Curated by Tamara Krendel
Poetic interpretations of Light & Dark in a
variety of complementary styles and mediums
Featuring live jazz by The Krendel-Clark Group Rescheduled to Friday, December 16
DREAMING THE LIGHT/UNFOLDING THE DARK
“Unfolding The Dark” is an exhibit featuring artists who use light and darkness to poetically evoke a wide range of feelings, ideas and experiences, literally and/or metaphorically through a variety of complementary styles and mediums. The exhibiting group includes; sculptor Riyo Hirota, poet Jenny Grassl, and painters; Mary Armstrong, Elizabeth Awalt, Stoney Conley, and Tamara Krendel. On Friday December 9th from 6-8, there will be a “meet the artist” event in which the exhibiting artists will be available to answer questions about their work. this event will be followed by a poetry reading by Jenny Lawton Grassl at 7PM. Additionally, at a later date, Elizabeth Awalt will be conducting a scheduled exhibit-related workshop. The title Dreaming The Light/Unfolding the Dark” speaks to the creative process in which one illuminates something intangible, something unanticipated and mysterious which becomes revealed as art. The dark represents a personal place, perhaps a sacred place of complete privacy, where one may go into oneself to discover or transform ones grief, loneliness and fear, as well as ones awe or exhilaration. The dark is a place inside the artists mind, soul and spirit and where the artist embarks on a journey seeking inspiration and vision and is uniquely transformed bringing out of this place of darkness the mysterious magic and poetry of creation. Art unfolds the darkness, creating expressive imagery, words and sounds out of sorrow and longing, awe and wonder that can provide light, poetry, and transformation, acknowledge mystery, and offer solace in the face of loneliness and tragedy. It unfolds the dark, offering universal, spiritual and personal transcendence in many forms, including hope and solace, as well as dialogue, transformation and even escape; -inspiring, soothing, connecting, as well as compelling and provoking. -Tamara Elizabeth Krendel, curator & exhibiting artist
Mary Armstrong’s haunting paintings of shimmering dreamscapes are a visual response to personal and world-wide tragedies. Although unfolding the dark means for her the “darkness of grief and death” she uncovers through her paintings what she describes as “a generative light through the dark and a truth as bright as any light.”
Elizabeth Awalt paints luminous night skies over moonlit oceans using expressive vigorous brushwork, luscious color and dramatic juxtapositions of light and dark to create powerful scenes of raw elemental beauty.
Stoney Conley’s poignant dark paintings of glowing flowers in stark moonlit landscapes memorialize his mother’s death, his limited palette and powerful simplified imagery evoking universal feelings of longing loneliness and deep sorrow . His moons, drifting clouds and celestial flowers hearkening to the intensity of life’s beauty and the fleeting passage of time.
Tamara Krendel paints glowing night scenes some featuring nocturnal creatures. “Poetic transcriptions of her most naked perceptions, these pictures are not observations based on external realities as much as they are playful inventions, inspired compositions of jewel-like incandescence, sparkling vitality and imaginative joy.” (Burton Wasserman)
Riyo Hirota’s provocative wall sculptures of mysterious animated worms elegantly segmented of tarnished and burnished silver and her delicate silver shoots pushing forth from rocks and through steel, evoke myths of life, death and struggle with the primordial power of new spring shoots breaking out of the darkness through autumn leaves to reach the light.
Jenny Grassl, whose compelling multi-layered poems are auditory and visual as well as written, has created an artists’ book of her poetry about the dark specifically for this exhibit. Its pages literally unfold before the viewer to reveal poignant, powerful and whimsical images and words that magically appear and disappear through shimmering light and soft shadows the way words and images move through the world of dreams. -Tamara Elizabeth Krendel, |
