Archway Gallery Exhibitions - 2015
John Slaby
Death and Desire
December 5 - January 7, 2016
Death and Desire
December 5 - January 7, 2016
Flowers losing their petals, a man overcome with the fever of desire, a woman in a sensual pose menstruating: these are some of the works that make up John Slaby’s latest exhibition at Archway Gallery, Death and Desire.
In this show, Slaby explores aging and desire through still lifes and figures. Here, the flower becomes metaphor for the process of senescence and the waning of sexual vitality. The subtle composition of The Sign (oil on canvas, 48”x60”), its large size and detailed rendering of the reflective glass adds to the impact of this powerful piece. We need not see what lies above to know what is happening here and what is to come. Similarly, we know what is soon to happen in Doctor’s Report (oil on canvas, 60”x40”) where a bouquet rests in a cracked vase where the life sustaining water has drained away.
More controversial is Stonehenge (oil on canvas, 30”x60”) which depicts what appears to be an archetypal reclining female nude, but upon closer examination she is seen to be menstruating. This provocative work confronts the viewer with the cultural taboo of the female cycle and the paradox between the repulsion associated with menstrual blood and its corresponding link to the essence of youth and fertility. Along similar lines, The Fever (oil on canvas, 30”x50”) shows a nude young man, his arm over his face in a sign of exhaustion, lying beneath pornographic images positioned over his head. We know what is on his mind and the source of his fever.
Though Slaby normally paints on more modest sized canvases, for this show he has put together a collection of the largest canvases he has ever produced. His monumental Homage to Mishima (oil on canvas, 40”x96”) may be the largest painting ever displayed at Archway Gallery. Influenced by Mishima’s novel The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, the work shows a female floating over a lake at dusk. Though it references the birth of Venus genre, this piece is set apart by the reaction of the male figure in the lower left who is overcome by the beauty of his vision - and in the end compelled to destroy it.
ABOUT JOHN SLABY
Working in oils, John Slaby’s paintings are noted for their highly conceptual nature and attention to realistic detail. His art often focuses on the human condition and the shared experiences of life. The connection created between the art, the artist and the viewer is, for him, the role of the artist and the core of his spirituality.
John has had numerous gallery shows in the Houston area and has received awards in a number of juried exhibitions. He is, for example, a two-time first prize winner in the Visual Art Alliance Juried Exhibition (1998 and 2014) and was a finalist for the Hunting Art Prize in 2013.
John has been a member of Archway Gallery since 1993. He served as director from 2008 to 2013 and has been treasurer since 2004.
Born and raised in New York City, John Slaby has been a resident of the Houston area for over 25 years. John holds a doctorate in chemical engineering and has been pursuing his art seriously since his first outdoor show in 1989 at the then-called Westheimer Art Festival. He is also an amateur classical pianist and won the Silver Medal in the Chopin Society of Houston’s First Chopin Competition for Adult Amateur Pianists in 2004.
In this show, Slaby explores aging and desire through still lifes and figures. Here, the flower becomes metaphor for the process of senescence and the waning of sexual vitality. The subtle composition of The Sign (oil on canvas, 48”x60”), its large size and detailed rendering of the reflective glass adds to the impact of this powerful piece. We need not see what lies above to know what is happening here and what is to come. Similarly, we know what is soon to happen in Doctor’s Report (oil on canvas, 60”x40”) where a bouquet rests in a cracked vase where the life sustaining water has drained away.
More controversial is Stonehenge (oil on canvas, 30”x60”) which depicts what appears to be an archetypal reclining female nude, but upon closer examination she is seen to be menstruating. This provocative work confronts the viewer with the cultural taboo of the female cycle and the paradox between the repulsion associated with menstrual blood and its corresponding link to the essence of youth and fertility. Along similar lines, The Fever (oil on canvas, 30”x50”) shows a nude young man, his arm over his face in a sign of exhaustion, lying beneath pornographic images positioned over his head. We know what is on his mind and the source of his fever.
Though Slaby normally paints on more modest sized canvases, for this show he has put together a collection of the largest canvases he has ever produced. His monumental Homage to Mishima (oil on canvas, 40”x96”) may be the largest painting ever displayed at Archway Gallery. Influenced by Mishima’s novel The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, the work shows a female floating over a lake at dusk. Though it references the birth of Venus genre, this piece is set apart by the reaction of the male figure in the lower left who is overcome by the beauty of his vision - and in the end compelled to destroy it.
ABOUT JOHN SLABY
Working in oils, John Slaby’s paintings are noted for their highly conceptual nature and attention to realistic detail. His art often focuses on the human condition and the shared experiences of life. The connection created between the art, the artist and the viewer is, for him, the role of the artist and the core of his spirituality.
John has had numerous gallery shows in the Houston area and has received awards in a number of juried exhibitions. He is, for example, a two-time first prize winner in the Visual Art Alliance Juried Exhibition (1998 and 2014) and was a finalist for the Hunting Art Prize in 2013.
John has been a member of Archway Gallery since 1993. He served as director from 2008 to 2013 and has been treasurer since 2004.
Born and raised in New York City, John Slaby has been a resident of the Houston area for over 25 years. John holds a doctorate in chemical engineering and has been pursuing his art seriously since his first outdoor show in 1989 at the then-called Westheimer Art Festival. He is also an amateur classical pianist and won the Silver Medal in the Chopin Society of Houston’s First Chopin Competition for Adult Amateur Pianists in 2004.
Thomas Irven
Slanted Symetry
October 3 - November 5
Slanted Symetry
October 3 - November 5
From the opening night of the exhibition
Director Christie Coker's introduction;
Thomas Irven's artist talk.
