Fall Riches at Art Center Sarasota.
Fall. Northerners, like the migratory birds they are named
for, plan their descent on Florida. Nights dip below 80 degrees, and we locals
notice the subtle changes heralding autumn--including the ramping up of the season’s
social and cultural calendar. This year, a group show by Women Contemporary
Artists, a regional all-women professional arts group, kicks off the 2005-2006
exhibition season at Art Center Sarasota.
The show, picked by juror Jonas Howard, consists of over 100
works in a wide variety of mediums. Sculpture makes a strong showing with a
number of mixed-media and ceramic pieces.
Two-dimensional works range from photographs to watercolor, oil to
collage. Stylistically the work reflects the varying histories and influences
of the 200-strong arts group.
“It is exciting and rewarding to see so much good work, in
such a variety of styles and mediums, but it makes a juror’s job more taxing.”
Noted Howard, who lives and paints in
Sarasota. “I tried to find objective reasons for eliminating a
work, and conversely reasons for awarding prizes – the most difficult part as
many are deserving. In all cases I attempted to use critical judgment rather
than my own personal taste.” Howard was
Dean of Arts & Letters as well as Chair of the Fine Arts Department for 25
years at Indiana University SE.
Exhibition Winners.
First place went to Kim Northrop, for “Preludes and
Nocturnes.” The painting has a dark tonality, with jewel-like fragments of
color, text and images percolating out of dream-like spaces. The poetry in the
piece—meant to evoke myth-- references the voodoo character Baron Samedi.
Contemporary Realist Kathleen Piunti and Photographer Judy
Kramer took 2nd and 3rd place, with “Zito’s Bakery” and
“Studio Door” respectively. “Zito’s Bakery” shows Piunti’s flair for the play
of light and shade to define forms with muscular vitality. Kramer’s “Studio
Door” shows her fine eye for the forgotten.
Honorable Mentions went to Julie Trigg for “City Cats”
with it’s inventive use and black and white and expressive narrative,
Jacqueline Cully for “Summer,” a fiery abstract piece referencing the cryptic
spaces of modernism and Sandy Fricke for her evocative mixed-media sculpture
“Florida Series 2.”
The show continues through October 14th. The Art Center is located at 707 Tamiami Trail,
Sarasota, Gallery hours are Tuesday – Saturday 10 AM to 4 PM. 365-3032.
Women Contemporary Artists is a strong regional
organization of vibrant professional women dynamically engaged in the
visual fine arts. For more information about WCA or the exhibiting
artists visit the website at www.womencontemporaryartists.com
Art Center Sarasota proudly presents the community with a broad spectrum of workshops, exhibits, classes, and arts education programming in the visual arts, led by respected and nationally known professionals, and emphasizing the work of living artists. For more information on Art Center Sarasota please visit the website at http://www.artsarasota.org/