August: Demare, Moore, Freeman & Shift

Fayetteville Underground First Thursday Opening Reception August 5 from 5-8pm

This August, The Fayetteville Underground is pleased to present four new exhibitions with works by local, national and international artists. Christian Demare, a photographer from Paris, France will present his mysterious dark worlds in his photographic exhibition, Ghosts in the Landscape #2 in the Hive Gallery. The Revolver gallery will host our first gallery exchange, with the works of Seattle, Washington based artist collective Shift.The Vault Gallery will feature Fayetteville Underground artist Gregory Moore's new additions to his Reclaimed Surfaces paintings on found objects. Over the past year, Gregory's subject matter has expanded to include feral animals along with weeds and wildflowers. The E Street Gallery will showcase pottery artist Karan Freeman's functional vessels in her exhibition, Let's Eat.

Christian Demare

Christian Demare
Ghosts in the Landscape #2
Hive Gallery

Christian Demare is a photographer living and working in Paris, France. His exhibition, Ghosts in the Landscape #2 will be featured in the Hive Gallery at the Fayetteville Underground during the month of August. After exploring drawing, painting and engraving, it is photography that Christian has turned to in recent years. Exhibitions and publications punctuate this prolific artist's life entirely devoted to his work, research and experimentation. Recently his work entered a period of greater visibility, with exhibitions at the French Institute in Thessaloniki, Greece as part of the 2010 Photo-Biennale, and at Les Insolites, in Tangiers, Morocco. Artist Megan Chapman, always inspired and impressed by Christian's dark, lush and mysterious photographic worlds asked the artist if he would consider having an exhibition at the Fayetteville Underground, she was thrilled when he agreed.

About his work, Christian Demare writes, "Stopping for a moment, seeing, trying to take the time to look at things humbly; between contemplation and meditation. Trying to offer a view of the immensity of things, approaching the others, touching the palpitations of life. Offering people a view, expanding their perspective, feeling and touching reality with the fingertips.This reality that contains all the tragic and the magic. All the light and the incredible hope.The torn hearts and the dazzling nature.The deadly boredom and the absolute love. My art is figurative even if sometimes the subject disappears; my art is narrative even if the stories are fragmentary.The images are nothing other than furtive traces and testimonies; a few clues left here and there…"

Shift Collective

Shift Collective from Seattle Washington
Continental Shift
Revolver Gallery

Shift, a collaborative artists’ studio/gallery in the Pioneer Square district of Seattle Washington will feature 9 of it’s member artists in this exhibition titled Continental Shift. Shift was established as an artist-run space, with the primary goal of supporting Northwest area artists, working in a variety of media, who are dedicated to creating challenging and innovative work. Shift is committed to celebrating art of diverse media and rigorous content. Exhibiting artists include Sharon Birzer, Yun Hong Chang, Mary Coss, Ellen Hochberg, Jo Moniz, Bailey Russell, June Sekiguchi, Paula Stokes and Rickie Wolfe.

June Sekiguchi from Shift collaborative studio and Fayettville Underground studio artist Leilani Law co-facilitated this member exhibition exchange. Fayetteville Underground studio artists will be featured in October at Shift Collaborative Studio in Seattle.

Gregory Moore

Gregory Moore

Reclaimed Surfaces
Vault Gallery

Gregory Moore's paintings are about searching through discarded rubble and finding beautiful things. He find pieces of rusted, dented metal debris and paints on them in a way that doesn’t obscure the original texture and color of the object. He seeks out objects that are notable for their their interesting stains, rust and damage and he lets those characteristics guide the painting.

"The subject matter I choose is largely informed by the pieces of debris I start with. Often I evoke or re-imagine the scene where decaying trash might be found (a field of red clover, a cluster of thistles). When I first began painting on metal, I was drawn to weeds and wildflowers. Now I find my self more open to letting the metal guide me," Moore says, "My recent works include birds, insects, cats and fish."

Moore hopes to take forgotten, decaying objects usually thought of as trash, and use them to make intriguing and soulful works of art that people would want to bring into their homes, offices or gardens.

Karan Freeman

Karan Freeman
Let's Eat

E Street Gallery

As an independent potter working out of my home in Fayetteville, I think most about the functionality of my pieces. I prefer to work with white stoneware, midfire, that lends itself to long lasting, durable pieces.I have been actively involved in clay work since the 1970s, originally hand building and then throwing on the wheel. I’ve attended workshops and other collaborative events with other artists to learn new techniques and develop my own style. For me touchability and texture is a huge part of clay appreciation both in the crafting and the finished product. It is impossible for me to simply look at a finished clay object, it must be explored. There is a need to check out the surface, lift the piece to see it from another angle, look inside or see if the weight matches the visual perception. The enduring quality of clay objects also appeals to me. When someone tells me they have a 5 or 10 year old bowl or mug, they still love it and use it regularly; it reinforces my sense of purpose and satisfaction. Working with clay reminds me of my connection to the earth; how the earth provides everything we need to produce food and forms the vessels to contain the food.