Director Christie Coker's introduction;
Thomas Irven's artist talk.
Thomas R. Irven is a wood artist who began his artistic life as a furniture maker. While completing his Masters at the University of Houston, he served a one-year apprenticeship under an English master craftsman. In 1998 woodturning became the primary focus of his work.
For his latest series, Slanted Symmetry: Works in Wood, Irven creates deliberately unforeseen angles by using a slanted segmented ring to unite two hollowed forms into one angled shape, thus imbuing the piece with a sense of movement. Because of the angles, the movement seems stutteringly dance-like. Alterations in color using paint, ink, bleach, or added materials bring alive the visual texture while tactile surface texture is enhanced by sandblasting and carving . To further this eccentric asymmetry, whimsically curvatious legs and finials may be added to some pieces. The sum of all his techniques add up to unexpected, charming forms that elicit grins and wonder from the viewer.
In 2002, Thomas R. Irven spent 12 months as an Artist-in-Residence at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft where he seized the opportunity to heighten his individual craft and collaborate with artists of various mediums. Thomas received a top award in Craft Houston 2004: Texas, an exhibition organized by the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft and juried by Lawence Rinder of the Whitney Museum in New York City. Other honors include being chosen as exhibiting artist in CraftTexas 2014, and being selected as a Niche Award finalist in 2004, 2006, 2010, and in 2012. He is currently teaching classes in woodturning and design, and showcases woodturning at Bayou Bend’s summer history camp for the Museum of Fine Arts Houston.
For his latest series, Slanted Symmetry: Works in Wood, Irven creates deliberately unforeseen angles by using a slanted segmented ring to unite two hollowed forms into one angled shape, thus imbuing the piece with a sense of movement. Because of the angles, the movement seems stutteringly dance-like. Alterations in color using paint, ink, bleach, or added materials bring alive the visual texture while tactile surface texture is enhanced by sandblasting and carving . To further this eccentric asymmetry, whimsically curvatious legs and finials may be added to some pieces. The sum of all his techniques add up to unexpected, charming forms that elicit grins and wonder from the viewer.
In 2002, Thomas R. Irven spent 12 months as an Artist-in-Residence at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft where he seized the opportunity to heighten his individual craft and collaborate with artists of various mediums. Thomas received a top award in Craft Houston 2004: Texas, an exhibition organized by the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft and juried by Lawence Rinder of the Whitney Museum in New York City. Other honors include being chosen as exhibiting artist in CraftTexas 2014, and being selected as a Niche Award finalist in 2004, 2006, 2010, and in 2012. He is currently teaching classes in woodturning and design, and showcases woodturning at Bayou Bend’s summer history camp for the Museum of Fine Arts Houston.
Becky Soria
Essence
October 3 - November 5
Essence
October 3 - November 5
From the opening night of the exhibition
Director Christie Coker's introduction;
Becky Soria's artist talk;
Readings by Loueva Smith of her poetry inspired by Becky's "Essence" exhibition.
Director Christie Coker's introduction;
Becky Soria's artist talk;
Readings by Loueva Smith of her poetry inspired by Becky's "Essence" exhibition.
As if inspired by shamanic painters of the Paleolithic, previous paintings by Becky Soria have conjured up animals from the sacred caves of a Europe hidden by time. In Essence: A New Body of Paintings, Becky Soria turns her attention away from these animals painted by the so-called primitive humans to human beings themselves. As the ancient shaman-artists depicted the animals in a way both abstract and yet true to their essence as experienced by them in realms both of the sacred and also of the life and death struggle for existence, Soria seeks to depict the essence of the human being in her new body of paintings. Many of these human beings are somewhat three-dimensional and slightly sculptural, emerging from a two-dimensional background as if their essence is to be distinguished in some fundamental way from the background of the world of things. And yet other works, like scroll paintings of Zen masters, have the human being depicted as non-dual with the world, essentially one with it.
Soria, using rich combinations of mixed media and painting, evokes primitive emotions that span the gamut from uneasiness to inner peace and kindles in the viewer quiet contemplation and self-awareness. In this way, Soria reiterates the view of bodies as ephemeral. There is something striking about that which cannot be spoken, but can be apprehended visually. Becky Soria’s art eschews the conceptual direction of so much contemporary art striking out for images that the verbal cannot describe in a way that captures their essence. In a world inundated with data, both linguistic and visual, her work evokes that which cannot be spoken, the essence of the human being.
Soria has had a double career in art and medicine. She began her training as an artist in South America at various ateliers. In the United States, Soria studied at The Glassell School of Art in Houston, Texas, and also trained with Dr. Fernando Casas, a prominent South American artist currently living in Magnolia, Texas.
Becky Soria has exhibited extensively in the United States and South America. Corporations and private individuals in the United States, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Canada, and South America have collected her work.
Soria, using rich combinations of mixed media and painting, evokes primitive emotions that span the gamut from uneasiness to inner peace and kindles in the viewer quiet contemplation and self-awareness. In this way, Soria reiterates the view of bodies as ephemeral. There is something striking about that which cannot be spoken, but can be apprehended visually. Becky Soria’s art eschews the conceptual direction of so much contemporary art striking out for images that the verbal cannot describe in a way that captures their essence. In a world inundated with data, both linguistic and visual, her work evokes that which cannot be spoken, the essence of the human being.
Soria has had a double career in art and medicine. She began her training as an artist in South America at various ateliers. In the United States, Soria studied at The Glassell School of Art in Houston, Texas, and also trained with Dr. Fernando Casas, a prominent South American artist currently living in Magnolia, Texas.
Becky Soria has exhibited extensively in the United States and South America. Corporations and private individuals in the United States, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Canada, and South America have collected her work.
