Knoxville Tennessee hosts a First Friday ArtWalk every month. In October two of my paintings will be featured in a gallery opening! The Emporium Center presents "As We Interpret Our World," a special juried exhibition of artists from the 200+ members of the Art Guild of Tellico Village. My scratchboard "I Love A Challenge" and my watercolor "Blackberry Blossom" were selected to appear among 48 works of mixed media chosen for this show. But wait, there's more... "I Love A Challenge" received one of the juror's four Merit Awards!
Juror Kimberly Winkle also provided her critique to participating artists. It is obvious by the comments that she really took a good look at the art. See what she said about my work:
I Love A Challenge critique by Kimberly Winkle
"Scratchboard is a tedious process. You really have to strategize your attack -- once you remove a mark, you can't go back and put it back. So, this artist has done a really great job of showing all these textures: the texture of the blanket, the wood grain of the scrabble pieces, the brilliant white around the playing cards. Also, the way she understands space and form. She has dealt with the foreshortening of objects like the game pieces and poker chips, the way the dominoes are twisted and turning in space. She understands how to capture space and how objects work in space. It's a very interesting composition. I'm also curious what inspired her to include game pieces. I really like the title: Was it the challenge of the piece or the challenge of the game? This person definitely has a strong command of the material."
(I must add a response to this critique: scratchboard is not a tedious process for me! Also, there are methods of fixing where you may have removed the black surface by mistake, as I teach in my scratchboard classes. In fact, I made a huge blunder on this piece - which I will blog about soon. Eventually I got over my error and seamlessly concealed my repair! And yes, the title refers to the challenge of creating this artwork AND the challenge of playing games.)
Blackberry Blossom critique by Kimberly Winkle
"I was drawn to this piece by contrast mark-making between foreground and background. Even though the artist used very saturated colors in both back and foreground -- which could camouflage that sense of space -- the way that they obscured the background in this loose field of color without shapes helps separate background from foreground. We have much more definition in the foreground. We can see individual petals. We start to see petals wrapped tightly to create the buds, we see the interior of flowers, veining of leaves. Mark-making is used to create this area of emphasis. Preserving white helps define the flowers as a focal point."
This impressive show features artistic styles ranging from abstract to realistic, showcasing the fascinating kaleidoscope of beauty and emotion that a close community of artists can create. Observe through the artwork how "we may walk the same Earth, we may even enter the same room, but what we each take away will be unique."
The Exhibit opens on October 6 at 9am. The public reception takes place during First Friday Art Walk on the same day, from 5:00-9:00pm, and I plan to attend. The Exhibition continues through October 27, 2023. The Emporium Gallery is in downtown Knoxville, at 100 S. Gay St. Gallery hours: Monday-Friday 9am-5pm and Saturday, 10am-1pm. Additional hours: Fri Oct 13, 5-7pm; Thu Oct 19, 5-7pm; Thu Oct 26, 5-7pm.
