Archway Gallery Exhibitions - 2019
December 7, 2019 - January 2, 2020
Segments & Spaces
Featuring New Paintings and Sculptures by Veronica Dyer
Veronica Dyer creates dynamic paintings and scupltures in a style that she refers to as, “abstract, with an industrial tendency.” In both her paintings and sculptures, areas of the composition are defined with geometric forms. The paintings incorporate the additional element of bold, and sometimes unconventional, color palettes.
Dyer works largely from her own intuition. “When I start a painting, there are no rules,” she explains. “Sometimes I know what I want; sometimes I don’t know what I’m going to do. It’s an intuitive process.” In creating the sculptures, she begins by selecting materials then intuitively assembles them into the finished work. The artist describes incorporating all the elements into the final assemblage as, “a collaborative play between technique and creativity.”
Veronica Dyer grew up in Venezuela. From her Italian father, she learned that the love of art is something very
natural. Art training began early in her life; her grandfather, a profesional artist, was her first teacher and
instructed her for many years. Dyer’s formal art training came from the Art School “Julio Arriaga” in Maracaibo,
Venezuela. The remainder of her art training has come from her own curiosity and creative explorations. Her work
has been part of multiple solo and group shows in Venezuela, the United States, and the Czech Republic.
Dyer works largely from her own intuition. “When I start a painting, there are no rules,” she explains. “Sometimes I know what I want; sometimes I don’t know what I’m going to do. It’s an intuitive process.” In creating the sculptures, she begins by selecting materials then intuitively assembles them into the finished work. The artist describes incorporating all the elements into the final assemblage as, “a collaborative play between technique and creativity.”
Veronica Dyer grew up in Venezuela. From her Italian father, she learned that the love of art is something very
natural. Art training began early in her life; her grandfather, a profesional artist, was her first teacher and
instructed her for many years. Dyer’s formal art training came from the Art School “Julio Arriaga” in Maracaibo,
Venezuela. The remainder of her art training has come from her own curiosity and creative explorations. Her work
has been part of multiple solo and group shows in Venezuela, the United States, and the Czech Republic.
November 2 - December 5, 2019
Intangible References
Featuring New Paintings by Jane Ewen
You’ve never seen them. They draw you in. They invite you to a place, where your response is all that matters. As an abstract expressionist painter, Jane Ewen creates paintings that are experiences in themselves, no representations of something that has been experienced before. For her latest show, Intangible References, Ewen retreated to her studio and listened to many genres of music while she created -- Classical, Blues, Jazz, Rock. These paintings are Ewen’s response to the complexity of a symphony, the textures of blues, the colors of jazz, the rhythm of a rock concert. Spend a few minutes with a painting; see if a relationship develops. Perhaps these works will offer you that intangible reference you are seeking.
Ewen builds up multiple transparent matte layers to create fields of color using squeegees and trowels. She then works back into the layers of pigment to reveal different color combinations beneath by scratching, and gouging. Ewen lets her paintings evolve organically building up more layers with drawing and thin waxy layers of paint. The end result has a sense of history, mystery, and power. Through passages of association and ambiguity, of close-up and distant viewing, the observer is taken on an intangible journey.
Having earned two degrees from the University of Toronto and concurrently earning a diploma at Sheridan School of Art and Design in studio studies, Ewen taught in the Toronto area for many years. Her work evolved from life drawing/painting to abstract work, with the organic forms of nature still being present.
Jane Ewen has lived in Houston area since 2001, now residing in the Heights. Her murals grace many homes in and around Houston. Jane has been a resident artist at Archway Gallery since 2015. She is a self-described “museum rat” and has been a docent at the MFAH; she is also an active member at the Menil Collection. Ewen’s strong foundation in art history gives her great confidence to push experimentally with her art.
Ewen builds up multiple transparent matte layers to create fields of color using squeegees and trowels. She then works back into the layers of pigment to reveal different color combinations beneath by scratching, and gouging. Ewen lets her paintings evolve organically building up more layers with drawing and thin waxy layers of paint. The end result has a sense of history, mystery, and power. Through passages of association and ambiguity, of close-up and distant viewing, the observer is taken on an intangible journey.
Having earned two degrees from the University of Toronto and concurrently earning a diploma at Sheridan School of Art and Design in studio studies, Ewen taught in the Toronto area for many years. Her work evolved from life drawing/painting to abstract work, with the organic forms of nature still being present.
Jane Ewen has lived in Houston area since 2001, now residing in the Heights. Her murals grace many homes in and around Houston. Jane has been a resident artist at Archway Gallery since 2015. She is a self-described “museum rat” and has been a docent at the MFAH; she is also an active member at the Menil Collection. Ewen’s strong foundation in art history gives her great confidence to push experimentally with her art.