The Art of Anita and Mark Nelson:
The Other Side of the Spectrum
September 5 - October 1
The Other Side of the Spectrum
September 5 - October 1
Below are Anita and Mark's introduction to the show from the opening night of the exhibition:
Meeting Anita and Mark Nelson for the first time, one could be forgiven for assessing them as everyone's favorite apple-cheeked senescent individuals. However, view their art or speak to either of them for 10 seconds and find that under that white hair are fiercely active and unpredictable imaginations. These two perfectly compliment the other's genius. How do they come up with this stuff—this off-the-chain mix of fantasy and accomplished technique? While they both dip into the worlds of narrative and fantasy, their impressive show is not a collaboration, but a juxtaposition of two collections of whimsy, fantasy and oddities, drifting through a world filled with Anita’s anthropomorphized period-garbed animals in narrative situations and Mark’s world which digs deep into a fantasy driven marketplace utilizing symbols, history and storytelling.
Only seeing these larger than life talents in one room can do justice to their huge talents and their lives shared.
ANITA NELSON:
Anita’s work is inspired by classical painters of the Renaissance and transposing human nature onto animals. Her powers of observation and projection of human psychology onto creatures depict allegory or metaphor with her narratives playing out on the picture plane like a stage. She is the puppet master, placing the characters under her direction so they can tell their hidden story through cues of costume, pose, and props. Her work highlights stages of history, yet Anita eschews the brutal side of nature in favor of light-hearted humor and a healthy dose of irony by replacing the cast of chronicled portraits and events with her own vision of “What if?” She borrows from history with both abandon and complete respect.
Anita earned a B.F.A. from the Cleveland Institute of Art along with a Masters of Art Education from Case Western Reserve University in Ohio and she subsequently taught both high school and community college. As a freelance illustrator she worked for many notable publishers including Cricket Magazine, Macmillan, and Harper Collins as well as packaging and product advertising for Enesco, Tonka Toys and the Wilton Corporation. In 2004 she began working on her surrealistic animal paintings in oil, acrylics, colored pencil, and ink on composite board, clay board or birch wood. Anita’s art is in private and corporate art collections.
MARK NELSON:
Mark is notable in the fantasy, comic and gaming world and this show is a culmination of the range of work he has produced during his artistic career. He taught printmaking, drawing, sequential art, fantasy illustration, concept art and computer gaming. His work is widely exhibited and published. Mark is currently producing a compilation of illustrations depicting the world of writer H. P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft's stories depict dark fantasy, but Mark's illustrations take on a whimsical slant with his interpretations of the people of Innsmouth. Other themes from Mark's career and included in the show are “Broken Angels” and “Thunder Hunters.” “Broken Angels” speaks to the development of female goddesses, their symbols and stories. The “Thunder Hunters” series centers on an alien world of creatures that are brought to life by the central character -- an artist -- who is painting and drawing the characters during his travels through this world.
Mark studied at Moorhead State College and received his B.F.A. from the Cleveland Institute of Art. He earned his M.F.A. at the University of Michigan. Mark taught at the university and college level, and worked in the video game industry for Raven Software as Senior Artist and served as Art Director/Lead Concept Artist at Pi studios. Throughout his career he freelanced in the comic book and fantasy industry, with a prestigious clientele, including: TSR, Wizards of the Coast, Marvel, DC and Dark Horse Comics. Mark illustrated the first Aliens series for Dark Horse Comics, nominated for the prestigious Harvey Award. Along with Texas writer, Joe Lansdale and publisher DC Comics, Mark was the co-creator of the Blood and Shadows series. Recently, Mark worked on Dave Peterson’s Mouse Guard for Boom Studios and completed work on an Abe Sapien story for Mike Mignola and Dark Horse Comics. He also illustrated series for Clive Barker and Mike Baron, George R. R. Martin limited edition books, stories for Stephen King, and numerous book covers.
Only seeing these larger than life talents in one room can do justice to their huge talents and their lives shared.
ANITA NELSON:
Anita’s work is inspired by classical painters of the Renaissance and transposing human nature onto animals. Her powers of observation and projection of human psychology onto creatures depict allegory or metaphor with her narratives playing out on the picture plane like a stage. She is the puppet master, placing the characters under her direction so they can tell their hidden story through cues of costume, pose, and props. Her work highlights stages of history, yet Anita eschews the brutal side of nature in favor of light-hearted humor and a healthy dose of irony by replacing the cast of chronicled portraits and events with her own vision of “What if?” She borrows from history with both abandon and complete respect.
Anita earned a B.F.A. from the Cleveland Institute of Art along with a Masters of Art Education from Case Western Reserve University in Ohio and she subsequently taught both high school and community college. As a freelance illustrator she worked for many notable publishers including Cricket Magazine, Macmillan, and Harper Collins as well as packaging and product advertising for Enesco, Tonka Toys and the Wilton Corporation. In 2004 she began working on her surrealistic animal paintings in oil, acrylics, colored pencil, and ink on composite board, clay board or birch wood. Anita’s art is in private and corporate art collections.
MARK NELSON:
Mark is notable in the fantasy, comic and gaming world and this show is a culmination of the range of work he has produced during his artistic career. He taught printmaking, drawing, sequential art, fantasy illustration, concept art and computer gaming. His work is widely exhibited and published. Mark is currently producing a compilation of illustrations depicting the world of writer H. P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft's stories depict dark fantasy, but Mark's illustrations take on a whimsical slant with his interpretations of the people of Innsmouth. Other themes from Mark's career and included in the show are “Broken Angels” and “Thunder Hunters.” “Broken Angels” speaks to the development of female goddesses, their symbols and stories. The “Thunder Hunters” series centers on an alien world of creatures that are brought to life by the central character -- an artist -- who is painting and drawing the characters during his travels through this world.
