She's back.
She is "SHE," the biennial exhibition of works by female artists hosted by M2 Gallery and curated by owners Mac and Ashley Murphy.
The inaugural exhibit in 2017 was a fascinating debut with about 20 artists; the new exhibit has doubled in size. It has also stepped up its game by attracting new participants such as Adonna Khare, a California artist who was part of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art's "State of the Art" exhibition.
"SHE" explores a lot of ideas, from flights of fantasy and mysticism to serious commentary in a wide array of mediums. The show benefits from excellent contributions by two winners from this year's Arkansas Arts Center's Delta Exhibition -- Grand Award winner Mabry Turner of Little Rock and Delta Award winner Scinthya Edwards of Helena-West Helena. The exhibit also features past Delta Exhibition artists including Lisa Krannichfeld (Grand Award, 2018) and sculptor Sandra Sell (honorable mention, 2019).
Some highlights from the opening:
• Edwards' meticulous and mesmerizing collage Lift Every Voice (Tribute to Rosa Parks); and a selection of 6-by-6-inch collages.
• Krannichfeld's magnetic paintings of women who project psychological and emotional complexity.
• Mabry's surrealistic painted wooden cutouts Lilith's Daughter: Feminism in the 21st Century and Everyman: You'd Be Surprised, both laden with social commentary and not a small amount of humor.
• Printmaker Lea Barton's "Roadside Testimonials" series, which includes Jesus Saves.
• Fayetteville High School student Autumn Blaylock's lovely 1960: The Corner of My Room Is a Corner of Quiet, a colored pencil/prismacolor work. In it, a young woman, sitting in her room, holds a Patsy Cline album.
• Ashley Murphy's new series of underwater photographs is imbued with mystery, emotion and beauty.
• V.L. Cox's multimedia sculpture Columbia, accompanied by a Walt Whitman poem, radiates unconditional love.
• Printmaker and painter Carly Dahl of Batesville captivates with her "Rorschach" series. Her artist's statement says she explores "the pressures and identities women deal with in their gender."
"SHE," through Oct. 25, M2 Gallery, 1300 Main St., Suite B, Little Rock. Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m Tuesday-Saturday. Info: m2lr.comor (501) 225-6257
Maurice Mitchell, one of the original partners at the Little Rock law firm Mitchell, Williams, and firm lawyer Chris Barrier decided in 1967 to build a corporate art collection. Both men loved art -- Mitchell was a founding member of the board of directors of the Arkansas Arts Center and Barrier served on the Arts Center board.
The law group began its collection in 1967 buying works by faculty and students at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and works by other Arkansas artists. UALR started its own collection in 1972.
So, with this sense of connection, "Pairing Collections: Contemporary Art in 1980s Arkansas" at The Brad Cushman Gallery at UALR's Windgate Center of Art + Design, makes a logical collaboration. Of the 33 works, 22 are from the law firm and 11 from UALR. Many haven't been readily accessible to the public, making for a fascinating experience for those who love art and want to see some excellent work from the time by a number of familiar names.
Names such as David Bailin, Anne Fordyce, Warren Criswell, Tarrance Corbin, Dominique Simmons, Al Allen and more.
If you've came to know Bailin through the large drawings of his "The Erasings" series and its depiction of Alzheimer's disease's effects on memory and lives, the 1987 oil on paper What They Know They Know for Us will intrigue the viewer with its more representational presentation. Still, it seems to hint at what would later manifest in the searing, suburban angst of 2014's Slippage and others that explore disconnections in his "Dreams and Disasters" series.
On the same wall with Bailin and a work by Criswell are two especially stunning abstracts: Anne Fordyce's Amputated Landscape, an oil on paper calling attention to a clear-cut forest and eroded land with its vibrant colors, and Kathleen Holder's mesmerizing Psychic's Waterfall, a luminous pastel on paper.
Criswell's aforementioned acrylic and oil on paper, Two Men on Stilts II, is one of his most fantastical works with its doomsday edge and absurdist/sci-fi-esque men on very tall stilts walking down the highway. His intimate ink on paper drawing of Eugene O'Neil is a treasure all its own.
The exhibition shows fine examples of Corbin's brilliance, particularly the markers on paper work Geo Designs and an untitled collage.
Also memorable are a cool, abstract pastel on paper Self Portrait by Gertrude Tara Casciano and the skewed perspective of Dead Banjo Player, a pastel on paper by Simmons.
"Pairing Collections: Contemporary Art in 1980s Arkansas," through Sept. 27, Windgate Center of Art and Design, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 2801 S. University Ave., Little Rock. Hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday. Info: ualr.edu/art, (501) 916-3182.
In a new exhibit by five photographers at Justus Fine Art in Hot Springs, the gifted Beverly Buys continues her "Delta in Blue" series of soulful cyanotype prints as she explores the Arkansas Delta region with richly textured, often emotion-charged images of the landscape and communities. The stories they capture resonate deeply, reflecting palpable longing, melancholy, unexpected beauty and more. Elaine, Arkansas and Sacred Ground resonate deeply within the viewer.
Carey Roberson, formerly of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Art Department, now teaches at Ouachita Baptist University. His surreal mix of photography and printmaking makes fascinating viewing, especially with It was a failed lesson in gentleness, as a father and children play outdoors with eggs. As the boy juggles, dad drops and the girl, sitting on the ground, offers hers, intact.
The enjoyable and thoughtful exhibition includes fine work by Don House, Sabine Schmidt and Robbie Brindley.
Through Sept. 30, Justus Fine Art Gallery, 827-A Central Ave., Hot Springs. Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday and by appointment. (501) 321-2335.
Email:
ewidner@arkansasonline.com
Style on 09/15/2019