misty morrison

Misty received her BFA in Painting from Lyme Academy, College of Fine Arts, and is currently pursuing her MFA in Printmaking from Ohio University

Wavelengths by Danielle Wyckoff at Paper Circle Gallery, Nelsonville, Ohio

            Someone once told me that in order to be considered an official “townie” in Athens, you have to

have lived in the area for seven years after you graduate. And so even though I am back in school, I

officially became a “townie” this school year since I graduated in 2006 with my BFA. Why do I

mention this? Because one of the perks and pitfalls of being a townie is that you  get to know

everybody in the Athens area if you stay long enough. Perhaps that is an exaggeration, but I really do

feel this way sometimes.

            So it was no surprise that when I ventured to Nelsonville's Paper Circle to write a review for

this blog, I discovered that I knew the artist who was showing in their gallery. I first met Danielle

Wyckoff in 2010 when she volunteered for my annual charity clothing exchange, and she was one of

the people who encouraged me to return to Ohio University for graduate school. Paper Circle is a non-

profit paper making studio and gallery space, and Danielle was their artist in residence in 2012.

Currently she teaches in Michigan, but her work on display at Paper Circle consists of O-gami papers

she made during her time as artist in residence.

            The title of the show is Wavelengths, and all of the pieces in the gallery are imbued with a

watery dreaminess, which creates a light and calming effect. The timing of the show in September

seems very appropriate, because the work all seems like an ode to a particularly lovely vacation on

a lake or by the sea in a summer that has since past. In fact, the premise of the show is based upon the

artist's relation to different bodies of water. There also is a sense of longing in many of the pieces,

two figures are seen brushing against each other, a hand reaches for another, or is seen giving a

shell in the faintest of pencil lines. Scrawled script, (a love letter?) appears in many of the pieces.

            All of the work is on paper, and includes lithography, screen print, drawing, and other

techniques. One of my favorite pieces in the show appears on the left wall from the entrance.

“Twinning” is lithograph on handmade cotton and abaca paper, and features two figures floating

together through what could be, water, air or time. The right wall of the gallery features a row of delicately pinned pieces of the same scale. They were richly rewarding to look at, as they included

subtle luster effects, and even evidence of dissolved salt.

            If you are in Nelsonville for final Friday, please make sure to stop by Paper Circle to see this

beautiful show. A reception with the artist is scheduled for Friday, October 4th. The following day,

Saturday, Danielle will offer a paper making workshop at Paper Circle. This seems like a most

appropriate way to close out the summer months!   Emily Beverege

Zanesville Museum of Art's 69th Annual Ohio Exhibition

Today I write you as a reviewer of an art exhibition. The view I take is unique and decidedly biased, as I take the view of an artist who was juried into the exhibition. The Zanesville Museum of Art’s 69^th Annual Ohio Exhibition opened September 14^th and runs thru November 16^th. I had the pleasure of attending the well attended opening on the 14^th, and the additional pleasure of meeting several artists. 80 works were selected from a list of over 230 submitted from around Ohio. This is a genuine old fashioned art show, so it was without specific theme or medium guidelines. The only requirements were that it had to fit in the galleries and had to be made within the last three years.

The first thing to grab me was the history of the show. 69^th annual? That is impressive- the first Ohio Exhibition that this relatively small city (25,000 people) was at the end of World War II! Art has seen quite a bit of change in that time, and the works exhibited exemplify that change, as they run the gamut from heavily digitized photography to pastoral oil landscapes.

These works run the gamut to the extent that one would think the juror, Michael McEwan, took the Noah’s Ark approach to curation- two of every animal! McEwan’s own works, pastoral contemporary landscape painting, is certainly not heavily weighing in here. I would imagine that such an open ended exhibition would lend to a diverse catalog, but wow!

Ok, now let’s dig in. The closest work to what McEwan does is a small delicate oil on linen landscape. This piece won the best of show award and no wonder here. It is called Conesville Snow by Frederick Fochtman. The image emerges from the paint just like the depicted power plant towers would emerge from a thick grey blanket of falling snow. Looking at this piece brings about the silent lucidity and meditation that only the muffling characteristics of a heavy snow can bring. This piece is only a foot wide, but it feels like four feet. The skilled use of formal composition combined with painterly brushwork allows the piece to at once exist as an abstraction and a representation,  which only heightens the contemplative spirit one has when engaging the piece.

Kathy McGher’s piece, Backyard Conversations and Silences, is a rather large intaglio at 34 inches. Having participated in the process of intaglio, my respect for the labor intensive process adds to my appreciation of the piece. In this print, depth is implied and simplified, but doesn’t feel all that important. What does happen is one gets lost in the heavily detailed and evenly handed marks that define the two figures sitting in a sea of plastic pink flamingoes on lawn furniture in front of a shed. The busy marks imply the conversation of familiarity that continues even during silence with the figures. I read these details as dialog and found I was able to stay with this piece for quite some time.

