Undefined Crest. Caroline Collom, artist
Blue Spiral 1 will debut a new suite of exhibitions opening on Friday, July 4, from 5—7 p.m., and on view through August 27. The exhibitions include Outside the Lines in the Main Gallery; Hold This / Hide That in the Lower Level Gallery; Untamed, a collection of work from Charles Keiger in the Small Format Gallery; and a joint exhibition by Lainard Bush and Kenny Pieper in the Showcase Gallery.
In Outside the Lines, seven contemporary artists—including Kat Green and Sarita Westrup—embrace abstraction as a language for sensation, memory and intuition. Green’s work offers an inward-facing approach to the topic of abstraction. “There’s no representational imagery, but there’s still an emotional architecture underneath,” she says. “My paintings aren’t about delivering a message—they’re about evoking a feeling. If anything, I hope people see the paintings as open spaces—quiet places to feel something personal and unresolved.”
Hyacinth. Kenny Pieper, artist
“I think of sculptural basket weaving as a form of building—like constructing poetry out of reed and mortar,” says Westrup. “It’s a practice that connects to my cultural heritage as a Mexican American from a border town in Texas, while also drawing from my present-day life in western North Carolina. I’ve always felt that abstraction is the perfect way to express the liminal experience of growing up in a border town. It allows me to hold complexity, contradiction and in-betweenness.”
The concept of duality—what is seen and what is concealed—is central to Hold This / Hide That, a group exhibition in the Lower Level Gallery that includes Eric Serritella and Sang Roberson. “My works are lidded vessels that can hold actual items or they can preserve and keep memories, wishes, dreams, whatever the owners desire,” says Roberson. “They center me in this world of chaos in which we find ourselves.”
Serritella’s approach is rooted in environmental awareness and material metaphor. “Through aging and decay, my clay and glass sculptures challenge the viewer with both the nature of the material and the messages within,” he says. “Each sculpture fosters awareness to affect viewers’ behaviors toward the environment.”
Lost Pony. Charles Keiger, artist
In Untamed, each piece features an animal depicted by Keiger at a pivotal moment in an imagined narrative. “I like to imagine what happened before and after this snapshot,” says Keiger, whose work is influenced by Southern Gothic aesthetics and magical realism. “If I can give the viewer a brief respite from the noise of the outside world, if it opens up something within them, a sense of wonder, and if they develop their own narrative from what’s presented, I’ve succeeded.”
In the Showcase Gallery, painter Lainard Bush and glass artist Kenny Pieper offer a meditation on color, pattern and process. “Most of the works selected for this exhibition will be displayed in this gallery for the first time,” says Bush. “It is important that my paintings evoke a sense of wonder and contemplation and encourage the viewer to explore the interplay between light and dark, chaos and order, structure and abstraction.”
Pieper’s contributions span multiple series and techniques rooted in classical glassmaking. “Much of my work is influenced by the history of glass both in technique and specific pieces of the past,” he says. “I enjoy being part of that tradition, but at the same time try to make objects that are more contemporary and hopefully, if I am successful, have my own voice.”
Blue Spiral 1 is located at 38 Biltmore Avenue, Asheville. Hours are Sunday through Tuesday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Wednesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, visit BlueSpiral1.com or call 828.251.0202.