As always there are open studios to tour, work in progress to see, and artists to meet. There will be new work by the talented underground studio artists in the back Vault gallery and the fine crafts you have come to expect in the E Street Gallery.

Once again this is all a part of the cultural amenity that is the visual arts on the First Thursday of every month at the Fayetteville Underground on the Fayetteville Square from 5-8p.m.

Tell your friends and see you there!
The exhibitions will remain up through August 28th.

The Fayetteville Underground
Basement of One East Square Plaza
East side of the Historic Fayetteville Square.
Fayetteville, Arkansas
Gallery Hours W-F 12-7pm
Saturday 10-5pm
4 galleries: Open Studios
www.fayettevilleunderground.com
www.fayettevilleunderground.blogspot.com

July: Institute du loop, Kelly Price-Colston, Matthew Lyman and Gailen Hudson

Fayetteville Underground First Thursday Opening Reception July 1st 5-8pm

This July, Fayetteville Underground will host four new art exhibitions. In the Hive Gallery, the mysterious Institute du loop from Taipei, Taiwan will show a series of photographs, in their premier international exhibition, A place to drown. In the Vault Gallery, Fayetteville Underground artist Kelly Price-Colston's exhibition entitled "The Super Cute Show" will feature her multi-media collages. The Revolver Gallery will be filled with the works by area artist Matthew Lyman whose show will include UV reflex paintings, an animated UV lighting installation, custom furniture and a surround soundtrack. In the E-Street Gallery, pottery by Gailen Hudson will be on exhibit. It's going to be another exciting month at the Fayetteville Underground!

Institute Du Loop

In the Hive Gallery:
A Place to Drown
Institute Du Loop

Institute du Loop will present its premier international exhibition, A Place to Drown, in the Hive Gallery within the Fayetteville Underground during the month of July. This exhibition, curated by artist Megan Chapman, comes to the Fayetteville Underground from Taipei, Taiwan. The Institute du Loop is the brain child of English born visual and sound artist, "Mr. Loop." Mr. Loop has lived in Taipei for two years, and this body of work reflects his sense of being lost in the city, drowning in emotions, submerged and dreaming on the strange island he now calls home.

The photographic works presented capture what the artist's eye misses, he is using his camera to “see” what he cannot. The camera gives the artist a chance to lose himself in fleeting moments again and again. Mr. Loop sees his work as a form of emotional documentation: through these images he is finding his eyes and his heart. The Institute du Loop's exhibition presents the viewer with an archive of images, words, and sounds, or as the title suggests, A Place to Drown.

Kelly Price-Colston

In the Vault Gallery:
The Super Cute Show
Kelly Price-Colston

Kelly Price-Colston is a mixed media artist residing in Farmington, Arkansas. She has been published in the book We Feel Fine about bloggers and social media. She also is a regularly featured artist in the magazine Sew Somerset Mixed Media and will be contributing to Somerset digital magazine in September. Her studio is located in the Fayetteville Underground artist collective where she also teaches mixed media collage classes Wed. nights at 6:45pm. This is her second solo exhibition at the Fayetteville Underground Vault gallery. Cupcakes, happy child-like illustrations and paintings will set the scene for the next First Thursday show. This will be a great family event for everyone.

Matthew Lyman

In the Revolver Gallery:
Poor Traits & Land Scapegoats
Matthew Lyman

Matthew Lyman lives in the woods, with his cat Lonely Jay Kadogan, on the northern most outskirts of Northwest Arkansas. It’s all too easy to say “Unusual” when dissecting his brand of mixed media painting. When asked about his influences he names a cross section of his favorite nineteenth century scientists and twentieth century cartoon animators. When asked about his education he proclaims: “I didn’t know anything until I knew nothing.” In fact, the more you ask Matthew about his art, the more he makes it abundantly clear that art should be the last thing on your mind. For Matthew, this is simply an attempt at connecting.

A self-proclaimed existentialist weightlifter, art bodybuilder, long distance drummer and magical wizard, Matthew seems to perpetuate his own mythology which bleeds through every pore of his highly personal catalog of characters. Portraits of closed-eyed figures appear from darkness, radiating their own light reflected by a canopy of neon sky. Landscapes cascade to occupy space like slow migrations of house and hill. The ever-changing array of pattern work acts as a system of iconic folklore, unrefined ideas and rhythms. The narratives are subtle, singing quiet songs of Jungian duality, existential dilemma, high anxiety, irony, satire, desperation and beauty. It’s the kind of poetic storytelling that is abstract and painfully absurd but, somehow, everyone can still relate to. Matthew has created a whole world of imagery and iconography. There is a certain all encompassing, big bang to black hole feeling about viewing even the smallest and simplest of his multi layered paintings. Something vaguely familiar. There is, at first, an immediate connection with the obvious, the vivid color palette, two-dimensional cartoon like rendering and often quite humorous text sprinkled throughout but, there is still something more to be felt. The work tends to leave the viewer reeling for more of that deeper, invisible and unexplainable connection.