Veneer by Craig Lloyd is a subtle yet formally powerful photograph of veneer peeling off of a surface and bedding itself into a collection of paint chips and detritus. The colors in this photo are not hyper saturated as is often the case with macro photos, but played down to the point of almost being a-chromatic.  The strongest color passage appears under a large sheet of peeling veneer, hinting at buried colors. The composition of this piece is quite enticing, as the rhythm of marching shapes extends ¾ of the length of the painting only to be halted by the strong color band. These same marching shapes seem to mimic gestural brushstrokes in their flowing curves. The use of the minimal colorscape allows one to see the work as existing in a shallow space until the largest veneer piece forces you into an altogether deeper space. The power of this piece, though not immediate, is significant.

Sculpture was well represented in this show, with a range of works from a large wire swiss army knife by Jordan Paul, to a series of 100 soda fired raku chairs ( Sin Young Park, Relationship 02). Gregg Luginbuhl’s piece, entitled Rustic Decanter, is a stoneware pouring vessel. Average in size, the object’s physical presence reads as much bigger and heavier than it weighs. The forms deny its objecthood as a work of ceramics and push it directly into a heavier than the sun iron realm. Bordering on steam punk without the kitsch, this nicely executed water vessel’s craft is captivating. Screw tops that are not screw tops, bolts that are not bolts, a bendable spout that is clearly not bendable, add to the strength of this piece.

Am I going to review my own piece? No- I hope that you will find your way to the Zanesville Museum of Art to see these pieces for yourself.          Aaron Smith

Robert Howare's exhibition at ROY G BIV in Columbus, Ohio

Robert Howsare
ROY G BIV Gallery, 997 N High St, Columbus, OH 43201
September 7 – 28, 2013

No longer living in Columbus, I don't make it to ROY G BIV as often as I'd like. When I looked to see what they were showing this month, I knew I'd have to make a trip to see Robert Howsare's exhibition of 2013 works. His exploration of how and why we perceive the way we do is not only an interesting gateway to understanding how our minds work, it is beautiful. I admit I am a bit of a sucker for artwork like this. I enjoy taking the time to look, process, and look some more. When an artist specifically invites that sort of visual interaction, I accept.

Howsare is working similarly to Op Art, focusing on disruption as the brain tries to make patterns of incongruous information it receives from the eyes. Most of the works on display used moiré patterns, a phenomena most people know as the swirling effect of overlapping lines in two overlapping screens. The Moiré Painting series is actually made of black chiffon and organza wrapped over each other in the shape of a traditional painting. Changing position gives the viewer a different pattern as the brain makes sense of the overlapping weaves in the fabrics.

For me the most successful 2d piece was Moiré Drawing II. Slightly metallic colored lines overlap at various angles to create the illusion of other lines at the intersections. By limiting different groups of lines to certain regions of the picture plane, a wider variety of patterns is created. This exposes the structure that enables the perceptual shenanigans without detracting from the effect while allowing interplay between the different types of interference in the work. The varying values and reflectivity in the metallic flecks suggest depth that only vanishes on closer inspection.

In most of Howsare's works, motion and depth are only implied through interference patterns. In Rift, slowly sinking horizontal lines are projected onto strips of brightly colored tape strung across the corner of two adjacent walls. Here the motion is actual, but still distorted. The same lines are projected onto all of the strips of tape, but seem to track at different speeds. Close observation of two strips can reveal the speeds in that specific area are actually the same, but it is difficult to break the illusion on the entire piece simultaneously.

The only piece that seemed out of place to me was Spectre, a serigraph of grids of black squares printed on several smaller sheets of paper. I think it was the success of the other works in creating perceptual anomalies that left me wanting something more from Spectre. The rest of the works on display played more with color and shifted in response to viewer position. In another context I think it would have held its own much better.

The subjectivity of observation illustrated in this exhibition suggest the inability of humans to perceive anything absolutely. If we can't see something as simple as geometric patterns without imposing our own perceptual order, how can we be objective about more complex natural and human situations? Perhaps it is an invitation to take the time to view things from more angles and in different lights to get closer to a complete picture. Using memory through time helps us come to a better, though still partial, understanding.

If you get a chance, take a trip to ROY G BIV Gallery in Columbus OH before September 27 to see this show. Treat your mind by fooling it.   Brett Barton

ryan davis

Live, Love, Paint

brett barton

Brett Barton is a painter pursuing an MFA at Ohio University. He is
very interested in things.

laura dobrota

Originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, Laura Dobrota, is currently pursuing an MFA at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.  Her work includes painting and drawing processes, photography, sculpture, installations, and at times overlaps several mixed mediums at once.  Currently, Dobrota is working with sculptures, drawings, and paintings that engage the use of materials such as embroidery thread wrapped in wire, paper mâché, ball point pen, marker, cloth, watercolor, and acrylic.  Her practice engages in observations found in the natural environment, currently, birds’ nests and their assemblages made from materials found in the environments in which they live.   Dobrota then composes her own nests’ mimicking the unique nests’ studied, using man made materials.  The study of how forms transpire and interconnect in nature compels her curiosity and inspiration for learning more about the natural world, and understanding how progressions in nature occur.