The Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center will link everyday words with abstract landscapes when two exhibits open this weekend.
Jason Rearick / The Citizen
Barbara Baker and Stephanie Schuster hang one of Louise P. Sloane's works that will be featured in the “Context: Art, Words & Letters” exhibit at the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center. The artists' opening reception is Sunday, Sept. 9.
Barbara Baker and Stephanie Schuster hang one of Louise P. Sloane's works that will be featured in the “Context: Art, Words & Letters” exhibit at the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center. The artists' opening reception is Sunday, Sept. 9.
“Revelation: Lane Twitchell, Drawing & Painting” and “Context: Art, Words & Letters” may not look like they have much in common, but the two exhibits complement each other by commenting on modern life in different languages.
“Twitchell uses a lot of symbolism and iconography to relate his view of suburban life and religion and technology,” said Donna Lamb, executive director of the Schweinfurth. “The other artists in the ‘Context' exhibit are specifically using letters and words for reference.”
Ornate but symmetrical webs of curves, shapes and jagged lines are the common characteristic of Twitchell's work, but he often casts them over a horizon line that suggest possibilities as infinite as the webs' detail. The works capture an attitude Twitchell ties to the Manifest Destiny movement in the 19th century.
“Artists primarily in the East, around Hudson Valley, came up with this formula depicting the American continent as an untrammeled, empty slate,” said Twitchell, who works in Brooklyn. “It was an early vision of what the nation could become, and now we're faced with the realities.”
As a native of Salt Lake City, Twitchell's Mormon upbringing has also influenced his work. He feels the idea of Manifest Destiny also motivated the religious movement started by Joseph Smith Jr., whose history in Palmyra was incentive for Twitchell to exhibit nearby in Auburn.
Each of Twitchell's works is the result of a creative process that can take up to six weeks. He starts by folding sheets of paper and cuts them to craft patterned images. He then paints the paper and mounts it on Plexiglas panels.
“At the time I was interested in suburban architecture, like shopping malls,” he said. “And I got the idea that if I folded a sheet of paper and cut an image, when I unfolded it, I had more than one shopping mall.”
Sharing wall space with Twitchell is “Context: Art, Words & Letters,” a show that combines the work of four New York state artists whose featured form is the written word.
Deb Hall, an associate professor of art at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, contributes to the exhibit her technologically aware works. “Messengers” is a hyperkinetic collage of instant messaging shorthand like “LOL” and “WTF” over a backdrop of desktop icons, emoticons and waffles.
“I'm of the mindset that our landscape has become more digital, and I'm interested in capturing that moment in time of the virtual landscape,” said Hall, a former graphic designer.
By scanning photographs, pastels, watercolor washes and other visual data into her computer and crafting her work digitally, Hall enables herself to approximate the crisply processed look of her subject matter.
Like the works of Twitchell, Hall's pieces are the product of the way she sees the social horizon. In this respect, both artists deserve to share a home in the Schweinfurth Art Center.
“Historically artists have tried to capture the landscape of the time,” Hall said.
Staff writer David Wilcox can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 245 or david.wilcox@lee.net
“Twitchell uses a lot of symbolism and iconography to relate his view of suburban life and religion and technology,” said Donna Lamb, executive director of the Schweinfurth. “The other artists in the ‘Context' exhibit are specifically using letters and words for reference.”
Ornate but symmetrical webs of curves, shapes and jagged lines are the common characteristic of Twitchell's work, but he often casts them over a horizon line that suggest possibilities as infinite as the webs' detail. The works capture an attitude Twitchell ties to the Manifest Destiny movement in the 19th century.
“Artists primarily in the East, around Hudson Valley, came up with this formula depicting the American continent as an untrammeled, empty slate,” said Twitchell, who works in Brooklyn. “It was an early vision of what the nation could become, and now we're faced with the realities.”
As a native of Salt Lake City, Twitchell's Mormon upbringing has also influenced his work. He feels the idea of Manifest Destiny also motivated the religious movement started by Joseph Smith Jr., whose history in Palmyra was incentive for Twitchell to exhibit nearby in Auburn.
Each of Twitchell's works is the result of a creative process that can take up to six weeks. He starts by folding sheets of paper and cuts them to craft patterned images. He then paints the paper and mounts it on Plexiglas panels.
“At the time I was interested in suburban architecture, like shopping malls,” he said. “And I got the idea that if I folded a sheet of paper and cut an image, when I unfolded it, I had more than one shopping mall.”
Sharing wall space with Twitchell is “Context: Art, Words & Letters,” a show that combines the work of four New York state artists whose featured form is the written word.
Deb Hall, an associate professor of art at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, contributes to the exhibit her technologically aware works. “Messengers” is a hyperkinetic collage of instant messaging shorthand like “LOL” and “WTF” over a backdrop of desktop icons, emoticons and waffles.
“I'm of the mindset that our landscape has become more digital, and I'm interested in capturing that moment in time of the virtual landscape,” said Hall, a former graphic designer.
By scanning photographs, pastels, watercolor washes and other visual data into her computer and crafting her work digitally, Hall enables herself to approximate the crisply processed look of her subject matter.
Like the works of Twitchell, Hall's pieces are the product of the way she sees the social horizon. In this respect, both artists deserve to share a home in the Schweinfurth Art Center.
“Historically artists have tried to capture the landscape of the time,” Hall said.
Staff writer David Wilcox can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 245 or david.wilcox@lee.net
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