Loam. Alex Stilber, artist
By Emma Castleberry
Art Garden AVL presents LOAM: Grow From the Soil You Were Sown In, a joint exhibition of works by Tarah Singh and her daughter Alex Stilber. Both women are successful artists in their own right and will be collaborating in LOAM to create mixed media works that explore the feminine experience through a multi-generational lens. “Each of these artists has a way of abstraction of form and gesture to convey emotion and states of being that is utterly mesmerizing,” says Annie Kyla Bennett, artist and co-founder of Art Garden AVL.
The exhibition opens at The Canopy Gallery at Art Garden AVL on Saturday, April 9, with a reception from 4—7 p.m., and runs through May 31. A portion of proceeds from LOAM will be donated to the Southside Community Farm (SCF) in the historically Black Southside neighborhood, just east of the River Arts District (RAD). “SCF is working to provide fresh and healthy food to its neighbors, along with growing space and education towards sustainable food sovereignty,” says Bennett. “Food Justice is restorative and revolutionary in a community that has been systematically denied access.
As far as we see it, our opportunity to make a life for ourselves here in the RAD comes paired with a responsibility to our neighbors, because the RAD did not come to exist in this space in a vacuum.”
Ecstasy. Tarah Singh, artist
Singh and Stilber have collaborated before, but do so rarely—Stilber says they have very different styles, but many parallels in subject matter and even process. “I’m really excited to have our art together in a space for them to speak back and forth,” says Stilber, who uses a lot of reclaimed materials in her work and makes her own natural dyes and inks. “I like the idea that you can create with or on literally anything. I feel like the art world can at times be materialistic, but getting your inner voice out is the most important, whether it’s on high-end canvas or a block of wood. It’s okay to be rough and raw. We are nature.”
This will be Singh’s fiftieth exhibit as an artist, which she marks as a major career milestone. “I am thrilled to have my beautiful, creative daughter beside me making her way in the world as an artist,” says the Guyanese-American artist.
“The world has so many lenses and I believe that the feminine perspective is one of vast insights. As expressionists, Alexandra and I strive to depict the raw emotions of our experiences. We hope the viewers will enjoy the depth of emotions, the vivid palette and the narrative of our imagery.”
Art Garden AVL is located at 191 Lyman Street, Suites 316 and 320, Asheville. LOAM is generously sponsored by Asheville Fine Art Printing. To learn more, visit ArtGardenAVL.com.
