2008 Woodie Awards
You haven't heard this line before
Cole Cheney - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 1/30/08 Section: Arts
Within the complexity of colors, shades, angles and figures, one of the most fundamental aspects of art can get left by the wayside: the line. Neither in-line nor online, this Iowa City exhibit emphasizes the processes and beauty that stem from the stroke. On display until February 22, the exhibit It Starts With a Line at Chait Galleries, 218 E. Washington St., showcases the convergence of different media into a single emphasis on linear art.
On Friday, the gallery will hold an event with extended hours and refreshments, and featured artists will discuss their techniques.
With displays including oils on panel, woodcuts, artificial nests, acrylic paint, and reeds, the mixed media mean the exhibit is wide-ranging. Artists John Schirmer, Mary Merkel-Hess, Cathy Patterson, and Phil Lichtenhan each contributed to the gallery.
"I've had a few pieces there for somewhat more than a year, but this is the first time that I have been included in one of its featured shows," Patterson said. Also a lawyer, she is an abstractionist who uses lines to give her a "pulling feel," said Mandy Renaud, a Chait Gallery curator.
"The line is the starting point of many pieces of art," she said. "It has so many possibilities and can become so many things without any other influences."
For Schirmer, the medium is the woodcut. Chiseling blocks down stroke by stroke, he then uses the scene he embedded as a stamp to press his image onto paper. It can be "a very laborious process but very rewarding," Renaud said. In addition to woodblocks, reeds, wires, and ceramics all contribute to the exhibit.
The remaining two artists, Lichtenhan and Merkel-Hess, incorporate their art in baskets and synthetic nests respectively. With so many parties involved in the exhibit, influences and inspirations run rampant.
Picasso and Pollock are only a few of the many names that the Chait artists cited as influences. With such diversity, the crowds will be hard to predict, said gallery owner Benjamin Chait.
"With features like this, we do not expect to see a specific crowd because there is no specific reception for it," he said. "We always have people who come in response to the e-mails and the press information, which is what we strive for daily."
Not only will the exhibit showcase the importance of the line within art, it will highlight the linear style of the artist -imitating those that came before and influencing those who create after.
"My own works are new and uniquely personal, even though I may benefit from the vocabulary developed by other artists before me," Patterson said.
E-mail DI reporter Cole Cheney at:
cole-cheney@uiowa.edu
It Starts With a Line
Where: Chait Galleries, 218 E. Washington
When: Through Feb. 22
On Friday, the gallery will hold an event with extended hours and refreshments, and featured artists will discuss their techniques.
With displays including oils on panel, woodcuts, artificial nests, acrylic paint, and reeds, the mixed media mean the exhibit is wide-ranging. Artists John Schirmer, Mary Merkel-Hess, Cathy Patterson, and Phil Lichtenhan each contributed to the gallery.
"I've had a few pieces there for somewhat more than a year, but this is the first time that I have been included in one of its featured shows," Patterson said. Also a lawyer, she is an abstractionist who uses lines to give her a "pulling feel," said Mandy Renaud, a Chait Gallery curator.
"The line is the starting point of many pieces of art," she said. "It has so many possibilities and can become so many things without any other influences."
For Schirmer, the medium is the woodcut. Chiseling blocks down stroke by stroke, he then uses the scene he embedded as a stamp to press his image onto paper. It can be "a very laborious process but very rewarding," Renaud said. In addition to woodblocks, reeds, wires, and ceramics all contribute to the exhibit.
The remaining two artists, Lichtenhan and Merkel-Hess, incorporate their art in baskets and synthetic nests respectively. With so many parties involved in the exhibit, influences and inspirations run rampant.
Picasso and Pollock are only a few of the many names that the Chait artists cited as influences. With such diversity, the crowds will be hard to predict, said gallery owner Benjamin Chait.
"With features like this, we do not expect to see a specific crowd because there is no specific reception for it," he said. "We always have people who come in response to the e-mails and the press information, which is what we strive for daily."
Not only will the exhibit showcase the importance of the line within art, it will highlight the linear style of the artist -imitating those that came before and influencing those who create after.
"My own works are new and uniquely personal, even though I may benefit from the vocabulary developed by other artists before me," Patterson said.
E-mail DI reporter Cole Cheney at:
cole-cheney@uiowa.edu
It Starts With a Line
Where: Chait Galleries, 218 E. Washington
When: Through Feb. 22
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