Matthew has exhibited paintings and sculptures in New York City, Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, Atlanta and Dallas. In July 2010, he intends to bring it home to Fayetteville. Matthew’s first solo exhibition at the Fayetteville Underground titled Poor Traits & Land Scapegoats promises a selection of over thirty new UV reflex paintings, an animated UV lighting installation, custom furniture, a surround soundtrack orchestrated by none other than the magic wizard himself and, possibly, some balloons.

Gailen Hudson

In the E-Street Gallery:
Gailen Hudson

"Clay is a fascinating thing to me. When I am in the woods or along a creek, I search for this material derived from the natural processes of chemical weathering and erosion of the bedrock and soils. I enjoy the formless natural and primitive character of clay and its manipulation and creation into an entity of my choice. The process of this raw earth material and its interaction with fire, transforming the clay into a man-made stone is exciting to me and when opening the kiln after the work of the fire is complete on the clay, I know that something new and never before seen is waiting inside.

Clay lends itself to many processes of manipulation, ideas, dimensions, form, color, texture, volume, scale, and function. I enjoy making forms on the potter’s wheel and hand forming pieces and combining forms. My influences include the functional ware of the Southern Folk Pottery tradition of wood ash glazed functional ware with storage jars, bowls, urns, and whiskey jugs. The earthenware of the Mississippian / Central and Southern Plains tradition of Native American pottery have always been a favorite of mine for its decorative designs used to enliven the fragile pottery in daily use. The stonewares of the Japanese Shino and Chinese Sung Dynasty always have my attention, as the soft boldness of the clay bodies and the covering glazes have created forms that entreat you to physically interact with the work, to feel its form, its mass, its texture and color. I like the post-fired reduction of American Raku, playing with fire, smoke, and color.

Clay is a natural organic form which can be made into a coffee mug to hold and feel the transmitted warmth of the liquid it carries, a piggy bank to hold my pocket change, a casserole pot in which to cook my supper, or a sculpture to create and define a spatial identity in my home. Or, it can be engineered into a design of a 3200 degree fabric blanket for the space shuttle, ceramic cutlery, or as a material of cold fusion technology research. I like to think of myself as somewhere in the middle of this process … but leaning more towards the coffee mug."

As always there are open studios to tour, work in progress to see, and artists to meet. There will be new work by the talented underground studio artists in the back Vault gallery and the fine crafts you have come to expect in the E Street Gallery.

Once again this is all a part of the cultural amenity that is the visual arts on the First Thursday of every month at the Fayetteville Underground on the Fayetteville Square from 5-8p.m.

Tell your friends and see you there!
The exhibitions will remain up through July 31st.

The Fayetteville Underground
Basement of One East Square Plaza
East side of the Historic Fayetteville Square.
Fayetteville, Arkansas
Gallery Hours W-F 12-7pm
Saturday 10-5pm
4 galleries: Open Studios
www.fayettevilleunderground.com
www.fayettevilleunderground.blogspot.com

June: Kaminsky Family & Samuel Gray

Fayetteville Underground June 3rd 5-8pm

First Thursday opening reception.

Kaminsky Family Show & Samuel Gray: Lift my eyes to you

Join us this June as the Fayetteville Underground presents works from all four members of the talented Kaminsky family. Hank Kaminsky will bring hundreds of new pieces of jewelry to the E Street Gallery along with a room full of new sculptural works in the Revolver Gallery showing along side his wife Jo Anne Kaminsky's beautiful abstract oil paintings. Their son, Jessie Kaminsky, currently an artist in residence at Boston Center for the Arts, will hang an enormous installation in the Fayetteville Underground circular foyer. Daniel Kaminsky who lives in San Francisco, will be showing his film loops and collage in the Hive.

We are also thrilled to share the new works of Samuel Gray, a young, prolific Underground Studio artist in the Vault Gallery. Samuel's impressive charcoal pieces are sure to amaze and inspire! June is going to be a very exciting month at the Fayetteville Underground!

Hank Kaminsky

Hank Kaminsky

Artist's Statement:
I am working on a project called the Sacred Ground. With symbols and words integrated into the surfaces, the sculptures speak about the sacred nature of the Earth and the concepts of peace, citizenship, fairness, and other positive values we hold as a community. The pavement or background of the sculptures contains language contributed by various members of the community. On top of that language, which is an inherent component of the sculptures, are succinct words and forms that convey the concept of hallowed ground. I believe that art is the symbolic transformation of experience and that the sharing of these symbols acknowledges art’s significance in society.

Hank Kaminsky believes the artist is an integral part of the community. He has been making sculptures for 50 years and is still concerned with finding the shape of the face of god. He has many public sculptures, including the World Peace Prayer fountain on the Fayetteville Town Square, which was sculpted and cast in his own studio and foundry in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Jo Ann Kaminsky

Jo Ann Kaminsky

Artist’s Statement:
These oil paintings present a personal process, which is a more free and timeless zone than what my puppets and other work entail. When a person enters the altered state of creative expression, many things happen. The artist (any person making art) enters a dream space where the right brain can use powers that are inaccessible during everyday rational activities.