October 5 - October 31, 2019
Seeding, Blooming, Renewal
Featuring New Works by Becky Soria
Seeding, Blooming, Renewal is the current body of work from Becky Soria which emerged from her research into the organic dimension of the human being and the relationship between humans and plants. There is a long tradition of the feminine, fertilization, and reproduction symbolized through flowers, seeds, and gardens; Soria find this tradition relevant to our humanity. Flowers represent the ephemeral, the precarious, and the beautiful. Pods bursting forth represent a giving and forgiving from the future to the present. In these works, Soria seeks to defend what flowers represent and the natural world against the challenges presented by our times. There is an intricate inter connectivity between the organic in nature and the sensuality of nature which points to a healing relationship between plants and human beings. Nature is with us, and we are within nature.
When Soria discusses her work, she speaks about female iconography: fertility, the female as a representative of nature (as in “Mother Nature”), perhaps the flowering of the female into her maturity. The title of the show Seeding, Blooming, Renewal points to a hope that humanity as a species can also undergo renewal with the new generation coming of age.
Becky Soria, an American born in Bolivia, began her artistic career in the 1980s. She studied painting in the studios of South American artists, and with the artist and philosopher Dr. Fernando Casas. She also attended The Glassell School of Art in Houston, Texas. Her works are included in corporate and private collections in the US, Europe, Canada, and South America. Soria uses physicality, especially the physicality of human bodies and animals, as a primary source of inspiration in her work. She is concerned with intense emotions, bodily states, love, pain, and discomfiture. She is also interested in current world affairs, nature, and issues of humanity.
Soria believes the other important factor informing her Art is her background in the nursing and medical sciences; it gives her work a distinctively organic or biological flavor. She seeks to depict her ideas not as objective representations but rather as tunnels into realities as she experiences them.
When Soria discusses her work, she speaks about female iconography: fertility, the female as a representative of nature (as in “Mother Nature”), perhaps the flowering of the female into her maturity. The title of the show Seeding, Blooming, Renewal points to a hope that humanity as a species can also undergo renewal with the new generation coming of age.
Becky Soria, an American born in Bolivia, began her artistic career in the 1980s. She studied painting in the studios of South American artists, and with the artist and philosopher Dr. Fernando Casas. She also attended The Glassell School of Art in Houston, Texas. Her works are included in corporate and private collections in the US, Europe, Canada, and South America. Soria uses physicality, especially the physicality of human bodies and animals, as a primary source of inspiration in her work. She is concerned with intense emotions, bodily states, love, pain, and discomfiture. She is also interested in current world affairs, nature, and issues of humanity.
Soria believes the other important factor informing her Art is her background in the nursing and medical sciences; it gives her work a distinctively organic or biological flavor. She seeks to depict her ideas not as objective representations but rather as tunnels into realities as she experiences them.
September 7 - October 3, 2019
Transportable Cities: Mexico
A Depiction of Downtown Mexico City at 5 O'Clock in the Afternoon
Featuring Recent Paintings by Cecilia Villanueva
Cities are alive, and constantly changing. Within every minute of being in a specific city, I find a different city; I just need to close and open my eyes to see the light shifting as well as the faces, the smells, and the sounds…. ~Cecilia Villanueva
And it is in this fraction of a second that Cecilia Villanueva focuses her attention and encapsulates the soul of a place. This is accomplished not only with her oils and brushes but also through her collection of bottles filled with earth from the mountains, painted textiles, ceramics, and stones. All the artifacts and artifices included in this body of work have been invented for the sole purpose of capturing the essence of a moment in the city which she calls her own. Cecilia Villanueva’s solo show is not only about architecture and light but also about understanding that time does not exist. The artist explains, “That which we call “time” is actually change coming from inside; just a measure of the perpetual change within all.” Her blue paintings weave a story of an impossible moment and the result of this over concentrated attention in such a small span of time, reveals without doubt the core of the artist, the love for her land, and her naked memories which come as a by-product amid this effort as a sacrifice offered to the beholder. It’s amid this sacrifice that Cecilia transports an entire city with its grime and flowers; she conveys it specifically for those for whom travel is impossible… for those who cannot go back.
“Five o’clock is the best moment to capture the low light reflected on the stone buildings of downtown Mexico. It is also the moment when you smell the brewed coffee and baked bread. While the cool wind moves the trees, you cannot help falling in love with the Jacaranda flowers on the ground.”
