Twelve years ago, Sabrina Zarco won the Grand Award at the Delta Exhibition at the Arkansas Arts Center for her mixed media fabric art Women of Juarez.
So it seems fitting that, as the current Delta Exhibition continues, Zarco has returned to Little Rock with a show of new work at Gallery 360. A former resident of Little Rock, the New Mexico-based artist continues her exploration of Hispanic culture, ancestors, nature, feminism and more in her distinctive fabric and mixed media art quilts.
Zarco's work also seems influenced by the dreamtime and, perhaps, the shamanic journey. Both elements seem to inform her powerful and magnetic Chicana Goddess in Space, a vivid green feminine deity with wildly flowing, multicolored patterned hair. Depicted on the goddess's body is a cornstalk (recalling the Navajo sand painting depiction of Mother Earth), a necklace, flowers and other marks of her sacredness. She floats in a field of shades of blue, with other worlds and realities behind her; dozens of buttons are sewn along the edge to frame this beautiful work.
Transformation appears inspired by the Egyptian goddess Isis in its depiction of a woman shapeshifting into a bird. Perhaps the work most evocative of Mother Earth is Chicana Goddess of the Bosque. Her back faces us as she raises her hands to the heavens; the goddess's dress contains images of deer, birds, flowers, fish and more. The mother's love embraces all of creation.
Also strong and especially timely is Keep Dancing, a tribute and memorial to the victims and survivors of the shooting in the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla. While serious in intent, there is an undeniable joy in this work.
Among the smaller works, art quilts on canvas, are two fine works depicting deer and flowers, both titled Venado con Flores. A series of smaller works, all titled Guardians, have animal, bird and floral motifs.
Sabrina Zarco, "Chicana Goddess in the Bosque: Walking With the Ancestors," through Aug. 20, Gallery 360, 900 S. Rodney Parham Road, Little Rock. Hours: 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday. (501) 663-2222
'COLLABORATION OF COLOR'
The Latino Art Project, under the direction of Will Hogg, has organized a group show now hanging at Argenta Gallery.
The participants of "Collaboration of Color"-- Vickie Hendrix-Siebenmorgen, Luis Saldana, Jatso, Rolando Quintero, Jeannie Stone, Gerald Brown, Rick VanHook and Virmarie DePoyster -- present abstracts that mostly embrace vivid colors.
Several works explore spiritual themes. Among them:
• Stone's Path to Enlightenment. The rich colors and forms remind us that the path may not be easy, but the journey's rewards are great.
• Jatso's mixed media Take Me to the Next Level takes us along a series of ladders and steps, reminding us that the path involves choices and that we learn valuable lessons from each one we make. The work's meditative quality is luminous.
• The layers of DePoyster's mysterious encaustic work Enlightened reveal that ultimate truth rises from within as we release fear and delusion.
"Collaboration of Color," through Aug. 29, Argenta Gallery, 413 Main St., North Little Rock. Hours: 11 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. Info: (501) 258-8991
LECTURE
• Artist David Bailin, who won a Delta Award at this year's Delta Exhibition at the Arkansas Arts Center, will discuss the current Delta Exhibition at noon Friday as part the Arts Center's Feed Your Mind on Friday. His work LAMP took one of the exhibition's two Delta Awards. Bailin has won the top prize, the Grand Award, three times, most recently in 2014 for his charcoal, pastel and coffee on prepared paper work Slippage.
Email:
ewidner@arkansasonline.com
Weekend on 08/04/2016