Jo Ann Kaminsky is an artist, therapist, art teacher, and owner of the Art Experience, a center for expressive arts, healing and growth in Fayetteville, Arkansas. She has a private counseling/art therapy practice, where she sees people individually or in families or groups. She leads a personal growth group for adults using masks as metaphor for change. She is also an Artist-In-Education

Jesse Kaminsky

Jesse Kaminsky

Artist's Statement:
The work that I'm making for the show in Fayetteville fits into a larger body of work that is about how to make shapes using very simple rules and processes. I'm interested in the way the natural world creates extremely complex shapes from the simplest building blocks. I have a feeling that the rules of construction are the key. The pieces I'm working on in this vein begin with a simple shape and an equally simple set of rules and then I follow it to its conclusion.

Jesse Kaminsky lives in Boston Mass and works in computers at M.I.T. He is currently the artist in residence at the Boston Center for the Arts.

Daniel Kaminsky

Daniel Kaminsky

Artist's Statement:
Known as a retro artist, his work involves 16 mm film, view master film loops with sound and two-dimensional collage. Also a writer and a guitarist, Daniel will join his mother (on drums) and his brother (playing sax) as they make music for the evening.

Daniel Kaminsky lives in San Francisco where he is studying film at City College.

Samuel Gray

Samuel Gray: Lift my eyes to you

Artist's Statement:

As an artist I know that I have an opportunity to affect someone with my images. I want my work to connect to people and their emotions. As I strive to make a positive impact in this world and not let my talents go to waste, I am humbled by the responsibility to make a difference for good.

My exhibition in the Vault Gallery will be focused on children living in a ministry-based orphanage that cares for AIDS orphans and abandoned children in Mozambique, Africa. I will be living at the orphanage and helping to take care of these children during the summer and wanted to dedicate a body of work to them. The purpose of these pieces is to reflect the hope for change and promise that these children have in the midst of their hardship.

Samuel Gray is currently in the B.F.A program at the University of Arkansas and has additional representation in Little Rock at Boswell Mourot Fine Art Gallery. He has created all new work for his exhibition for the Fayetteville Underground. We are thrilled to have this dedicated young artist in our stable of studio artists at the Fayetteville Underground. Come and get to know him and his work.

Listen to artist Samuel Gray talk about his latest exhibition, "Life my eyes to you."
This interview originally aired on KUAF Ozarks at Large 91.3fm

As always there are open studios to tour, work in progress to see, and artists to meet. There will be new work by the talented underground studio artists in the back Vault gallery and the fine crafts you have come to expect in the E Street Gallery.

Once again this is all a part of the cultural amenity that is the visual arts on the First Thursday of every month at the Fayetteville Underground on the Fayetteville Square from 5-8p.m.

Tell your friends and see you there!
The exhibitions will remain up through June 26th.

The Fayetteville Underground
Basement of One East Square Plaza
East side of the Historic Fayetteville Square.
Fayetteville, Arkansas
Gallery Hours W-F 12-7pm
Saturday 10-5pm
4 galleries: Open Studios
www.fayettevilleunderground.com
www.fayettevilleunderground.blogspot.com

May: Leilani, Sabine Schmidt, Christopher Mostyn, Ed Pennebaker

Fayetteville Underground : May 6th 5-8pm
First Thursday Opening Reception

Join us this May as the Fayetteville Underground unveils four exciting, new exhibitions. The Revolver Gallery will feature Fayetteville Underground artist Leilani's new paintings entitled "Django" in her striking, allegorical style. The Hive Gallery will feature Sabine Schmidt, also a Fayetteville Underground artist, in an exhibition of her intriguing photographs, "We've Been Holding This Moment for You." The Vault Gallery will feature the playful monster drawings of Christopher Mostyn, a visiting artist from Springfield, Missouri. The E-Street Gallery will showcase the colorful blown glass works of the nationally acclaimed artist Ed Pennebaker.

Paintings by Leilani

In the Revolver Gallery:
Django
2010 paintings by Leilani

Artist Statement: Django; Romani for “I awake” is the exhibition title which will include two series of paintings titled Dream Awake and Enthronement. Art is a means to actively dream. Visceral messages compel me to create a kind of narrative order to the series of moments that occur somewhere between total darkness and total light. Living my potential is to use and be used by art to overlap the distance between the two. The allegorical Dream Awake series of paintings are inspired by actual events as well as dreams. Painting allows me to revisit life experiences in search for their universal truth. A recalled dream can reveal a story that through the act of painting becomes an event, a place for interaction, a place to begin again to dream.The large scale figurative Enthronement series of paintings borrow the imagery of thrones as a means to express a kind of rite of passage into self-authority. As a culture we seldom celebrate individualized authority; the ability to lead oneself, to follow oneself. I address the necessity of inauguration; the celebration of ones earned authenticity and conviction as a necessary component to an awakened life.

Photography by Sabine Schmidt

In the Hive Gallery:
We’ve Been Holding This Moment for You
Photography by Sabine Schmidt

Artist Statement: Two people walk down a city street. Do they see the same street and have the same responses to what is around them? Or do each person’s senses create a different street? The street consists of moments in time, offered to the passers-by. Almost all of these moments are as mundane as the environment in which they take place, but they all have the potential to become something bigger, something symbolic or memorable. Whether in cities or out in the country, the camera eye is ready to find the formal in the mundane, give it permanence, and connect time with place.

