STATE COLLEGE — Four area artists hope to take viewers on an adventure to explore ways in which different concepts collide or combine to produce the work they show.
On Friday, Nov. 18, the State College Framing Co. and Gallery, 160 Rolling Ridge Drive, will present “Surface and Form,” which intends to challenge the conventional.
‘This has silkscreen, gold leaf, ceramics and other mixed mediums,’ said gallery manager John McQueary ll.
Painters Jennifer Kane and Adrienne Waterston will join potters Stephanie Seguin and Mark Messenger for an experience showing the unique vision and approach of each.
Kane has built a solid reputation as a landscape painter and she draws on elements of that background for a new approach. Kane said she started to find the traditional representative work ‘unbearably complicated.’ While certain landscape components blend into her pieces, the paintings push boundaries.
‘Some are otherworldly,’ she said, ‘and some are more about playing with the balance of order and chaos.’
More than a dozen silkscreen pieces depict some of what Waterston finds intriguing about everyday life. She holds on to scraps of paper such as receipts, lists and notes and arranges them into a sort of collage layered with shades and colors that emerge as she works.
‘It’s not representational or traditional,’ Waterston said, ‘but receipts can tell a lot about who you are and what you bought.’
You can see definite bar codes and hints of numbers colliding with lines and patterns of color accenting her work.
‘It makes you think about things most of us don’t pay attention to,’ she added.
Messenger has spent 40 years creating functional pottery.
‘This is decorative as well as functional,’ he said.
He fires his pottery in a 1200-degree kiln, then places horsehair along its surface. Using a glaze called “shino,” he gets a sort of sheen to the clay that contrasts to the horsehair.
‘The horsehair burns,’ he explained, ‘and makes ornate shapes. You can hold the pottery and look at the fine details.’
The fourth artist in this show, also a potter, said she explores life’s questions through her work. Seguin wonders how our social or physical surroundings impact us and how we impact them.
‘To find answers,’ she said, ‘I work with my hands. Tactility is my method of learning.’
Seguin will show pieces of pottery, each having a unique curve and silhouette. Viewing her work does bring attention to objects surrounding it, due possibly to the strong sense of geometry she depicts.
‘Making becomes a play between my mind and my hands,’ she added.
The four artists all hope to initiate thought, questions and conversation for those checking out the work at the Framing Company. Kane calls art ‘a reflective medium that brings people together, provoking thought and the exchange of ideas.’
‘People see things differently,’ Waterston said, ‘and we can learn and share how others see the world.’
The “Surface and Form” show will offer a slightly edgy, but fascinating interaction with four ways of seeing the world.
The opening reception will take place Nov. 18 from 5 to 8 p.m. The show will run through Friday, Jan. 6.