And it is in this fraction of a second that Cecilia Villanueva focuses her attention and encapsulates the soul of a place. This is accomplished not only with her oils and brushes but also through her collection of bottles filled with earth from the mountains, painted textiles, ceramics, and stones. All the artifacts and artifices included in this body of work have been invented for the sole purpose of capturing the essence of a moment in the city which she calls her own. Cecilia Villanueva’s solo show is not only about architecture and light but also about understanding that time does not exist. The artist explains, “That which we call “time” is actually change coming from inside; just a measure of the perpetual change within all.” Her blue paintings weave a story of an impossible moment and the result of this over concentrated attention in such a small span of time, reveals without doubt the core of the artist, the love for her land, and her naked memories which come as a by-product amid this effort as a sacrifice offered to the beholder. It’s amid this sacrifice that Cecilia transports an entire city with its grime and flowers; she conveys it specifically for those for whom travel is impossible… for those who cannot go back.
“Five o’clock is the best moment to capture the low light reflected on the stone buildings of downtown Mexico. It is also the moment when you smell the brewed coffee and baked bread. While the cool wind moves the trees, you cannot help falling in love with the Jacaranda flowers on the ground.”
August 3 - September 5, 2019
Inherently Eclectic
Featuring Recent Paintings by Susan Spjut
Susan Spjut is a painter who finds inspiration everywhere. She often sees colors, patterns, or images that cause her to say to herself, “I need to paint that.” This approach to creativity culminated with the eclectic collection of animal paintings, figures, plants, and abstracts which form this exhibition.
Susan has been painting and drawing her entire life. When her son, David, was accepted in the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, she returned to Houston and enrolled in the School of Art at the University of Houston. She studied painting while working a full-time job, being a single parent, and caring for her elderly father. Since 2016, Spjut has been an Archway Gallery resident artist; this will be her second solo show at the gallery
Susan has been painting and drawing her entire life. When her son, David, was accepted in the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, she returned to Houston and enrolled in the School of Art at the University of Houston. She studied painting while working a full-time job, being a single parent, and caring for her elderly father. Since 2016, Spjut has been an Archway Gallery resident artist; this will be her second solo show at the gallery
June 1 - July 2, 2019
Ink&Image 2019, Red ... or not
Featuring Printmaking by CROMWELL, GRAY, PERKINS, RICCETTI, SLABY, and SPENCER
Six Archway Gallery artists will exhibit prints as part of the City-wide PrintHouston 2019 celebration of printmaking through exhibits, demonstrations, lectures, and studio tours. Exhibitors are Kevin Cromwell, Mary Lee Gray, donna e perkins, Shirl Riccetti, John Slaby, and Liz Conces Spencer.
The printmakers will use the exhibition subtitle, RED…or not, as a point of inspiration for producing prints in both traditional methods, such as relief, intaglio, and planographic, as well as exploration of inventive means of printmaking on paper or other surfaces. Their prints follow an ancient tradition of making marks to respond to being alive; and in doing so, make art. The exhibit will highlight the expressive power of the technique and the diversity of methods used in making a print.
Kevin Cromwell has been creating and showing prints in the Houston area for over six years. He has worked with the PrintMatters organization to help expand the printmaking arts in Houston. Cromwell uses relief printing to create works, often in large scale. Starting with the image, he allows the material of the plate and his tools to influence the final work. There is always a small amount of risk in the carving process, which keeps the work interesting.
Mary Lee Gray uses the tools of printmaking, including wood and linoleum grounds, cutting tools, inks, and Asian papers to explore the nuances implied in Red…or not. Her woodcuts and linocuts combine transparency with layers of collage to convey the complexity of the three words.
Primarily a painter, donna e perkins brings her love of experimentation to printmaking. The nature of paint and of ink fascinate her. She plays with viscosity, metallic reflection, and transparency. In donna's Petite Topography Series of monotypes, she finds the fractal-like surfaces obtained when pulling the paper from the plate are rich and mesmerizing. She has come to believe that chance plays a great role in her art and in her life. She also enjoys the surfaces which can be obtained by collagraphy. Creating a collagraph plate is an exercise in experimentation. For a collagraph print, one glues a collage of materials onto a base which is inked and printed.
With an extensive background in drawing, Shirl Riccetti has always found printmaking to be a fascinating addition to her other art work. She has experimented with most of the printmaking techniques but always finds herself returning to foam printing. For Riccetti, it is the step-by-step process that fully entices the artist into the joys of printmaking.
John Slaby became involved in etching in 2016. Working mainly with non-hazardous electrochemical methods on zinc plates, the works are a combination of etching and aquatint. Primarily an oil painter, John has used this medium as an extension of his work with the human figure. He has been a member of Archway Gallery since 1993 and currently serves as the Treasurer.
Liz Conces Spencer will be exhibiting a retrospective of small screen prints from the 1980s that explore relationships between lyrical abstract colors and shapes. A high school art teacher at the time, Spencer had periods between and after classes to develop her ideas and print small editions, utilizing the school’s darkroom and keying off essential skills being offered to her students. Her interest was in building imagery in a totally freeform way, developing the work much as an abstract drawing or painting is created. Each color was applied once, twice, or even three separate times to achieve the compositional effect that completed the work. The resulting editions were strongly related to the artist’s developing color field works in other media.