Sabine Schmidt was born and raised in Germany and came to Fayetteville to study literary translation at the University of Arkansas. As a music journalist, college instructor, and translator, she has lived in several countries and likes to test the walkability of cities in North America and Europe. Top three so far: Hamburg, Montreal, and New York.

Works on Paper by Christopher Mostyn

In the Vault Gallery:
Christopher Mostyn

Artist Statement: I've been making monsters my whole life. I grew up in a day when Saturday mornings made kids kings for a moment. As a bored suburbanite, I needed something to keep me interested and pop culture was just the ticket. Monsters, sci-fi, comics, all fed an insatiable appetite, one fueled but the ordinariness of the neighborhood and the dysfunction of the family. The work in this show is mostly new work with a few older imaged peppered in. Sheer joy is it's one constant theme. I have recently returned to making comics and this may be the last show of strictly "art" for a while but who knows. If there is one thing I have learned it is not to underestimate the power of ennui.

Glass works by Ed Pennebaker

In the E Street Gallery:
Glass works by Ed Pennebaker

Artist Statement: Much of my work with the glass shows its fluid qualities and its interaction with light. I derive inspiration from the garden and the woods surrounding my home and studio. The many seeds, buds, blooms, pods, and growing and developing plants and organisms continually amaze and inspire me. But I see no need to replicate nature, I prefer to interpret and reimagine. My latest sculptures deal with the natural environment and our relationship to our natural resources. "Prairie Grass" is indicative of the wind and the way it moves the plants rooted in the layers of earth.

Ed Pennebaker owns and runs Red Fern Glass, a one man glass blowing studio. In 2005 one of Ed’s works was installed in the Fred W. Smith Conference center on the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences campus in Little Rock, Arkansas. Glass made by Ed has been shown at SOFA Chicago by Function Art Gallery. Chandeliers by Ed were awarded the "Excellence in LIghting" award at the Philadelphia Furniture and Furnishings Show and a Red/Amber/Smoke chandelier was chosen to exhibit in the 2001 Hsinchu International Glass Art Festival in Hsinchu, Taiwan. His work was chosen in 1993 for the White House Crafts Collection. He has sold glass in major museum shops and galleries nationwide.

Behind the Hive Gallery:
Leilani's art mentorship student exhibition

Behind the hive, features the art work of Leilani's private & individual students as a part of Art Mentorship; a program offered through The New School. Leilani sees herself as a catalyst, inspiring creative potential. She encourages trust of intuition as the informant.

As always there are open studios to tour, work in progress to see, and artists to meet. There will be new work by the talented underground studio artists in the back Vault gallery and the fine crafts you have come to expect in the E Street Gallery.

Once again this is all a part of the cultural amenity that is the visual arts on the First Thursday of every month at the Fayetteville Underground on the Fayetteville Square from 5-8p.m.

Tell your friends and see you there!
The exhibitions will remain up through May 29th.

The Fayetteville Underground
Basement of One East Square Plaza
East side of the Historic Fayetteville Square.
Fayetteville, AR
Gallery Hours W-F 12-7pm
Saturday 10-5pm
4 galleries: Open Studios
www.fayettevilleunderground.com
www.fayettevilleunderground.blogspot.com

Fayetteville Underground: One Year Anniversary!

Fayetteville Underground: First Thursday April 1st 5-8pm
Join us Thursday April 1st. from 5-8pm for Fayetteville Underground's first Thursday opening reception. This April marks a full year of great art shows at Fayetteville Underground! We have a lot to celebrate, so don't miss it!

In April we will feature the brilliant and colorful portraits by painter Basil Seymour-Davies in the Vault Gallery. San Francisco schooled artist Matthew Depper will fill the Hive Gallery with a playful and clever collection of paintings called "It Eels What it Eels" and paintings by Anthony TW Meyers will be shown in the Revolver Gallery.The E-Street Gallery will feature richly patinated and rustic jewelry by Teresa Hall.

Painting by Basil Seymour-Davies

In the Vault Gallery:
Between You and I
Paintings by Basil Seymour-Davies

All the pieces tell a story. All the graphic information supports the narrative derived through the act of contemplating the relationship, shared experiences, and certain commonalities between subject and artist. Usually these graphic images are developed through a series of loose associations and as a result trigger a vague sense of some set of ideas. In the end, the initial narrative is not important. It is the lingering residues that matter. It is the impression of some insight into a person or place’s story that allows one to freely explore and interpret it. And by this process establishes the connections to make the story one’s own.

Basil Seymour-Davies spent his impressionable adolescent years in Bangkok, Thailand. He grew up staring in awe at the enormous hand painted billboards and movie posters that were are a part of a rich Thai tradition. When he decided to pursue painting in his late twenties he inevitably reverted back to the images of the larger than life figures and story vignettes he saw in the city streets as a kid. He currently lives and works in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Painting by Matthew Depper

In the Hive Gallery:
It Eels What it Eels
Paintings by Matthew Depper

Matthew Depper studied graphic illustration at the Academy of Art, University San Francisco. His latest body of work is a collection of stylized sea creatures painted on convex wood panels. The title of the series,"It eels what it eels," reflects the typically clever and playful nature of Matthew's art.