Mark studied at Moorhead State College and received his B.F.A. from the Cleveland Institute of Art. He earned his M.F.A. at the University of Michigan. Mark taught at the university and college level, and worked in the video game industry for Raven Software as Senior Artist and served as Art Director/Lead Concept Artist at Pi studios. Throughout his career he freelanced in the comic book and fantasy industry, with a prestigious clientele, including: TSR, Wizards of the Coast, Marvel, DC and Dark Horse Comics. Mark illustrated the first Aliens series for Dark Horse Comics, nominated for the prestigious Harvey Award. Along with Texas writer, Joe Lansdale and publisher DC Comics, Mark was the co-creator of the Blood and Shadows series. Recently, Mark worked on Dave Peterson’s Mouse Guard for Boom Studios and completed work on an Abe Sapien story for Mike Mignola and Dark Horse Comics. He also illustrated series for Clive Barker and Mike Baron, George R. R. Martin limited edition books, stories for Stephen King, and numerous book covers.
Blue Ink Runs In Her Veins:
An Architect's Daughter, Cecilia Villanueva, Interprets Ancient Cities
August 1 - September 3
An Architect's Daughter, Cecilia Villanueva, Interprets Ancient Cities
August 1 - September 3
Below is the interview Cecilia did with our local Univision affiliate. Clicking on the photo will open the video in a new window.
Cecilia Villanueva says, "The ink of my father's blueprints got into my veins and my palette. Architecture is my life—I draw, I build, and I paint."
Indeed. Blue ink doesn't just run in Villanueva's veins—it runs in her family. As the child of the accomplished and prolific Mexican architect Luis Villanueva, daughter Cecilia was immersed in the language and drawings of buildings and their structure. The world of architecture and in particular the blue ink of blueprints made an indelible impression on her.
Cecilia Villanueva’s solo show is about architecture, but more specifically her inspiration comes from the structure and quirks of ancient cities. These were cities built entirely based on the criteria of form-follows-function. Jericho was constructed of circular dwellings accommodating its dead interred within the floors, Catal Höyük's buildings were constructed with access through the roof, and Lepenski Vir comprised of stunningly advanced geometrically organized structures. Fascinated by the cities' properties, she performs a kind of architectural-archaeological investigation and exploration; and eschewing her usual methods and modernity, she has turned her attention to unearthing and interpreting the secrets and souls of these ancient cities, representing them in her own style.
As for genre, one is tempted to slot Villanueva into the cubists' catalogue, alongside such female cubist notables as Franciscka Clausen or more pointedly Marie Vorobieff whose sunny palette conflicted with the perennially dreary and male-dominated movement. However, with Cecilia Villanueva, the designation as a cubist might well be premature since most cubists begin with an organic shape and break down their subject into geometrics, but the discipline of the architectonic that Villanueva paints is already comprised of cubes. Does this make her a defacto cubist or is she in fact moving away from rigid structure? Until now, Villanueva's paintings have been clean and cool, almost clinical, mostly European streetscapes—streetscapes in that blue that Petreni Settlement Plan, By Cecilia Villanueva runs in her veins and unpopulated by any hot and uncontrolled natural or organic element.
This solo show reveals a brave departure as she digs into the personalities and the feel of the urban landscapes. These paintings are tactile, rendered in oils and mixed media composed of unexpected materials: stucco, oil mediums, and various fibrous materials. They are painted with a wider palette, and interweave organics such as trees and foliage. In addition, she has added shapes to the perimeter of the canvas, as if breaking down walls, pushing the envelope... literally thinking outside the box.
Indeed. Blue ink doesn't just run in Villanueva's veins—it runs in her family. As the child of the accomplished and prolific Mexican architect Luis Villanueva, daughter Cecilia was immersed in the language and drawings of buildings and their structure. The world of architecture and in particular the blue ink of blueprints made an indelible impression on her.
Cecilia Villanueva’s solo show is about architecture, but more specifically her inspiration comes from the structure and quirks of ancient cities. These were cities built entirely based on the criteria of form-follows-function. Jericho was constructed of circular dwellings accommodating its dead interred within the floors, Catal Höyük's buildings were constructed with access through the roof, and Lepenski Vir comprised of stunningly advanced geometrically organized structures. Fascinated by the cities' properties, she performs a kind of architectural-archaeological investigation and exploration; and eschewing her usual methods and modernity, she has turned her attention to unearthing and interpreting the secrets and souls of these ancient cities, representing them in her own style.
As for genre, one is tempted to slot Villanueva into the cubists' catalogue, alongside such female cubist notables as Franciscka Clausen or more pointedly Marie Vorobieff whose sunny palette conflicted with the perennially dreary and male-dominated movement. However, with Cecilia Villanueva, the designation as a cubist might well be premature since most cubists begin with an organic shape and break down their subject into geometrics, but the discipline of the architectonic that Villanueva paints is already comprised of cubes. Does this make her a defacto cubist or is she in fact moving away from rigid structure? Until now, Villanueva's paintings have been clean and cool, almost clinical, mostly European streetscapes—streetscapes in that blue that Petreni Settlement Plan, By Cecilia Villanueva runs in her veins and unpopulated by any hot and uncontrolled natural or organic element.
This solo show reveals a brave departure as she digs into the personalities and the feel of the urban landscapes. These paintings are tactile, rendered in oils and mixed media composed of unexpected materials: stucco, oil mediums, and various fibrous materials. They are painted with a wider palette, and interweave organics such as trees and foliage. In addition, she has added shapes to the perimeter of the canvas, as if breaking down walls, pushing the envelope... literally thinking outside the box.
