artHound

new exhibits . . . new hours, too!

January 30, 2016 in artists of rubber city, hanging around town, summit artspace | No comments

The first exhibits of 2016 have opened at Summit Artspace and there are new hours with increased opportunities for viewing.

Ten artists have work in the Summit Artspace Gallery in Unreal – Abstract Art Today. Upstairs, in the BOX gallery, NFS features work from the collections of Artists of Rubber City members. Predictably, the artwork is as varied as the membership. As a member of the group it was interesting to guess who owned what piece(s) before looking at the tags.

An old friend reappeared for the exhibit at the BOX gallery: Trickster Raven, relief print, from the collection of George Reuter. It’s been more than twenty years, but I remember being inspired by the quote, “Raven, the trickster, the missing piece of darkness” from John Straley in The Woman Who Married a Bear.

In the gallery view below the artist is George Reuter. To the left is St. George and the Dragon, an oil pastel on loan from my collection; to the right is an untitled crayon drawing borrowed from Nancy Richards-Davis.

Summit Artspace
140 East Market Street
Akron, Ohio

January 29 – March 5, 2016

Unreal – Abstract Art Today
Summit Artspace Gallery
Thursday and Friday, noon – 7 p.m.
Saturday, noon – 5 p.m.

NFS: Art from Artists’ Collections
the BOX gallery
Friday and Saturday, noon – 5 p.m.

’tis the season

December 9, 2015 in artwork, hanging around town | No comments

As Potent as a Charm also included some holiday beauties whose good will might be suspect:

Black Hellebore
Christmas Rose, Helleborus niger

[holly]

Biding Time
Mistletoe, Viscum album

a riddle
I lived my life between the worlds
Neither earth nor sky would call me child
The birds were my companions
The wind and rain my mentors
Daily I grew in power and strength
‘Til snatched out of time by the trickster
answer: mistletoe

Tags: as potent as a charm, crow, hellebore, holly, linocut, mistletoe, printmaking, raven, relief print, riddle

landscape perils

December 9, 2015 in artwork, hanging around town | No comments

There have been many surprises in the ongoing research on poisonous plants for the As Potent as a Charm series. Not the least is the number of common landscape/foundation plantings that add a hint of danger to the structure of the garden, such as this threesome of familiar shrubs:

A Deceptive Welcome
Rhododendron, Rhododendron

Pleasant Valley
Yew, Taxus baccata

Be Still
Oleander, Nerium oleander

Tags: as potent as a charm, botanicals, linocut, oleander, poison, printmaking, relief print, rhododendron, yew

tiny prints ~ small doses

December 8, 2015 in artwork, hanging around town | No comments

Part of the fun in researching botanical poisons for As Potent as a Charm, was coming across bits and pieces of information, quotes and symbols. Tiny prints and commentary are gathered here in a collection of nine little pieces. There’s a crown for the Queen of Poisons (Aconitum) and a dagger to mark a botanical poison; Belladonna for dark, alluring eyes or castor oil to brighten the whites a la Cleopatra; the atropine dose from my hound’s recent surgery and intriguing quotes from disparate sources, including Agatha Christie’s comment on her frequent method of (fictional) murder: “I prefer to poison them.”

Tags: as potent as a charm, belladonna, castor bean, linocut, printmaking, relief print

the Solanaceae family

December 8, 2015 in artwork, hanging around town | No comments

Black sheep and skeletons in the closet . . .
even the plant world has its share of family secrets, eccentrics and deviants.

Consider the family Solanaceae, commonly referred to as either the nightshade or potato family: members of this unwieldy clan run the gamut from the meek to the murderous. In each of the six Solanaceae prints the virtuous shares space with the disreputable.