The printmakers will use the exhibition subtitle, RED…or not, as a point of inspiration for producing prints in both traditional methods, such as relief, intaglio, and planographic, as well as exploration of inventive means of printmaking on paper or other surfaces. Their prints follow an ancient tradition of making marks to respond to being alive; and in doing so, make art. The exhibit will highlight the expressive power of the technique and the diversity of methods used in making a print.
Kevin Cromwell has been creating and showing prints in the Houston area for over six years. He has worked with the PrintMatters organization to help expand the printmaking arts in Houston. Cromwell uses relief printing to create works, often in large scale. Starting with the image, he allows the material of the plate and his tools to influence the final work. There is always a small amount of risk in the carving process, which keeps the work interesting.
Mary Lee Gray uses the tools of printmaking, including wood and linoleum grounds, cutting tools, inks, and Asian papers to explore the nuances implied in Red…or not. Her woodcuts and linocuts combine transparency with layers of collage to convey the complexity of the three words.
Primarily a painter, donna e perkins brings her love of experimentation to printmaking. The nature of paint and of ink fascinate her. She plays with viscosity, metallic reflection, and transparency. In donna's Petite Topography Series of monotypes, she finds the fractal-like surfaces obtained when pulling the paper from the plate are rich and mesmerizing. She has come to believe that chance plays a great role in her art and in her life. She also enjoys the surfaces which can be obtained by collagraphy. Creating a collagraph plate is an exercise in experimentation. For a collagraph print, one glues a collage of materials onto a base which is inked and printed.
With an extensive background in drawing, Shirl Riccetti has always found printmaking to be a fascinating addition to her other art work. She has experimented with most of the printmaking techniques but always finds herself returning to foam printing. For Riccetti, it is the step-by-step process that fully entices the artist into the joys of printmaking.
John Slaby became involved in etching in 2016. Working mainly with non-hazardous electrochemical methods on zinc plates, the works are a combination of etching and aquatint. Primarily an oil painter, John has used this medium as an extension of his work with the human figure. He has been a member of Archway Gallery since 1993 and currently serves as the Treasurer.
Liz Conces Spencer will be exhibiting a retrospective of small screen prints from the 1980s that explore relationships between lyrical abstract colors and shapes. A high school art teacher at the time, Spencer had periods between and after classes to develop her ideas and print small editions, utilizing the school’s darkroom and keying off essential skills being offered to her students. Her interest was in building imagery in a totally freeform way, developing the work much as an abstract drawing or painting is created. Each color was applied once, twice, or even three separate times to achieve the compositional effect that completed the work. The resulting editions were strongly related to the artist’s developing color field works in other media.
May 4 - 30, 2019
Double Vision
Featuring Mixed Media Paintings by COOKIE WELLS and Wood Furniture by TOM WELLS
Closing Reception with Fly Dance Company performance
DATE: Saturday, May 25, 2019 7 - 9 p.m.
DATE: Saturday, May 25, 2019 7 - 9 p.m.
Known for her paintings of the figure, Cookie Wells takes a departure into nature and organic abstraction. This direction started with her last show and the collaboration with Tom, her woodworking husband who will display recently created pieces of his stunning furniture. Cookie thinks some of her inspiration comes from the beautiful patterns in Tom’s veneer and the wonderful lines in his wood. During quiet walks along the oak tree-lined streets of their neighborhood, Cookie began observing the sculptural qualities of the large trees. She also views the figures in her paintings as sculptural shapes and integrates the figure with sculptural nature in some of the exhibition pieces.
Another departure for Cookie in these new works is the absence of strong color. Lead by nature, the artist painted these pieces in neutral palettes, directing the viewer’s focus to composition and texture, rather than color.
Cookie Wells is also strongly influenced by fractals in nature and by scientific fractal analysis performed on over 50 of the paintings of Jackson Pollock. Pollock created those pieces by pouring paint directly onto horizontal canvases. Cognitive neuroscientists have shown that the fractals created by Pollock’s technique induce the same stress reduction in viewers as computer-generated fractals and fractals found in nature. Another method of creating fractal like patterns is a painting technique called “decalcomania” which involves pressing paint between two surfaces then pulling them apart; Max Ernst is one well-known artist who experimented with this technique. Cookie wells, primarily an Alla Prima style painter, has found this style of painting intriguing.