Archway 7th Annual Juried Exhibition
July 11 - July 29
Ink & Image 2015
July 6 - July 8
Watch our members Anita Nelson, Shirl Riccetti, and Paula Haymond's appearance on Great Day Houston in promotion of this exhibit:
Sixteen member artists participated in this exhibit celebrating the art of printmaking. Featured artists were Barbara Able, Joel Anderson, Andre and Virginia Bally, Christie Coker, Kevin Cromwell, Mary Lee Gray, Paula J. Haymond, Tom Irven, Harold Joiner, Anita Nelson, donna e perkins, Shirl Riccetti, Peggy Sexton, Liz Conces Spencer, Cookie Wells, and Andrea Wilkinson.
An Akua Inks workshop sponsored by Speedball Took place on Saturday, June 20 from 10 a.m. until noon at the gallery. The workshop emphasis was monoprints created with Akua inks from Speedball’s professional line of printmaking products. The workshop was led by Junanne Peck who has been recognized as a “Texas Original” artist by the Texas Commission on the Arts.
An Akua Inks workshop sponsored by Speedball Took place on Saturday, June 20 from 10 a.m. until noon at the gallery. The workshop emphasis was monoprints created with Akua inks from Speedball’s professional line of printmaking products. The workshop was led by Junanne Peck who has been recognized as a “Texas Original” artist by the Texas Commission on the Arts.
Cement, Screen, and Sun
Abstract Expressionist Works by Veronica Dyer
May 2 - June 4
Abstract Expressionist Works by Veronica Dyer
May 2 - June 4
Veronica Dyer's canvases pit texture, brushwork, and color against each other with what appears to be abandon, but with a keen eye to make the whole much more than the sum of its parts. The surfaces bristle with textural objects: metal fragments, steel mesh, cardboard, fabric, and plastic castoffs from construction sites, and the paint practically bursts with the energy of her vigorous and muscular brushwork and bold color-play in the warm-to-hot spectrum. In her pieces, industrial waste, reminiscent of castoff junk littering a building site, of dust, gravel, metal on metal, concrete and dirt, contradicts her sunny, cheerful, near-sparkling and joyful palette. Yet Dyer manages to combine these opposites seamlessly to the viewer's delight.
One tour of Dyer's show and it is self-evident she is an accomplished abstract expressionist channeling the best of the genre—mid-career Willem de Kooning overlaid with Franz Kline—Abstract Expressionists that defined the genre with their unorthodox methods and materials and their quest to balance chaos and control. Expressionism has been an art-form inhospitable to women (with the exception of the indomitable Helen Frankenthaler.) Now comes another female artist, Veronica Dyer. Venezuelan born and a Houston resident, it is no surprise that Dyer has a sun-struck take on the genre. Her brilliant reds and yellows are a far cry from the birthplace of Abstract Expressionism's long and gloomy winters of East 8th Street, Manhattan, and her contemporary use of industrial waste as texture, an update on techniques 60 years past.
On the mandate of Expressionism—balancing chaos and control—Dyer explains that she places the industrial waste pieces on the canvas, feeling her way to a composition, using the symmetry and regularity of metal mesh as a cohesive and balancing element. Says Dyer of her search for new materials to integrate in her work, "Three years ago, when my daughter was studying Sculpture at the University of Houston, I went with her to look for waste materials where they sell them by the pound. This opened a new idea for my art. I like the industrial feeling these materials give my paintings." Once the construction cast-offs are affixed, she attacks the canvas with paint, cutting loose with emotional energy.
Dyer was born in Venezuela and has lived in the United States 14 years. Her love of art and special capacity for painting are natural extensions of her family gifts. She took her first art classes at age 13 with her grandfather, Italian artist Nerino de Panfilis, who painted in the style of the figurative movement.
Dyer's paintings can be found in private collections in Venezuela, Canada, the United States, Mexico and Switzerland. She is currently represented by Archway Gallery in Houston, TX Affaire D’Arte in Galveston, TX, Mixed Emotions Fine Art, and Latin Art Gallery in Prague, Czechoslovakia.
One tour of Dyer's show and it is self-evident she is an accomplished abstract expressionist channeling the best of the genre—mid-career Willem de Kooning overlaid with Franz Kline—Abstract Expressionists that defined the genre with their unorthodox methods and materials and their quest to balance chaos and control. Expressionism has been an art-form inhospitable to women (with the exception of the indomitable Helen Frankenthaler.) Now comes another female artist, Veronica Dyer. Venezuelan born and a Houston resident, it is no surprise that Dyer has a sun-struck take on the genre. Her brilliant reds and yellows are a far cry from the birthplace of Abstract Expressionism's long and gloomy winters of East 8th Street, Manhattan, and her contemporary use of industrial waste as texture, an update on techniques 60 years past.
On the mandate of Expressionism—balancing chaos and control—Dyer explains that she places the industrial waste pieces on the canvas, feeling her way to a composition, using the symmetry and regularity of metal mesh as a cohesive and balancing element. Says Dyer of her search for new materials to integrate in her work, "Three years ago, when my daughter was studying Sculpture at the University of Houston, I went with her to look for waste materials where they sell them by the pound. This opened a new idea for my art. I like the industrial feeling these materials give my paintings." Once the construction cast-offs are affixed, she attacks the canvas with paint, cutting loose with emotional energy.
Dyer was born in Venezuela and has lived in the United States 14 years. Her love of art and special capacity for painting are natural extensions of her family gifts. She took her first art classes at age 13 with her grandfather, Italian artist Nerino de Panfilis, who painted in the style of the figurative movement.
