Libba Tracy, artist
Grovewood Gallery will host an opening reception for its newest exhibition, Animal Attraction, on Saturday, September 22, from 2–5 p.m. The exhibit, which runs through October 28, features animal-themed work from 13 artists in a variety of mediums, including pottery, sculpture and painting. Tess Darling will be exhibiting an ink and acrylic painting of a male elk that she photographed in Cataloochee Valley. The monochrome, goldenbrown color of the painting allows the viewer to focus on the form and motion of the elk, whose neck is outstretched as he makes his morning bugle. “When you hear this bugle in life,” says Darling, “it sounds like an ancient wood instrument, and it almost seems to chill your soul. I think it is the perfect sound of the forest, with the elk being the perfect creature to depict the primal nature of the aging Appalachian woods.”
Ceramic artist Libba Tracy will be featuring a piece from her playful Critters on the Go series. “Critters on the Go is my current effort to grow myself as a ceramic artist expressing my passion and concern for the creatures that share our world,” Tracy says. Tracy partners with the Black Mountain Center for the Arts to host exhibitions that bring awareness to the issues threatening the Monarch butterfl ies, bees, birds and bats. “I find it difficult to live daily in the reality of these harsh threats,” she says. “The whimsy factor that shows up in my ceramic Critters on the Go must be an unconscious effort to temper that.”
In addition to Tracy and Darling, Animal Attraction will feature work from Melissa Bennett, Mark Bettis, Josh Cotè, Patricia Cotterill, Todd Frahm, Kathleen Gibbs, Jordan Jones, Daniel McClendon, Eleanor Miller, Charlie Tefft and Alicia Williams.
Grovewood Village is located at 111 Grovewood Road, adjacent to and below the Omni Grove Park Inn in Asheville. Gallery hours are Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Free parking is available onsite. To learn more, visit grovewood.com or call 828.253.7651.