Look for mandrake (Mandragora officinarum) and the potato (Solanum tuberosa), deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna) and Petunia, henbane (Hyoscyamus niger) and eggplant (Solanum melongena), bittersweet (Solanum dulcamara) and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), along with tobacco (Nicotiana) and chili pepper (Capsicum). With about 2,690 additional species, the history of the Solanaceae family’s interaction with humans is one of dramatic trial and error, malevolence and goodwill.

left to right:

Loves Me Not
Deadly Nightshade, Atropa belladonna
Petunia

Deceitful Charm
Jimson Weed, Datura stramonium
Chinese Lantern, Physalis alkekengi

Bittersweet
Woody Nightshade, Solanum dulcamara
Tomato, Solanum lycopersicum

Scuttle
Mandrake, Mandragora officinarum
Potato, Solanum tuberosa

Best Laid Plans
Henbane, Hyoscyamus niger
Eggplant, Solanum melongena

Smokin’ Hot
Tobacco, Nicotiana tabacum
Chili pepper, Capsicum

Tags: as potent as a charm, botanicals, linocut, printmaking, relief print, Solanaceae

Ricinus communis

December 7, 2015 in artwork, hanging around town | No comments

The Castor Bean plant from this year’s garden found multiple uses in the As Potent as a Charm exhibit. The framed artwork is a print of a fresh leaf on mulberry hosho using oil based ink; the display leaves were overlapped, coiled in newspaper and dried.

Tags: as potent as a charm, castor bean, leaf print, printmaking, ricinus communis

As Potent as a Charm in the BOX gallery

December 5, 2015 in artwork, hanging around town | No comments

As Potent as a Charm

BOTANICAL
bad seeds
black sheep
& skeletons
in the closet

While there is little that is whimsical about poisoning, there is definitely plenty of drama and mystery in horticultural mishaps and misdeeds. Lovely plants may be leading double lives; happy blooms and tasty vegetables have cousins that are downright deadly. Herbalists differ on the merits and dangers of various herbs. The fascinating stories from botanical history, folklore and science invite and inspire imagery.

The ongoing series, As Potent as a Charm, explores the malevolent side of familiar plants in a collection of black and white linoleum block prints. Although the concept is botanical, allusions to dark tales and malfeasance hint at a narrative within each visual representation.

The series title, As Potent as a Charm, is a phrase taken from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story, Rappaccini’s Daughter. The title character, Beatrice, tends her father’s botanical collection of lovely, yet lethal plants. While ‘as potent as a charm’ refers to the specimens, it could just as well describe Beatrice who, as the story progresses, becomes just as lovely and lethal as the flowers she nurtures.

Tags: as potent as a charm, botanicals, linocut, Nathaniel Hawthorne, poison, printmaking, relief print

December Exhibits at Summit Artspace

December 3, 2015 in artists of rubber city, hanging around town, summit artspace | No comments

Three new exhibits ~ opening tomorrow!

Summit Artspace Gallery
Kaleidoscope 2015 – the 13th annual juried show

the BOX gallery
Thread & Mud

the (little) BOX gallery
As Potent as a Charm

December 4 – December 31, 2015
Summit Artspace
140 East Market Street
Akron, Ohio

Opening receptions, Friday, December 4, 5 – 8 p.m.
Downtown Akron Artwalk, Saturday, December 5, 5 – 9:30 p.m.
First Night Akron 2015, Thursday, December 31, 6 – 9 p.m.
Gallery hours: Saturday & Sunday, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. (closed December 26 & 27)

As Potent as a Charm

November 5, 2015 in artwork, hanging around town | No comments

There is nothing like a carton of postcards to bring reality into focus: As Potent as a Charm will open in just a month!

Tags: as potent as a charm, linocut, printmaking, relief print, the box gallery

art on loan

October 24, 2015 in artwork, hanging around town | No comments

Three prints from the ‘pod’ series were recently loaned to the Akron Community Foundation. Each features a linocut print within a woodcut of a pod from the Chinese Lantern plant.

left to right: Peas + Pod, Skeleton, Lantern Plant
Many thanks to Chris Miller for the invitation – along with pick-up, delivery and installation!

image: Lantern Plant, woodcut/linocut

Tags: Chinese Lantern plant, linocut, printmaking, relief print, woodcut

hanging around town