BoxHeart Inter/National 2014

Each year, BoxHeart curates an exhibit of a far-flung group of visual artists, and it's always a good. This year is no exception. Really, a very lovely exhibit, and very tightly curated. The exhibit this year features delicate, detailed works in sculpture, drypoint and mixed media.

Elisa Mearelli (detail)

Elisa Mearelli Coleottero

 The above is a detail of Elisa Mearelli's work, pictured on the left. Which is one very good reason that I think you have to see this exhibit. The work made me curious about the process, and I found an article on Wikipedia about it. The Inter/National features three of Mearelli's works, all of them created in drypoint and each delicate and detailed.

Ms Roberts-Holland's work, while still delicate, has an exuberant quality. The below is a detail, but you really get a feel for the layers and light play in the work.

Nicole Roberts-Holland Personal Screen Blue and Gold

 Doerte Weber created a very contemplative piece using natural fibers. What really makes the piece interesting is it's subtle light interplay. I had mentioned that the works for the exhibit came from a far flung group of artists. Just a little FYI! Doerte Weber is from Germany, but the work's reference is Texas.

Doerte Weber Texas Brush Country

 I was really struck by Tamar Roded's painting. She has left the work untitled, but from her description, I found that her work is informed by the industrial town in which she lives:

Roded's attraction to urban and industrial subject matter is partly evoked by the environment she grew up in, a small town in the Judean desert. As she walked through the town's empty streets, surrounded by a wide open view of quiet beauty, it always felt like time passed very slowly.

More about Ms. Roded's vision, as well as the other artists in this exhibit, can be found on BoxHeart's website.

Tamar Roded Untitled

BoxHeart has recently changed its exhibition schedule, and the exhibits will be on display for a longer period. But don't procrastinate! March will (hopefully) be here before you know it!

The 13th Annual Art Inter/National Exhibition
January 14 - March 14, 2014
BoxHeart Gallery

TRAF - Juried Visual Art Exhibit

The three Rivers Arts Festival certainly warrants more time this year than I have been able to give it. I spent Friday afternoon at the Artists Market, and Tuesday I stopped in at the Cultural Trust's Education Center to see the Juried Visual Art Exhibit.

This is, by far, the best edition of this series that I've seen. Comprised of only fifty works in a generous space gives each piece breathing room, allowing contemplation without distraction. The installation really did justice to the work. There are more than several good works in the exhibit. For personal reasons, a handful really stood out for me.

Matty Davis

I would be very interested in seeing the above work by Matty Davis in strong and changing light. Not a rapidly changing light, but the natural light over the course of the day and the season. The potential for depth and the interplay of shadow is intriguing; I could see myself living with this piece, shifting it throughout my home and contemplating the changes of light that are possible from a deceptively static work. The layers of fingerprints are complex, with the vagaries of coverage from opaque to slightly faded, couple with expanses of completely clear glass. In the diffuse light of the gallery, the main interest of the work was in its subtle shifts of depth.

Seth Clark

Seth Clark creates his collages from found papers, as well as other media. The works are rich in surface texture and intricate in their observation of decay. The contrast between the floating constructions of dilapidated structures and the very clean expanse of the ground creates a dreamlike floating quality. The effect is disorienting, with uncertainty underpinning the perspective because there is no sure horizon or point of physical orientation.

Stephanie Armbruster

From the artist's site:

Stephanie Armbruster works primarily as an encaustic painter, creating luminous, translucent surfaces by suspending pigment, drawings and ephemera between layers of molten wax.

Ms. Armbruster's work is simply beautiful. The layers hold light just below the surface and color blooms across the substrate in gentle shadings, contrasting with stronger concentrations of pigment that provide a map across the surface. Definitely a work that would grow and transcend through multiple viewings.

Thomas Bigatel

There is a lot of controlled energy in Thomas Bigatel's work. Three of Mr. Bigatel's works are included in the exhibit on canvases that run from medium to large. The expansive gestures of the artist absolutely require the space. I got the feeling that the gestures extended way beyond the confines of the substrate, and that what I was viewing was a fraction of the full spectrum of the piece. The work is a balance blend of impulse and consideration.

The exhibit will be gone in a flash, in place only for the duration of the festival. Fortunately, the venue is open until 8PM for the festival. Please note that the above images are courtesy of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.

EDIT: Replaced a couple images. 

Juried Visual Art Exhibit
Through June 16, 2013
Trust Arts Education Center
805 Liberty Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15222