On January 23rd I attended the artist lecture
presented by the lovely Teresa Harris! Her exhibition, Storytellers, is set up in the Harry Krug Gallery until April 30th.
Mrs. Harris presented her work with professionalism as well
as an air of relaxation. I felt very comfortable and at ease when she spoke.
She took us through her artistic journey and showed a progression of her art
that led her to the exhibition that is in our gallery. In college she became
fascinated by the delicate craftsmanship of The Book of Hours.
Her first works were paper sculptures and involved the
“book” format. However, as she progressed artistically, as did her book
sculptures. Some of the works remain hinged like a book but became much more
dimensional. They started coming off the walls and began featuring metals,
wires, beeswax, and other found objects. Her inspirations for this shift were
Jasper Johns (his creative use of encaustic and his printmaking skills),
Timothy Barret (papermaking extraordinaire).
She said that the works she creates now are less about the
book concept, and more about CONTENT. She incorporates old photos and her work
has a familial influence. She likes the idea of physically writing out the text
of her “stories.” The narrative is fragmented and she hopes that the viewer can
finish the story for themselves.
She is drawn to delicate simplicity and purity. Her work is
simply lovely. I asked her after her lecture if she had ever considered
creating pieces that were interactive, much like books. She also included many
hinged elements in her work that I was drawn to. She said that she had
considered it, but that she wasn’t quite there yet! Later in the lobby she told
me that if I really wanted to I could play with the hinges and I said that I
better not!
The thing that I took away from this lecture was the
inspiration she drew from other artists and works, such as Johns and the Book
of Hours. It really inspired me to look at historical works with fresh eyes,
not just as something to memorize for a test, but to really be inspired by
their artistic abilities.
No comments:
Post a Comment