Dyer's paintings can be found in private collections in Venezuela, Canada, the United States, Mexico and Switzerland. She is currently represented by Archway Gallery in Houston, TX Affaire D’Arte in Galveston, TX, Mixed Emotions Fine Art, and Latin Art Gallery in Prague, Czechoslovakia.
Body Language
Featuring Cookie Wells' Watercolors, and Virginia and Andre Bally's Ceramics
April 4 - 30
Featuring Cookie Wells' Watercolors, and Virginia and Andre Bally's Ceramics
April 4 - 30
Archway Gallery presents a collaborative new exhibition called Body Language featuring watercolor paintings by Cookie Wells, along with ceramics and glass works by Andre and Virginia Bally. This intimate examination of the human form will be on view April 4 through April 30, 2015.
Cookie Wells
What do we have in common as humans? Faces express a range of emotions including, happiness, anger, fear, sadness, and surprise. But, equally expressive is our body language. Since Wells’ figure painting is so expressive and dramatic, she decided to add another dimension to her paintings incorporating the written word, giving a double meaning to the phrase “Body Language”.
Inspired by poet Loueva Smith, who has participated in the monthly Archway Gallery readings for local writers, Wells not only painted her pieces with Smith’s poetry in mind, in some cases she wove these words into the actual paintings themselves. Wells said, "I will continue painting these pieces with the inspiration of the poetry for a long time because it has added such dimension to these works.”
After seeing the paintings with her words, Smith expressed this sentiment. “The paintings are so powerful and beautiful and alive. It is such a special thing…..and deep…..as if the words have become inhabited and are relived, in a way to have escaped the simplicity and purity of a plain white page. It’s magical what you’ve done with them. I can feel the certainty of how much these words and images belong together….that a sort of chemical interaction takes place between these two elements……something alchemical takes place…..as if the history of female nudes have been waiting a long time for this to happen.”
Loueva Smith is a poet and playwright. Her poetry has been published in Double Take, The Texas Review, The Louisiana Review, Nerve Cowboy, and Kalliope, and in anthologies, TimeSlice and The Weight of Addiction. She has been a featured reader for the “Houston Public Poetry” reading series. Her play, “Tenderina,” premiered at Frenetic Theater in Dec. 2011, directed by Cliff Mabry.
Bally Studios
The show also features the ceramic masks and fused glass creations of Andre and Virginia Bally, collectively known as Bally Studios. Their works capture and complement the color and spirit of Wells’ paintings with their latest colorful stylized masks which portray emotion and expression. These masks have been cast in clay from the faces of the Ballys’ friends and are enhanced with glass and ceramic halos. This exhibit is sure to bring the viewer a uniquely personal experience of color and expression.
Andre and Virginia Bally founded BALLY STUDIOS in 1994. They have been greatly influenced by the cultures and design motifs of the traditional Japanese potters, as well as Native North American potters. These influences are reflected in the design and finishes of Virginia and Andre's work. A diverse Art and Design background fused with long hours of research along with trial and error testing has resulted in the inventive approach to their craft and their singular style.
Cookie Wells
What do we have in common as humans? Faces express a range of emotions including, happiness, anger, fear, sadness, and surprise. But, equally expressive is our body language. Since Wells’ figure painting is so expressive and dramatic, she decided to add another dimension to her paintings incorporating the written word, giving a double meaning to the phrase “Body Language”.
Inspired by poet Loueva Smith, who has participated in the monthly Archway Gallery readings for local writers, Wells not only painted her pieces with Smith’s poetry in mind, in some cases she wove these words into the actual paintings themselves. Wells said, "I will continue painting these pieces with the inspiration of the poetry for a long time because it has added such dimension to these works.”
After seeing the paintings with her words, Smith expressed this sentiment. “The paintings are so powerful and beautiful and alive. It is such a special thing…..and deep…..as if the words have become inhabited and are relived, in a way to have escaped the simplicity and purity of a plain white page. It’s magical what you’ve done with them. I can feel the certainty of how much these words and images belong together….that a sort of chemical interaction takes place between these two elements……something alchemical takes place…..as if the history of female nudes have been waiting a long time for this to happen.”
Loueva Smith is a poet and playwright. Her poetry has been published in Double Take, The Texas Review, The Louisiana Review, Nerve Cowboy, and Kalliope, and in anthologies, TimeSlice and The Weight of Addiction. She has been a featured reader for the “Houston Public Poetry” reading series. Her play, “Tenderina,” premiered at Frenetic Theater in Dec. 2011, directed by Cliff Mabry.
Bally Studios
The show also features the ceramic masks and fused glass creations of Andre and Virginia Bally, collectively known as Bally Studios. Their works capture and complement the color and spirit of Wells’ paintings with their latest colorful stylized masks which portray emotion and expression. These masks have been cast in clay from the faces of the Ballys’ friends and are enhanced with glass and ceramic halos. This exhibit is sure to bring the viewer a uniquely personal experience of color and expression.
Andre and Virginia Bally founded BALLY STUDIOS in 1994. They have been greatly influenced by the cultures and design motifs of the traditional Japanese potters, as well as Native North American potters. These influences are reflected in the design and finishes of Virginia and Andre's work. A diverse Art and Design background fused with long hours of research along with trial and error testing has resulted in the inventive approach to their craft and their singular style.
BODY LANGUAGE in Poetry and Dance
Poet Loueva Smith and choreographer Lydia Hance performed through words and movement an interpretation of the watercolors of Cookie Wells. Wells was inspired by the poetry of Loueva Smith and included those words into her watercolors. With the reading of those words and the movement of dance, the paintings come alive.