After retirement, both Cookie and Tom were able to focus on their respective interests. Cookie continues her artistic endeavors with the Museum of Fine Arts Houston’s Glassell School of Art and Archway Gallery while Tom turned their garage into a woodworking shop and began building furniture. Pieces built for friends led to referrals and expanding opportunities led to learning new techniques, crafting new pieces, and making new friends. Cookie Wells is a long time member of the Watercolor Art Society of Houston, the Southern Watercolor Society, and the Honor Society of Watercolor U.S.A. She has painted in water medium for thirty eight years and is appreciative of Tom’s continued encouragement and support. Cookie Wells is honored and delighted that her husband, Tom Wells, is her artistic partner for their second Archway Gallery exhibition.
Another departure for Cookie in these new works is the absence of strong color. Lead by nature, the artist painted these pieces in neutral palettes, directing the viewer’s focus to composition and texture, rather than color.
Cookie Wells is also strongly influenced by fractals in nature and by scientific fractal analysis performed on over 50 of the paintings of Jackson Pollock. Pollock created those pieces by pouring paint directly onto horizontal canvases. Cognitive neuroscientists have shown that the fractals created by Pollock’s technique induce the same stress reduction in viewers as computer-generated fractals and fractals found in nature. Another method of creating fractal like patterns is a painting technique called “decalcomania” which involves pressing paint between two surfaces then pulling them apart; Max Ernst is one well-known artist who experimented with this technique. Cookie wells, primarily an Alla Prima style painter, has found this style of painting intriguing.
After retirement, both Cookie and Tom were able to focus on their respective interests. Cookie continues her artistic endeavors with the Museum of Fine Arts Houston’s Glassell School of Art and Archway Gallery while Tom turned their garage into a woodworking shop and began building furniture. Pieces built for friends led to referrals and expanding opportunities led to learning new techniques, crafting new pieces, and making new friends. Cookie Wells is a long time member of the Watercolor Art Society of Houston, the Southern Watercolor Society, and the Honor Society of Watercolor U.S.A. She has painted in water medium for thirty eight years and is appreciative of Tom’s continued encouragement and support. Cookie Wells is honored and delighted that her husband, Tom Wells, is her artistic partner for their second Archway Gallery exhibition.
April 6 - May 2, 2019
From the Earth
Featuring Decorative Ceramics by Carol Berger
Carol Berger’s artwork is often influenced by images, patterns and colors from nature. As an environmentalist and an avid reuse-recycler, Carol hopes that by creating work which reflects our natural world, others will be encouraged to join her efforts in protecting our earth.
This show is comprised of decorative pieces that include both stoneware and porcelain clay bodies. Many of Berger’s works focus on the use of a surface treatment described as “Naked Raku” on the porcelain to obtain the greatest degree of black and white contrast. Larger pieces, such as fountains, are designed in stoneware for durability outdoors. Some pieces are wheel-thrown and others are hand-built with the firing range of anywhere from low fire to Cone 9 depending on the desired finish.
CaroI has always loved to draw and paint; early art experiences included design opportunities and classes at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. She graduated with a double major in Art and Spanish from the College of Wooster (Ohio). During her college years, she attended the University of Madrid focusing on art history with an emphasis on Goya. This gave her the opportunity to study major works of art in France, Italy, and Spain.
After a career as a full-time classroom teacher, Carol Berger relocated to Texas to be near her grandkids. She took a ceramics class the following year which began the fulfillment of her lifelong dream; a second career as a professional working artist.
This show is comprised of decorative pieces that include both stoneware and porcelain clay bodies. Many of Berger’s works focus on the use of a surface treatment described as “Naked Raku” on the porcelain to obtain the greatest degree of black and white contrast. Larger pieces, such as fountains, are designed in stoneware for durability outdoors. Some pieces are wheel-thrown and others are hand-built with the firing range of anywhere from low fire to Cone 9 depending on the desired finish.
CaroI has always loved to draw and paint; early art experiences included design opportunities and classes at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. She graduated with a double major in Art and Spanish from the College of Wooster (Ohio). During her college years, she attended the University of Madrid focusing on art history with an emphasis on Goya. This gave her the opportunity to study major works of art in France, Italy, and Spain.
After a career as a full-time classroom teacher, Carol Berger relocated to Texas to be near her grandkids. She took a ceramics class the following year which began the fulfillment of her lifelong dream; a second career as a professional working artist.
March 2 - April 4, 2019
Spill
Featuring New Works by donna e perkins
With Performances by jhon r. stronks and Alexandre Farris Soares
Performances
the loosening grip, #WorkingWide. Spill. Drip. Slide. by jhon r. stronks
DATE: Friday, March 22 and Saturday, March 23, 2019
TIME: 7:30 p.m., Free
vR, by Alexandre Farris Soares
DATE: Friday, March 29 and Saturday, March 30, 2019
TIME: 7:30 p.m., Suggested Donation $15
the loosening grip, #WorkingWide. Spill. Drip. Slide. by jhon r. stronks
DATE: Friday, March 22 and Saturday, March 23, 2019
TIME: 7:30 p.m., Free
vR, by Alexandre Farris Soares
DATE: Friday, March 29 and Saturday, March 30, 2019
TIME: 7:30 p.m., Suggested Donation $15
The word "spill" can be a noun or a verb, although even the noun implies action. A spill can be intentional or accidental. It can reference the serious or the humorous as one can spill blood, tears, milk or the beans.
