September 21, 2014
MEDIA CONTACT
Lisa Berger § 941-365-2032 § [email protected]
Art Center Sarasota’s
New Exhibitions: October 23-November 22
“Heated Exchange”
An exhibition of contemporary encaustic works by 11 artists.
“Black Box Projects: Temporal Beings”
A solo exhibit of recent works by Florida State University MFA graduate Samantha Burns, featuring drawings and installation-based sculpture that explore concepts of trauma, recovery and time.
“Figure Flow of Life”
Featuring works exploring the abstraction of the figure and interactions between figure and environment by Larry Forgard.
“Applied Practice”
An open, all-media, all-subject juried exhibit.
Opening Reception: October 23, 5-7 p.m.
(Sarasota, FL) Art Center Sarasota’s 2014-2015 exhibition season, entitled “Merging Parallels,” opens with four exhibits, which run October 23 to November 22. “Heated Exchange,” in Gallery 1, features contemporary encaustic works representing painting, sculpture and installation by 11 artists; “Black Box Projects: Temporal Beings,” in Gallery 2, is a solo exhibit of recent works by Florida State University MFA graduate Samantha Burns, featuring drawings and installation-based sculpture that explore concepts of trauma, recovery and time; Figure Flow of Life,” in Gallery 3, features works exploring the abstraction of the figure by Larry Forgard; and “Applied Practice,” in Gallery 4, is an open, all-media, all-subject juried exhibition juried by Mark Ormond, curator of galleries at Ringling College of Art and Design. An opening reception for all four exhibits is October 23, 5-7 p.m. Art Center Sarasota is located at 707 N. Tamiami Trail, in Sarasota. For more information, call 941-365-2032 or visit www. artsarasota.org.
“Heated Exchange,” an exhibition of contemporary encaustic (wax) artwork, is curated by Reni Gower, a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. The exhibit features works representing painting, sculpture and installation by 11 artists. Gower says the exhibit features, “the seductive surface, luminous color, and ethereal image layering unique to the encaustic medium. Each artist approaches the process from a distinct perspective that may incorporate scraping, burning, burnishing, incising, dipping, dyeing, or pouring.” She explains that the works—painting, printmaking, drawing, collage, sculpture, and installation—contain “buried images, fragmented hybrids, and hidden codes of natural and industrial order; each translates a physically poetic beauty. The exhibition resonates with sensual materiality.”
“Black Box Projects: Temporal Beings,” a solo exhibit of recent works by Florida State University MFA graduate Samantha Burns, includes drawings and installation-based sculpture that explore concepts of trauma, recovery and time. The artist uses man-made objects and natural plant elements to create time-sensitive installations that will change over the course of the exhibition as the natural elements deteriorate and the delicate balance of the work topples the structure created. Burns says that over the past year she has used installations to “explore the concept of traumatic recovery—not as a single instance—but as an experience, a journey. My intention is to reveal the internal endurance a system goes through to attempt to achieve stability.” She explains that her mixed-media installations are stabilized momentarily through the cooperation of fragile entities, including vases, glass, china, but are partnered with “materials that hold the possibility to wane over time—such as flowers, string, and water—to create a system silently struggling for permanence.” Burns, who suffered a traumatic brain injury, says she appreciates the “the uncertainty that time presents and the beauty that surrounds moments of change. Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
Figure Flow of Life is a solo exhibit of works by the Sarasota-based artist, Larry Forgard. In it, the artist explores the abstraction of the figure and the interactions between the figure and its environment in a painting. Forgard says that figures “reflect challenge, complexity, differences, and personality. Mine are similar to ghosts moving from one dimension to another. If you observe people in a large city walking through streets, you can almost see them becoming lost in a vast sea of structure. I see people becoming shapes moving in and out of other shapes and color both warm and cool creating emotion in their painted environment.”
“Applied Practice” is an all-media, all-subject juried exhibition open to all artists. Online submissions can be done on Art Center Sarasota’s website, www.artsarasota.org/callartists, September 15 – October 10, 2014. Hand-carried submissions will be accepted at Art Center Sarasota on October 14, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The juror for this exhibition is Mark Ormond, curator of galleries at Ringling College of Art and Design.
For more information about Art Center Sarasota, call 941-365-2032 or visit www.artsarasota.org.
About Art Center Sarasota
Art Center Sarasota was the first arts and cultural institution in Sarasota. It was founded in 1926 as the “Sarasota Art Association” by Marcia Rader, the art supervisor for the Sarasota County schools district. In the early years, the group met monthly and sponsored exhibits in rented facilities. The Association was incorporated as a not-for-profit organization in 1943 and has been in its current location in the Sarasota Bayfront Cultural District since 1949. Art Center Sarasota is now a membership-based organization that offers curated and juried exhibitions, adult and youth education programs, outreach initiatives for underserved youth, and culturally related public programming. Art Center Sarasota’s mission is to inspire individual creative expression, nurture artistic talent and provide the community with accessible and diverse visual art opportunities.
Art Center Sarasota
707 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, FL 34236
Phone: 941-365-2032 § Fax: 941-366-0585
www.artsarasota.org
Gallery Hours:
Free admission
10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Saturday
Closed Sunday