Below is the video of this incredible performance.
Below is the video of this incredible performance.
Body Language-3 from Margo Stutts Toombs on Vimeo.
Shimmer
donna e perkins
March 7 - April 2
donna e perkins
March 7 - April 2
Sweet Nothings: Memory By donna e perkins
Painter donna e perkins approached her show Shimmer in an experimental manner playing with layers of metallic, phosphorescent and shiny acrylic paints. The world is so scary now that she responded with the bright and the shiny, "Let's celebrate what we can of life.” Many of these paintings come from her Touch Series in which she explores the physicality of paint and the mark of the artist's hand by sculpting a relief surface with thick acrylic. The "lines" are not drawn but shaped by her hands. In a way perkins considers these Touch paintings to be self portraits.
Perkins will cover one entire wall with 8” x 10” in canvases from her Sweet Nothing Series. While these small canvas flirt with the dangerous territory of the decorative, they are constructed using detritus: leftover paint, dead flowers, and scraps of resin harvested from the drop cloths of sculptor Kamila Szczesna. Perkins is fascinated with the beauty found in the non-precious objects of the ordinary.
Perkins will cover one entire wall with 8” x 10” in canvases from her Sweet Nothing Series. While these small canvas flirt with the dangerous territory of the decorative, they are constructed using detritus: leftover paint, dead flowers, and scraps of resin harvested from the drop cloths of sculptor Kamila Szczesna. Perkins is fascinated with the beauty found in the non-precious objects of the ordinary.
Touch: Moonlit By donna e perkins
Working with dancers been important to the development of perkins' approach to painting. The painting process is, for her, a passionate, wordless dance with the tactile sensuality of paint. During the run of the show, choreographer/dancer jhon r. stronks will present a series of performances involving dance in response to donna's paintings. Choreographer/dancer Kristen Frankiewicz will create and perform a new dance for this celebration.
Perkins and stronks have been collaborating since 2008 when stronks created a performance in conjunction with her 2009 Entanglements show at Archway Gallery. Jhon r. stronks is a maker who is often accused of presenting his audiences with seemingly disobedient work that behaves according to its own sanity. Stronks' passion for giving address to the gaps between what is perceived and what is present, lands his work somewhere between a cry for personal consciousness and a plea for social justice. Stronks dives into alternative dance making systems creating an open space for the dancing to inhabit.
Frankiewicz is creating a new evening length work that will play with the scope of light, shadow, shine, and reflection between dancers and audience. Frankiewicz has performed and choreographed throughout the states, as well as internationally on stages in Austria, Germany, Italy, Greece, Ecuador, Ireland and Mexico. In 2006, she earned a nomination for Dance Magazine's award of Most Outstanding Performer which afforded her the opportunity to perform at the Kennedy Center. Frankiewicz's work has been presented in several dance festivals including Choreographers X6, Big Range Dance Festival, and American Dance Festival. Additionally, she has set new choreography on Rice Dance Theater Company, McCallum High School Dance Company and Dance Repertory Theatre of The University of Texas at Austin. Frankiewicz also dances freelance on projects with different artists and contemporary dance companies including zoe|juniper Dance (Seattle), American Repertory Ensemble (Austin), Recked Productions, Suchu Dance, Chapman Dance, Frame Dance Productions and VauLt Dance.
Perkins and stronks have been collaborating since 2008 when stronks created a performance in conjunction with her 2009 Entanglements show at Archway Gallery. Jhon r. stronks is a maker who is often accused of presenting his audiences with seemingly disobedient work that behaves according to its own sanity. Stronks' passion for giving address to the gaps between what is perceived and what is present, lands his work somewhere between a cry for personal consciousness and a plea for social justice. Stronks dives into alternative dance making systems creating an open space for the dancing to inhabit.
Frankiewicz is creating a new evening length work that will play with the scope of light, shadow, shine, and reflection between dancers and audience. Frankiewicz has performed and choreographed throughout the states, as well as internationally on stages in Austria, Germany, Italy, Greece, Ecuador, Ireland and Mexico. In 2006, she earned a nomination for Dance Magazine's award of Most Outstanding Performer which afforded her the opportunity to perform at the Kennedy Center. Frankiewicz's work has been presented in several dance festivals including Choreographers X6, Big Range Dance Festival, and American Dance Festival. Additionally, she has set new choreography on Rice Dance Theater Company, McCallum High School Dance Company and Dance Repertory Theatre of The University of Texas at Austin. Frankiewicz also dances freelance on projects with different artists and contemporary dance companies including zoe|juniper Dance (Seattle), American Repertory Ensemble (Austin), Recked Productions, Suchu Dance, Chapman Dance, Frame Dance Productions and VauLt Dance.
Below is donna's introduction to the show from the opening night of the exhibition:
Love You Forever and Beyond
The Children's Book Art of Sheila McGraw
February 7 - March 5
The Children's Book Art of Sheila McGraw
February 7 - March 5
Sheila McGraw
The exhibition features original art by Sheila McGraw from published children's books, including I Promise I'll Find You, Pussycats Everywhere, Where the Lost Things Go, Snuffy and Vroom Vroom, Lightning Bug Thunder, My Mother's Hands, and My Father's Hands. Giclee prints are available from bestsellers Love You Forever (with more than twenty-seven million books in print), I Promise I'll Find You, and Pussycats Everywhere.