Painting by Anthony TW Myers

In the Revolver Gallery:

Paintings by Anthony TW Myers

Growing up terrorizing a small town in Oklahoma, Anthony spent most of his childhood exploring abandoned structures, getting dirty in creeks, and pestering his fellow neighbor kids. During his perilous escapades, he’d hoped to discover a new unrecorded aquatic species, a real live ghost, or most importantly a true friend that was at least half as crazy as he was. Whether or not these aspirations ever became a reality is hardly relevant. His childhood ambitions stewed and fermented in his soul and his head throughout his life. They evolved and spun into all humanly possible directions getting expelled and contorted through drawings, mud sculptures with yarn hair, homemade forts, puppets, and finger paintings in the process. If the neighborhood kids didn’t fear Anthony’s capabilities, they might have envied them. But mostly, they ended up loving him because he brought something unique and priceless to the town and to the world.

Jewelry by Teresa Hall

In the E-Street Gallery:
Jewelry by Teresa Hall

Teresa Hall is a mixed metal artist with a focus on rustic and organic forms, abstracted from nature. Her fascination began with an accidental walk around a junkyard some fifteen years ago where she discovered an array of metals and the intriguing patinas that were a result of weather, and age. Teresa began experimenting with the manipulation of metals by hammering, torching and soldering forms to achieve desirable colors and shapes that she incorporated into large format wall hangings, as well as smaller investigations which she continues to explore in the form of jewelry. Teresa considers the art of jewelry design to be closely related to sculpture, as her pieces involve building and balance to achieve a comfortable and aesthetically pleasing piece of jewelry that can be worn on a daily basis. In addition, Teresa finds there is a lot of satisfaction in transforming salvage into what she considers a rustic style of functional art.

As always there are open studios to tour, work in progress to see, and artists to meet. There will be new work by the talented underground studio artists in the back Vault gallery and the fine crafts you have come to expect in the E Street Gallery. Once again this is all a part of the cultural amenity that is the visual arts on the First Thursday of every month on the Fayetteville Square from 5-8p.m.

Tell your friends and see you there!

The Fayetteville Underground
Basement of One East Square Plaza
East side of the Historic Fayetteville Square.
Fayetteville, AR
Gallery Hours W-F 12-7pm
Saturday 10-5pm
4 galleries: Open Studios
www.fayettevilleunderground.com

March: Stories, Dreams, Reconciliation

Fayetteville Underground: First Thursday March 4th 5-8pm
Featuring: Jennifer Libby Fay, William Mayes Flanagan, and Don House

Stories, Dreams, Reconciliation
Three artists come together March 4^th in three separate galleries within the walls of the Fayetteville Underground. The works of Jennifer Libby Fay, William Mayes Flanagan, and Don House might seem, at first glance, to be as distinct and unconnected as their choices of media – dye transfer, watercolor painting, and photography. However, walking back and forth between the galleries, the underlying, defining force that connects these artists becomes apparent.

Jennifer Libby Fay is the most likely to use the word spiritual when she describes her creative process, her search for meaning: “When I am thinking about my work or making my pieces I try to begin with an open and generous heart in order to ‘see’ what is being asked of me. For me, making art is an intuitive process, it comes from a place inside me that is difficult to articulate but I think it is very concerned with finding meaning in life. For me this is a spiritual quest.” And she has credentials to prove it. Her The Seven Step Spiritual Art Discipline, was included in the recently published book Visio Divina, a collection of essays that deal with the experiences of practicing artists.

An accomplished hand weaver and fiber artist, Fay focuses now on textile surface design using multiple dying techniques, embellishment, and fabric manipulation. Each of her dye transfer processes coalesces the various layers and textures into a unique original print. She will be exhibiting a collection of new work entitled Reconciliation in the front Vault Gallery.

The word spiritual carries a great weight, and a multitude of meanings, and while William Mayes Flanagan might be hesitant to evoke it when describing his work, it nonetheless pervades it. So many of his rich watercolors describe that wondrous period of dusk, when darkness gathers outside and windows begin to warm and light from within. The viewer rarely glimpses the scene beyond the window, yet feelings of curiosity and great nostalgia and longing can surface as the observer fills in the blanks from her own memory. “There’s nothing scary about my nights”, says Flanagan, “it is a time of great peace and beauty and mystery.” A Kansas City gallerist once described Flanagan as a Southern storyteller, and true to that metaphor, he lets the listener, walk right into the scene.

Flanagan will be displaying an array of new work entitled Dreams in the Revolver gallery, most of which has never been exhibited. He credits his association with the Fayetteville Underground as a critical factor in his prolific production of work in the past year. “It’s inspiring,” he says, “I work in the presence of very creative and disciplined artists, and their energy seems to activate my own.”