Works on Paper: These large paintings hang from the wall freely and unprotected, not obscured by glass, not bound by frame. They are of study, heavy watercolor paper primed with gesso both front and back before the painting process begins. They are painted while pinned onto a wall. As the paint spills across the top edge, a spray of water encourages the paint's downward run.
Works on Boards: These smaller works on rigid wooden boards have a shallow frame or a defined edge. These are painted laying flat. The artist, perkins, explores the viscosity and translucency of layers of paint and continues until the result pleases her; gravity and chance have an effect here as well.
Deeper Meaning: perkins is experiencing the world as chaotic and out of control. She feels as if she is a grain of pigment trapped in the spill of political accidents; she finds this both fascinating and horrendous. What to do? Make calls, contributions, meetings, march. For sanity, go to the studio and make art.
Since 2009, perkins has had the privilege of working with choreographers and dancers. Working with dancers has
been important in the development of her approach to painting. She finds the painting process to be a solo dance
with the tactile sensuality of paint.
jhon r. stronks: The Loosening Grip, #WorkingWide, Spill, Drip, Slip, Slide
Survival is the grand plan. Coping. Sense making. Ground gaining. Obstruction moving. Passing. Leaving. Releasing. Brightening. Moving through, onward. Retreat-less. Resilience. Resistance conditioned with a persistent insistence that existence is not up for debate.
A dancer, a choreographer, a singer, a movement-based performance artist, or "Miss Understood" are all descriptions of jhon r. stronks. A very magical unicorn, jhon has been described as strong enough for a man and pH-balanced enough for a woman. The choreographic work of stronks combines the fundamental elements of choreography, dance technique, and authentic movement to create dances that speak truthfully.
"I have found a space within the collaboration between donna and me, that allows me to be completely open as I am becoming and developing my artistry/humanity. The space we inhabit together is wide and filled with curiosities that lead me in and out of a lifetime of memories, moments and fantasies. These years spent in collaboration have manifested a world of its own. A world that shimmers and vibrates through all the grit and grime that currently surrounds us,” explains stronks.
Alexandre Farris Soares: vR
vR is a composition for three dancers exploring identity and the power the "other" affects over "me." Dancers interact, mirror, and diverge from each other, while contending with how their choices impact their movement. vR is a work inspired by recent social, political, and world events.
Alexandre Farris Soares is a performance artist from Houston, Texas. Alex was born in Salvador, Brazil and is a graduate from the University of Houston. He performs with several local companies and independent artists in dance, dance for film, and site-specific works. A practitioner of Biodanza, Farris Soares is currently researching the link between movement and psychology and studying the impact different lines of dance therapy have on mental health.
Works on Paper: These large paintings hang from the wall freely and unprotected, not obscured by glass, not bound by frame. They are of study, heavy watercolor paper primed with gesso both front and back before the painting process begins. They are painted while pinned onto a wall. As the paint spills across the top edge, a spray of water encourages the paint's downward run.
Works on Boards: These smaller works on rigid wooden boards have a shallow frame or a defined edge. These are painted laying flat. The artist, perkins, explores the viscosity and translucency of layers of paint and continues until the result pleases her; gravity and chance have an effect here as well.
Deeper Meaning: perkins is experiencing the world as chaotic and out of control. She feels as if she is a grain of pigment trapped in the spill of political accidents; she finds this both fascinating and horrendous. What to do? Make calls, contributions, meetings, march. For sanity, go to the studio and make art.
Since 2009, perkins has had the privilege of working with choreographers and dancers. Working with dancers has
been important in the development of her approach to painting. She finds the painting process to be a solo dance
with the tactile sensuality of paint.
jhon r. stronks: The Loosening Grip, #WorkingWide, Spill, Drip, Slip, Slide
Survival is the grand plan. Coping. Sense making. Ground gaining. Obstruction moving. Passing. Leaving. Releasing. Brightening. Moving through, onward. Retreat-less. Resilience. Resistance conditioned with a persistent insistence that existence is not up for debate.
A dancer, a choreographer, a singer, a movement-based performance artist, or "Miss Understood" are all descriptions of jhon r. stronks. A very magical unicorn, jhon has been described as strong enough for a man and pH-balanced enough for a woman. The choreographic work of stronks combines the fundamental elements of choreography, dance technique, and authentic movement to create dances that speak truthfully.
