The public is encouraged to check out the “Hot Stuff” featured for the month of August at In-Town Gallery. If you give a theme to a bunch of artists surprising things materialize. Meet the artists and enjoy their interpretations of sizzling “dog days” at an open house August 5, 2016 at 26A Frazier Avenue, 5PM - 8PM.
A chef works amid the steam and heat in June Teuscher’s oil painting, ”What’s Cooking”. Says June, "My motivation to create oil paintings comes from various sources which may consist of a speck of light on a piece of colorful ground, a cloud or perhaps a group of mountains”. In this case a cloud of smoke envelops the subject whose concentration and dignity bring the viewer into the experience. June says she worked hard on this particular one actually painting it twice to get just the composition as she wanted it. Mission accomplished!
"Heat Index" is an acrylic painting on black gesso canvas by Sandra Paynter-Washburn. Piled up and ready to use in your favorite spicy recipe are a bunch of hot chili peppers, Sandy's equivalent of August in Chattanooga. “Making art is an integral part of my life. It is a blessing, a way of accessing and expressing inner scapes that would otherwise go unexplored. Simple acts like squeezing paint onto my palette and mixing the colors take me to a place where I am challenged and appreciated, refined and encouraged. I like the puzzle that is art, the challenge of figuring out what works and what doesn’t and why” she says.
When clay is molded into shape, dried and it is the heat of the kiln that renders it permanent and usable. Roger Harvey has enjoyed careers as a potter, teacher, goldsmith and engineer. Presently he makes salt glazed pottery and wooden functional items. His pottery is wheel thrown and often reshaped before drying. “I use various colored clays and glazes over the exteriors. Salt glazing is accomplished by throwing common salt into the kiln near the end of firing. The salt vaporizes and the vapors fill the kiln and react with the clay and glazes to produce interesting and durable textured surfaces.” Hydrate on hot days. A salt glazed pitcher could be a cool way to serve liquid refreshment.
"Yosemite Flame" taken by photographer, Spears McAllister, shot his photo in Yosemite Valley last fall. "Normally, I work very hard to eliminate all motion taking my photographs. This photographs however, is the second in a series that include deliberate camera motion to create different effects in the image. The camera motion gives the impression of flames in the fall colors of cottonwoods along the Merced river." Others in the series are also on display at the gallery.
"Glitter Spice", a Poppy Jasper pendant is a part of the collection of sterling silver and copper jewelry by Barbara Murnan. Self taught, but learning for the last 9 years, her work has evolved from wire wrapped pieces to combining different stones and techniques all in one piece. "There is something satisfying about taking a flat piece of silver, etching it then using it as a support framework for an exotic stone, embellished with pieces of copper. It is all one of a kind and you would never see another one because I could not duplicate it even if I wanted to." The ideas for designs using the treasured unique stones usually come to her while practicing yoga, Barbara laughs.
"Beach Music" by Jennie Kirkpatrick was inspired by a series of photos surreptitiously taken while on a beach vacation. Women on a "girl trip" often spend a hot day at the beach then shower and dress for an evening out dining. Maybe a late afternoon stroll on the beach is in order and the sea gulls gather hopeful for their own "dining experience". "This group reminded me of so many similar scenes of myself and friends that I just had to commemorate it in a painting", says Jennie.
