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June Issue 2007
Waterworks Visual Arts Center in Salisbury, NC, Offers New Exhibitions for the Summer
Waterworks Visual Arts Center in Salisbury, NC, will be presenting several exhibitions including: Emergence: Recent Paintings, featuring works by Liisa Salosaari Jasinski, in the Norvell and Stanback Galleries, through Aug. 25, 2007; Creatures from the Plastiquarium, featuring an installation by David Edgar, in the Installation Gallery, through Aug. 25, 2007; and WILD Life, featuring works by Bryant Holsenbeck, in the Woodson and Osborne Galleries, through Aug. 25, 2007.
To view the paintings of Finnish artist Liisa Salosaari Jasinski is to step into an experiential plane: a world of sensual color, powerful mystery, and deep though. The bold hues and rich textures of the mixed media surfaces in this exhibit reveal the artist's contemplation of the state of humankind. Where do people fit into the universe? What has been man's place throughout history? How does one cope with the fundamental isolation of the individual? Jasinski asks herself these existential questions, answering them visually with the striking power of color and form.
Jasinski's paintings focus on the mysterious coexistence between human spirituality and the pursuit of empirical knowledge. The artist attempts a reconciliation of the scientist and the mystic as she uses wax, oil, and acrylic media to create highly visceral suspended layers of pigment and textures. In the end, the ideas and multiple surfaces central to her paintings emerge in a manner comparable to something rising from a deep and mysterious ocean. In Emergence, Jasinski draws inspiration from cosmology and theoretical physics as well as from a drive to understand humanity's character and destiny. These ideas condense on the painted surfaces as either direct subject matter or as layered conceptual atmosphere.
Jasinski was born in Helsinki, Finland. She moved to the US after graduating from the University of Helsinki in 1972 with a Master's Degree in Psychology. Her artistic development is influenced by the clean, modern style of Finnish design and architecture as well as early 20th century European Expressionism. She has exhibited her work for the past thirteen years, holding one-person shows all over the American South, including the Spartanburg County Museum of Art in SC and the L.J. Brown Gallery at Duke University in Durham, NC. Her award winning work is represented in numerous corporate, public, and private collections around the US. The artist currently resides in SC.
Two additional exhibitions, which serve as a counterpoint to the Emergence series, raise awareness of ecological issues and the fragility of land and oceanic habitats. They are present-day examples of the environmental art movement which began in the late 1960's and early 1970's. At first glance the works appear as colorful installations using recycled materials. The exhibits, however, share the aim of educating individuals and families about the interdependence between personal change, social justice and livelihoods consistent with sustaining our global ecosystem.
David Edgar's Creatures from the Plastiquarium features found object assemblages that are constructed from brightly colored recycled detergent bottles. The work stems from a modern myth which postulates that increasing chemicals in the Earth's oceans cause new, synthetic marine life to come into being. Because the chemical pollutants are spread by consumer product waste, these strange, new ocean creatures possess the stylistic characteristics of the products that originally brought about their genesis. The artist's message to viewers? Recycle consumer products.
Edgar's Plastiquarium series is influenced by the larger tradition of the 20th century's modern sculpture movement that prizes found object assembly. The American Pop Movement plays a large role in the artist's use of commercial packaging images as symbols of our producer/consumer society. A recent West African folk art tradition that crafts toys and decorations from aluminum cans also inspires these colorful creations.
Edgar moved to Charlotte, NC in Aug, 2003 and is an Associate Professor of Art at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Previously, Edgar served for three years as the chair of the Art Department and Associate Professor of Sculpture at Ashland University in Ohio. He holds a BFA in Sculpture from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and an MFA in Sculpture from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. His exhibition history reflects over 25 years of professional artist activity and grant awards and his artwork is represented nationally in corporate, institutional, and private collections.
In WILD Life, environmental artist Bryant Holsenbeck creates a new, unique space for animal sculptures to inhabit, using old garden hoses, pencils, catalogue cards, yarn, and much more, the artist creates an unknown wilderness from discarded materials. Inspired by the paintings of Henri Rousseau, yet nothing like them, Holsenbeck creates her very own world. It is a jungle of the imagination filled with birds, snakes, butterflies, and beasts made of reclaimed materials. Her specially created installation is an ongoing exploration of nature and a manifestation of her gratitude for all surrounding signs of wild life.
After starting her career as a basket maker, Holsenbeck shifted to sculpture and installation. In 2006, she exhibited at the Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA, and the Rocky Mount Arts Center, Rocky Mount, NC. Installations include Nesting Instinct at the Orange County Historical Society of Hillsborough, NC in 2005 and River of Caps in 2004. Holsenbeck has received two NC Arts Council Fellowships, a Project Grant, and an NEA Arts and Learning Grant. She works both as a community and independent artist.
For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery listings, call the Center at 704/636-1882 or visit (www.waterworks.org).
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