Don House often describes his approach to photography as a search for the essence, and he finds spirituality most often associated with the places to which he is drawn, with or without the presence of people. "I often seek the isolation of wilderness," he explains, "only to find myself pulled to signs of prior habitation, of human presence – the stone wall, the crumbled foundation, the tombstone – places with emotional weight." Nudes, landscapes, architecture – House approaches them all as he would one of his powerful portraits- searching for the character, the spirit, the essence, before he releases the shutter.

Most often, House finds that black and white film is the tool of choice, but he’s known to use color processes when he feels it better conveys his vision, and his selection of pieces for this exhibition contains both – works from different periods, a collection he titles Stories. Don House's work will be in Hive gallery.

The Fayetteville Underground is the perfect setting for this exhibition of kindred spirits. Four well-appointed galleries are surrounded by artist studios and a classroom space. The Fayetteville Underground's monthly opening receptions have anchored the First Thursday event in downtown Fayetteville, and drawn record crowds. The Underground and First Thursday has been credited by many artists as having revitalized the art scene in the region, even in the face of a national economic slowdown. The Underground provides a community of and for working artists, and this sense of community has drawn together a fascinating and diverse group of professional artists.

The opening reception for the Fay/Flanagan/House exhibition is March 4th from 5-8pm, and their work will remain in the galleries throughout the month.

For more information about these artists and their work please visit:

http://www.jenniferlibbyfay.com
http://williammayesflanagan.com
http://www.donhousephotoworks.com

As always there are open studios to tour, work in progress to see, and artists to meet. Also there will be a group exhibition of the talented underground studio artist's in the back vault gallery and the fine crafts you have come to expect in the E Street Gallery. Once again this is all a part of the cultural amenity that is the visual arts on the First Thursday of every month on the Fayetteville Square from 5-8p.m.

Tell your friends and see you there!

The Fayetteville Underground
Basement of One East Square Plaza
East side of the Historic Fayetteville Square.
Fayetteville, AR
Gallery Hours W-F 12-7pm
Saturday 10-5pm
4 galleries: Open Studios
www.fayettevilleunderground.com

February: C.E. Nelson and Kat Wilson

Fayetteville Underground: First Thursday February 4th 5-8pm
Featuring C.E. Nelson and Kat Wilson

Join us Thursday Feb 4th. from 5-8pm for Fayetteville Underground's first Thursday opening reception. In February we explore the figure at the Fayetteville Underground. In the Hive we will have Fayetteville photographer, Craig Earl Nelson's Strangers and Not So Strange; a series of intimate and piercing close up portraits taken while using the natural light from the windows of a local pub. The Revolver gallery will feature Ft. Smith photographer, Kat Wilson's Habitats; a stunning series of environmental portraits placing people among their things, giving the viewer a true sense of the subject's lifestyle. In the Vault gallery, the underground studio artists will showcase a selection of their various figurative works and the E Street Gallery will have a wonderful selection of fine crafts. All exhibitions will continue through Feb 27th.

© C.E. Nelson

In the Hive Gallery: Craig Earl Nelson : Strangers and Not So Strange

Craig Nelson's latest work is being executed on Fujifilm's wonderful FP-100C, a 3x4 instant, peel-apart pack-film modeled after Polaroid's now discontinued versions. These portraits are shot using a Mamiya RB67 Pro-S medium-format camera with 90mm & 127mm lenses, largely hand-held, using only available light--no reflectors or other, secondary light sources. Craig favors hard fall-off, contrast, what most would refer to as chiaroscuro or Rembrandt lighting. The work is simple, straightforward, minimally posed. The latter is restricted to turning subject into or out of the light. Otherwise, direction involves only asking that subjects relax as best they can and to ogle the lens as he composes each shot. What results is a glimpse beneath the skin, a peek at the animal under the surface. In essence, Craig is working to remove the masks that we often feel compelled to wear. He hopes to give subject and viewer permission to stare, to drink in every line and blemish. Many subjects find it difficult to stare directly into the lens; does it trouble us to look at them? We live in a society in which direct eye contact is often considered intimidating, verboten unless the eyes regarding each other belong to lovers, family members, or perhaps the optometrist. The prints Craig makes from the original images are kept small to force the viewer to come close. He wants the experience to be personal, intimate; the same way he works, in nearly every case...up close, in the face of his subject, at less than arm's length. Both the act of photographing and the resulting images are quite potent.

© Kat Wilson

In the Revolver Gallery: Kat Wilson : Habitats

Arkansas artist Kat Wilson is best known for her Habitat series of photographic portraits, in which ingenious arrangements of household furnishings and possessions, both everyday and exotic, surround their owners. Inspired by the Old Masters’ portraits, Habitats, says Wilson, is “a study of objects people keep dear to their hearts." Wilson’s work has been shown in New York, California, and Arkansas — where she has shown four times at the Arkansas Arts Center's Annual Delta Exhibition, winning a Delta award this year. Kat Wilson has been published in Oxford American, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Little Rock Monthly, Communication Arts, and others. A graduate of the University of Central Arkansas, Wilson also studied at the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, New York. She currently lives in Northwest Arkansas, working at the University of Arkansas - Fort Smith. Kat Wilson's says the habitat series is a "search for a new iconography. Influenced directly by the Old Masters; the lives of the normal folk are eulogized."