The artwork from a favorite children's book isn't just for kids' rooms. With the wide-ranging subjects of a books' art and their easy-to-place scale, illustrative art belongs in any room or space. For the first time, many of these original artworks will be shown and offered to collectors. Included is the art in its entirety from several books, as well as individual pieces. A variety of media are utilized, including, oil pastel on board, Prismacolor pencil, pastel, and marker on acid free 100% rag paper, and acrylic on linen. Most pieces are framed.
McGraw delves into an author's words and their concept, and distills them into form and color onto the page, all the while considering and helping the author fine-tune their manuscript for visual cues, pacing, grammar, continuity and composition. The art is then created in a medium that connects the art to the story.
Sheila McGraw was born in Toronto, Canada, and she moved to Houston TX in 2006. Her career has encompassed many facets of commercial and fine art. She started her career as an in-demand illustrator creating art for packaging, national advertising, fashion and editorial illustration. In 1986 her career segued into illustrating and/or writing children's picture and craft books, including many bestsellers. She has also written several how-to books for adults. She continues to accept commissions for children's book illustrations, and currently paints still lifes, portraits, and street scenes of Houston, in oils, on canvas and linen.
She is a member of The Portrait Society of America, The National Oil and Acrylic Painters' Society, and The Art League of Houston.
Below is Sheila's introduction to the show from the opening night of the exhibition:
The artwork from a favorite children's book isn't just for kids' rooms. With the wide-ranging subjects of a books' art and their easy-to-place scale, illustrative art belongs in any room or space. For the first time, many of these original artworks will be shown and offered to collectors. Included is the art in its entirety from several books, as well as individual pieces. A variety of media are utilized, including, oil pastel on board, Prismacolor pencil, pastel, and marker on acid free 100% rag paper, and acrylic on linen. Most pieces are framed.
McGraw delves into an author's words and their concept, and distills them into form and color onto the page, all the while considering and helping the author fine-tune their manuscript for visual cues, pacing, grammar, continuity and composition. The art is then created in a medium that connects the art to the story.
Sheila McGraw was born in Toronto, Canada, and she moved to Houston TX in 2006. Her career has encompassed many facets of commercial and fine art. She started her career as an in-demand illustrator creating art for packaging, national advertising, fashion and editorial illustration. In 1986 her career segued into illustrating and/or writing children's picture and craft books, including many bestsellers. She has also written several how-to books for adults. She continues to accept commissions for children's book illustrations, and currently paints still lifes, portraits, and street scenes of Houston, in oils, on canvas and linen.
She is a member of The Portrait Society of America, The National Oil and Acrylic Painters' Society, and The Art League of Houston.
Below is Sheila's introduction to the show from the opening night of the exhibition:
Masks, Monsters and Monoliths
Jim Adams and Sherry Tseng Hill
January 3 - February 5
Jim Adams and Sherry Tseng Hill
January 3 - February 5
Jim Adams began creating steel sculpture in 2007 and immediately began showing his work in group and solo exhibitions. His work has been exhibited in commercial and civic galleries resulting in works placed in private and corporate collections coast to coast and internationally. Honors include awards resulting from the inclusion in juried competitions. Adams has been represented by Archway Gallery since 2011 in addition to past and present affiliations with galleries in Houston, Galveston, Rosenberg, Austin, Tulsa (OK), Kansas City (MO), Columbia (MO), Springfield (MO), Jefferson City (MO), Manhattan (KS), New Orleans (LA) and Seattle (WA).
Adams’ work is largely created from scrapped items from industry and infrastructure. This media was something before it became artwork and there is no attempt to deny that. The configurations of this media often drive what the work is to become. The works have a raw, earthy character and range from whimsical spoofs to dramatic abstracts.
Adams’ work is largely created from scrapped items from industry and infrastructure. This media was something before it became artwork and there is no attempt to deny that. The configurations of this media often drive what the work is to become. The works have a raw, earthy character and range from whimsical spoofs to dramatic abstracts.
Masks
By Jim Adams
Sherry Tseng Hill likes the Oscar Wilde quote, "Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth." Hill is fascinated by Masks. Throughout history and across many cultures masks have been used to convey diverse ideas from the mundane to the sacred, from practical to ritualistic, from light-hearted to the very serious. Like many artistic forms the use of masks reflects the human imagination and experience unique to individual cultures and specific times in history. Moreover, they allow the imaginative experience of what it may be
like to be transformed into a different identity or simply to reinforce an existing social or spiritual identity.
like to be transformed into a different identity or simply to reinforce an existing social or spiritual identity.
Wide Eyed
By Sherry Hill
To reflect our time, Hill uses readily available modern materials. She cuts and folds recycled shipping boxes to make the bases, and then build up the masks by layering found objects and colored papers. The use of ephemeral, degradable, recyclable modern materials is a deliberate reflection on the contrast between our modern era’s easily changeable, disposable culture and
the underlying, enduring archetypes that shape the human experience. Some of Hill’s masks imply a social observation or seek to make a statement, while others simply personify pure, playful fun. All together, they are meant to connect to our common humanity in a way accessible to all.
the underlying, enduring archetypes that shape the human experience. Some of Hill’s masks imply a social observation or seek to make a statement, while others simply personify pure, playful fun. All together, they are meant to connect to our common humanity in a way accessible to all.
Hill was born in Taiwan and lived there until she was a young teenager. She picked up her first paint brush at the age of seven and has been exploring art in a variety of media since then from calligraphy and oil pastels to pencils, pastels and oils to acrylics, mixed media and 3-D paper constructions. Hill earned a Bachelor of Arts in Art History and Architecture in 1980 and a Bachelor of Architecture in 1982 from Rice University. She currently practices architecture and works on art in Houston’s Montrose neighborhood. Hill is a member of the Visual Arts Alliance, Art League Houston and the National Watercolor Society. She has won numerous awards for her work.