"I have found a space within the collaboration between donna and me, that allows me to be completely open as I am becoming and developing my artistry/humanity. The space we inhabit together is wide and filled with curiosities that lead me in and out of a lifetime of memories, moments and fantasies. These years spent in collaboration have manifested a world of its own. A world that shimmers and vibrates through all the grit and grime that currently surrounds us,” explains stronks.
Alexandre Farris Soares: vR
vR is a composition for three dancers exploring identity and the power the "other" affects over "me." Dancers interact, mirror, and diverge from each other, while contending with how their choices impact their movement. vR is a work inspired by recent social, political, and world events.
Alexandre Farris Soares is a performance artist from Houston, Texas. Alex was born in Salvador, Brazil and is a graduate from the University of Houston. He performs with several local companies and independent artists in dance, dance for film, and site-specific works. A practitioner of Biodanza, Farris Soares is currently researching the link between movement and psychology and studying the impact different lines of dance therapy have on mental health.
February 2 - 28, 2019
Woodland Waters: Allures of the Ozarks
Featuring New Paintings by Harold Joiner
Long fascinated by the reflections and stillness of the waters of Houston and the surrounding area, painter Harold Joiner has ventured further afield with this new body of work. Recent explorations and hiking expeditions in the Arkansas Ozarks revealed exciting new possibilities for the treatment of water in landscape paintings.
The Ozarks’ hills and mountains provide elevated vistas of its meandering rivers and expansive lakes. The valleys between these hills and mountains invariably include rocky terrains that cradle babbling clear water streams or rivers. During the wet months of the year, the rivers - even the minor ones - are rife with waterfalls and cascades. Many of these waterfalls are named, have been observed for decades, and have changed little over that timeframe. Water cascading over the rocks is alive and full of movement, both before and after the cascade. The rocks themselves are fascinating pieces of geometry and are, “surprisingly challenging to paint,” according to Joiner.
The flora of the region includes species of deciduous trees not abundant in the Houston area, and Joiner has said, “Their color display in autumn is a site to behold. Absolutely breathtaking!” Especially appealing was being in an autumn wood on a misty day. The colors were softer, and the absence of strong shadows enhanced the ability to see the layering of the dense landscape. This exhibition includes paintings inspired by this experience.
The Ozarks’ hills and mountains provide elevated vistas of its meandering rivers and expansive lakes. The valleys between these hills and mountains invariably include rocky terrains that cradle babbling clear water streams or rivers. During the wet months of the year, the rivers - even the minor ones - are rife with waterfalls and cascades. Many of these waterfalls are named, have been observed for decades, and have changed little over that timeframe. Water cascading over the rocks is alive and full of movement, both before and after the cascade. The rocks themselves are fascinating pieces of geometry and are, “surprisingly challenging to paint,” according to Joiner.
The flora of the region includes species of deciduous trees not abundant in the Houston area, and Joiner has said, “Their color display in autumn is a site to behold. Absolutely breathtaking!” Especially appealing was being in an autumn wood on a misty day. The colors were softer, and the absence of strong shadows enhanced the ability to see the layering of the dense landscape. This exhibition includes paintings inspired by this experience.
January 5 - 31, 2019
Sentient Meat
Featuring New Works on Paper by T Smith
Known primarily as a painter of large-scale enigmatic oil on canvas works, T. Smith makes a marked departure in scale and media with Sentient Meat, while still maintaining the guiding principle of Smith’s exploration of “Patternism” (see excerpt from the artist’s statement, below).
All works in this show are new, recently completed in 2018. Each piece is hand drawn using a combination of conventional graphite pencils and Pentel Graph Gear mechanical pencils on acid-free Strathmore paper or Bristol vellum board.
Each image is a detailed view into a slab of meat from both a macro and a micro perspective. The same type of patterns seen in raw ‘meat’ are represented in the human body. Peering down into the depths of each subsequent layer of meat reveals patterns similar to those in human flesh…the brain, blood vessels, varieties of tissues, muscle, arteries, bone, sinew, brain gyrus, lobes, medulla, poles; cross sections of organs…kidneys, brains, membranes, canals, tubes, vestibules, nerves, cavities. Lines, shapes, shadows of lights and reflections of darks cross through, above, and over one another, conjoining into a micro and macroscopic viscera of organic forms.
Fractal self similarity in flesh, represented at each level, replicates that of mother nature at the macro level: mountain ranges, granite quarries, coastline edges and the meander of liquid bodies such as rivers. The drawings themselves echo anatomical depictions of the human body by Henry Vandyke Carter, the English anatomist, surgeon, and artist most notable for his illustrations of the book, Gray's Anatomy.