As always there are open studios to tour, work in progress to see, and artists to meet. Also there will be group exhibitions of the talented underground studio artist's Vault gallery and the fine crafts you have come to expect in the E Street Gallery. Don't forget to visit the fabulous DDP gallery as well. Once again this is all a part of the cultural amenity that is the visual arts on the First Thursday of every month on the Fayetteville Square from 5-8p.m.

Tell your friends and see you there!

The Fayetteville Underground
Basement of One East Square Plaza
East side of the Historic Fayetteville Square.
Fayetteville, AR
Gallery Hours W-F 12-7pm
Saturday 10-5pm
4 galleries: Open Studios
www.fayettevilleunderground.com

Matters of Consequence: January 2010

Please Join us Thursday Jan 7th. from 5-8pm for Fayetteville Underground's first Thursday opening reception. You really do not want to miss this show!
The Fayetteville Underground starts 2010 with a bang!

The month of January features two exciting new exhibitions.

Revolver Gallery : Christopher Baber, Michael Shaeffer = Pedigree

"Matters of Consequence"

Christopher Baber and Michael Shaeffer = Pedigree
photographed by Thomas Petillo

After five years of working together; Hot Springs, Arkansas art duo Pedigree will be showcased in the Fayetteville Underground's Revolver gallery. Pedigree is the collaborative art of Christopher Baber and Michael Shaeffer.

In 2004, Shaeffer was living in New York, and Baber was running VS. Art Gallery in downtown Hot Springs. In the Spring of that year, a chance encounter occurred for the two at the Coachella music festival in Indio, California, where they were formally introduced by a mutual friend. Shortly after meeting, Shaeffer came down from the Empire state to show at Baber’s gallery, and a few months later; Baber moved to New York with Shaeffer and the two began working together. In 2006, they were asked to show at the 404b Gallery in Hot Springs. In 2007, they both returned to the Spa City and opened the short lived Nobrow Gallery, a gallery focused on the works of local young talent they felt were not receiving proper exposure from the art community they called home.

“Matters of Consequence”, the latest Pedigree project, will feature solo works by both artists as well as their collaborations. Baber’s work is described as schematics of the human experience; by creating drawings loosely based on time lines and electrical schematics, he creates a visual representation of abstract concepts such as love, jealousy, hate, loss, elation as well as others. The result is jumbled and chaotic, while still being coherent. His work hosts an intentional array of colors, lines, circles and shapes. Each color, line or shape, representing a moment in time, or a connection he has with the world around him.

Shaeffer’s work began as fashion-based illustration dealing with the concepts of personal identity, and the influences of American popular culture within his surroundings. Recently his work has taken a turn to more personal interests, such as the idea of potential within oneself as well the town he calls home. By starting each work with geometric patterns he shows the concept of possible potential and how it can be used for beauty or simple escapism.

The combination of the two leads to what some have called an attempt to create an emotional blueprint, a constant search for some understanding within their lives, and their environment.

Pedigree © 2009

Hive Gallery: Nationally Recognized Potter Don Nibert

The glowing works of artist Don Nibert have earned him national recognition. Each elegant pot he makes is a portrait of flame. In addition to many other awards, his work earned him an Arkansas Arts Council Fellowship, $5000.00, in 1995.

“I moved here to join a documentary film company. “We intended to shoot films with anthropological themes, travel the world and only come back to collect the money. “When it didn’t pan out, I didn’t intend to stay. But I fell in love, found people to play music with (I still play with) and discovered this is a powerful place to be.

In a previous life, 1970 to 1973, he was a math major studying computer science at the University of Missouri at St. Louis. Nibert continued college at the University of Arkansas. He wanted to teach elementary school, but once again his plans did not pan out. The class ‘Public School Art’ was a required course, in that class he found his way to the clay studio and his real work.

He spent most of his remaining college hours taking clay courses. His second semester in pottery he did his first show, Natchitoches, La., “I made money selling my Homework”, he says.

Don Nibert has lived in Fayetteville for thirty three years, twenty two of those years as a Studio Potter. He sells at Juried Art Shows all over the country. This upcoming show will be a rare opportunity view and aquire Nibert's work.

Vessel © Don Nibert

The Fayetteville Underground is thrilled to bring you the best from the cutting edge Hot Springs' art scene and this rare exhibition of Don Nibert's work and as always there are open studios to tour, work in progress to see, and artists to meet. Also there will be group exhibitions of the talented underground studio artist's in the Vault gallery and the fine crafts you have come to expect in the E Street Gallery. Don't forget to visit the fabulous DDP gallery as well. Once again this is all a part of the cultural amenity that is the visual arts on the First Thursday of every month on the Fayetteville Square from 5-8p.m.

Tell your friends and see you there!

The Fayetteville Underground
Basement of One East Square Plaza
East side of the Historic Fayetteville Square.
Fayetteville, AR
Gallery Hours W-F 12-7pm
Saturday 10-5pm
4 galleries: Open Studios
www.fayettevilleunderground.com