of plexiglas. Other artists sometimes use other printing surfaces.) When the painting is completed, a damp sheet of paper is positioned over the painting and a press is used to transfer the printing ink to the surface of the paper. Given the nature of the surface being printed on and the fact that it is slightly damp, the artist's painting is not just transferred to the surface of the paper; in a sense it is embedded in the surface of the paper to which it is transferred."
"Because the printing surface, the plexiglas sheet, has not been treated to retain the image in any way, as it would be in other printmaking methods, the monotype can't be repeated. Nearly all of the ink is removed from the printing surface to the damp paper sheet. There is often a 'ghost image' - a faint residue, an impression of the image - remaining on the printing surface. It is sometimes used by an artist as the basis for the next monotype, if the artist wishes to work in a series. (Powder Works in the present exhibition is just such a 'ghost'.)"
"Needless to say, the monotype process is very closely related to drawing and painting, and I find that painters and others who have shied away from other print media feel comfortable developing their skills through the exploration of the medium. It doesn't require learning a new set of skills and, due to its very nature, relies upon one's skills as a painter."
"Our job at King Snake Press is to provide any guidance and encouragement that an artist may need. We help artists to plan their monotypes, and we explain some of the more arcane technical matters - the inking process, and other technical aspects of printing and color registration. King Snake Press, since its founding in 1998, has been dedicated to encouraging other artists to explore the painterly print. We think it's a special place where one can immerse oneself in the creative process and face the challenges of a new medium head-on and without distraction."
For further information check our NC Commercial Gallery listings, call the gallery at 828/526-2673, e-mail at (summitonegallery@aol.com) or on the web at (www.summitonegallery.com).
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