Sentient Meat, a term Rust Cohle utters in “True Detective,” elucidates the dichotomy of masses of flesh being perceiving self-aware organisms. Man and animal are each equally both, as evidenced from the inside out and the outside in. All ‘meat’ is composed of the same four types of tissue: epithelial, connective, nervous, and muscle; from the Greater to the Smaller and the Smaller to the Greater.
Excerpt from the Artist’s Statement:
The visual physical world is connected in subtle ways that can be easily overlooked. I work from my own photographs to discover the connections between seemingly disparate elements that combine to form a greater reality than their independent parts. Actual visual images are transformed into a third-generation idea from physical reality to camera to canvas.
As an artist, my interest is in the underlying associations formed by the repetition of shapes and lines from not only material forms but also those of transient matter such as shadows and reflections operating on the same visual plane in a realistic abstraction.
I consider myself a Patternist primarily interested in the affinities of emerging connections when taken as a whole. Patternism is reality viewed as a wave rather than a particle; it is the missing link between normal spatial perception and fractured spatial perception. Patternism is one link removed from normality, yet it is still very evident.
About T. Smith:
Smith, a former Hunting Art Prize Finalist, was named one of the “Top Ten Painters in Houston” and “Top 100- Creatives” by the Houston Press. The artist’s work has been selected for numerous local and national juried shows, as well as exhibitions including Art Prize Grand Rapids, Artopia, and Houston’s Annual Art Crawl. Smith attended Sam Houston State University as an art and photography major with a minor in cinematography and studied painting for several years at the Glassell School of Art and the Art League of Houston. In addition to painting and drawing, Smith is an accomplished photographer recording and finding artistic source material in travels around the U.S. and internationally. Nature, film, architecture, literature, travel, physics, and philosophy play a significant role in the Smith’s artistic oeuvre with emphasis on spiritual new thought evinced through the writings of Jane Roberts.
All works in this show are new, recently completed in 2018. Each piece is hand drawn using a combination of conventional graphite pencils and Pentel Graph Gear mechanical pencils on acid-free Strathmore paper or Bristol vellum board.
Each image is a detailed view into a slab of meat from both a macro and a micro perspective. The same type of patterns seen in raw ‘meat’ are represented in the human body. Peering down into the depths of each subsequent layer of meat reveals patterns similar to those in human flesh…the brain, blood vessels, varieties of tissues, muscle, arteries, bone, sinew, brain gyrus, lobes, medulla, poles; cross sections of organs…kidneys, brains, membranes, canals, tubes, vestibules, nerves, cavities. Lines, shapes, shadows of lights and reflections of darks cross through, above, and over one another, conjoining into a micro and macroscopic viscera of organic forms.
Fractal self similarity in flesh, represented at each level, replicates that of mother nature at the macro level: mountain ranges, granite quarries, coastline edges and the meander of liquid bodies such as rivers. The drawings themselves echo anatomical depictions of the human body by Henry Vandyke Carter, the English anatomist, surgeon, and artist most notable for his illustrations of the book, Gray's Anatomy.
Sentient Meat, a term Rust Cohle utters in “True Detective,” elucidates the dichotomy of masses of flesh being perceiving self-aware organisms. Man and animal are each equally both, as evidenced from the inside out and the outside in. All ‘meat’ is composed of the same four types of tissue: epithelial, connective, nervous, and muscle; from the Greater to the Smaller and the Smaller to the Greater.
Excerpt from the Artist’s Statement:
The visual physical world is connected in subtle ways that can be easily overlooked. I work from my own photographs to discover the connections between seemingly disparate elements that combine to form a greater reality than their independent parts. Actual visual images are transformed into a third-generation idea from physical reality to camera to canvas.
As an artist, my interest is in the underlying associations formed by the repetition of shapes and lines from not only material forms but also those of transient matter such as shadows and reflections operating on the same visual plane in a realistic abstraction.
I consider myself a Patternist primarily interested in the affinities of emerging connections when taken as a whole. Patternism is reality viewed as a wave rather than a particle; it is the missing link between normal spatial perception and fractured spatial perception. Patternism is one link removed from normality, yet it is still very evident.
About T. Smith:
Smith, a former Hunting Art Prize Finalist, was named one of the “Top Ten Painters in Houston” and “Top 100- Creatives” by the Houston Press. The artist’s work has been selected for numerous local and national juried shows, as well as exhibitions including Art Prize Grand Rapids, Artopia, and Houston’s Annual Art Crawl. Smith attended Sam Houston State University as an art and photography major with a minor in cinematography and studied painting for several years at the Glassell School of Art and the Art League of Houston. In addition to painting and drawing, Smith is an accomplished photographer recording and finding artistic source material in travels around the U.S. and internationally. Nature, film, architecture, literature, travel, physics, and philosophy play a significant role in the Smith’s artistic oeuvre with emphasis on spiritual new thought evinced through the writings of Jane Roberts.