Cut From the Same Cloth. Lisa Klakulak
Blue Spiral 1 will open four new exhibitions with a reception on Friday, September 5, from 5—7 p.m., all on view through October 29. The Main Gallery exhibition, Tableau: Contemporary Still Life, draws attention to the contemporary equivalent of an historic art form, rethinking the genre through style, media and subject matter.
“Still lifes are anything but,” says photographer Bill Green, whose work is featured in Tableau. “It may be a moment in time, but I look to capture a scene full of different timelines that have found their way into the scene at that very moment.” While Green never stages a scene and only shoots found locations, he was encouraged to create new work for the exhibition’s theme. “I look for locations and vignettes of life where people are absent, but there are signs they were there,” he says.
Bethany Pierce, artist
Fiber artist Lisa Klakulak incorporates common objects in unexpected ways. Working primarily with wool hair through wet felting, she is “deeply inquisitive of natural materials; the patterning of their growth and/or accumulation, deterioration and deformation,” she says. ”The objects I work with present a domestic setting, though not one that is still or contented.”
Painter Bethany Pierce sees still life as a timeless practice. “I think still life painting is perennial because at its most fundamental level, it’s the practice of learning to see,” she says. For this exhibit, she drew inspiration from “daily rituals and commonplace pleasures: birthday cakes, flowers from the garden, dinner with friends.”
Michael Fitts approaches still life as a hybrid of traditions. “I see it as a fusion of four artistic traditions: still life, realism, trompe-l’œil and American pop art,” he says. “We all have remembrances of the things and objects that give meaning to our lives. These paintings will be received differently by each person.”
In the Lower Level Gallery, Material Matters will explore how artists transform materials into works that challenge expectations. “I believe animals can mirror the human condition in a nonconfrontational and expressive way,” says ceramic sculptor Christina Kosiba. “I hope my work creates moments of reflection, reminders that we are not above nor apart from nature.”
The Rescue. Julyan Davis, artist
Glass artist Robert G. Burch finds energy in risk, incorporating unexpected materials like keys, tools and barbed wire into his glass sculptures. “If there is not danger or tension in the process and the final piece, it’s boring,” he says. “The challenge of bringing glass into contact with unusual mediums is where the tension lies for me.” He sees his work as a response to purely digital creation. “CNC machines and computer-generated art, while innovative, lack the personal touch and tactile connection between the artist and their medium,” he says. “There is a unique power in the imperfections and nuances that come with handcrafted material with such a long road to command the material.”
The Showcase Gallery will present Stories Far and Near, pairing narrative paintings by Julyan Davis with cast-glass sculptures by Alex Bernstein. “I tend to pick stories from the past that speak vividly to present issues,” says Davis. “Once I have found a story I reach out to historians and artists in other fields who would find my discovery intriguing and inspire them to create.” He also sees clear resonance in his collaboration with Bernstein. “I think his fusion of glass and steel to create beauty will complement my own treatment of the past: I also balance contrasting materials,” he says.
Stillness in White.
Christine Kosiba, artist
“I realized that I was drawn to sculpture and found that blown glass was a challenging material to try to make sculpture out of,” says Bernstein, who was raised in a family of glass blowers. His cast-glass forms capture light and transition color, often prompting viewers to wonder about the medium. “I still see something new every time I look at them,” he says, “and they have an amazing fluid movement as you walk around them, almost like they’re alive and moving with you.”
The Small Format Gallery will feature The Poetry of the Earth by painter Deborah Squier, whose work blends realism and impressionism to offer an intimate, luminous vision of the Appalachian landscape.
Blue Spiral 1 is located at 38 Biltmore Avenue, Asheville. For more information, visit BlueSpiral1.com or call 828.251.0202.
