All New and Exciting

 

 Robert Fifield, Ratio Landscape, 2010, watercolor on paper, 18.5 x 30 in.

All New and Exciting is generously sponsored by Cheryl Denise Jackson.

A closing reception for the exhibition is scheduled for Friday, August 27, from 5pm to 7pm. This event is free and open to the pubic.

 

The exhibition, All New and Exciting, will be on view in the MCAC’s Brandt Gallery from July 30 through August 27, 20101. The exhibition includes brand new work by sixty-two local artists and includes a broad range of artistic practices including painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, and installation. Participating artists are: Jeanine Abels, Connie Richards Aigner, Les Allen, Sheila Asbell Allen, Angel Ambrose, Jan Brandt, Frank Bush, Jane Camp, John Cassidy, Michael P. Connelly, Ian Crawley, Darin Dawdy, Holly DeGrote, Johnny Disco, LJ Douglas, Danell Dvorak, Susan Emmerson, Matt Erickson, Rob Fifield, Richard D. Finch, Herb Eaton, Ron Frazier, Joann Goetzinger, Susan Gofstein, Roger Harris, Claire Hedden, James Hejl, Kris Hendershott, Doug Johnson, Gary Justis, Tim Kowalczyk, Joe Landon, Marie-Susanne Langille, Jeff Little, Lisa Lofgren, Tracy J. Montoya, Dann Nardi, Mike McNeil, Gladys Tietz Mercier, Susan Palmer, David Park, Michele Peterson, Tony Rio, Tahira Rizvi, Jeff Robinson, Nick Satinover, Gloria Schabb, Phil Smith, Meda & Veda Rives, Melanie Scott-Dockery, Kay Seefeld, Sarah Smelser, Emily Smith, Louis Steinburg, Megan Stroech, Kevin Strandberg, Britten Traughber, Pamela Wenger, Michael Wille, Chris Wille, Ron Wojtanowski, and Chad Wys.

 

Alice Hargrave, Untitled (family picture) ; picnic, 2009, pigment print, 17 x 24 in.

t h e   b a c k y a r d

 

The exhibition, the backyard, features painting, sculpture, photography, and video by eight artists: Bill Ciccariello (Boston, MA), Brian Collier (Bloomington, IL), Bill Conger (Peoria, IL), Alice Hargrave (Chicago, IL), Marie-Susanne Langille (Bloomington, IL), Dawn Roe (Ashville, NC), Amanda Smith (Mankato, MN), and Anna Wollenschlager (Heyworth, IL).

The backyard is an outside space that is often transformed into an inside-like space: it may be enclosed by fences and hedges and furnished with a table and chairs set on a lush carpet-like lawn. It becomes a domesticated outdoor space that requires due diligence, for the grass, trees, bushes, flowers, and weeds grow constantly and weekly threaten to reclaim the space. Someone responsibly cuts the grass, maintains the borders, cleans the outdoor furniture, and moreover contends with the pervasive effects of weather, animals, and insects. For a time nature is somewhat controlled and a safe setting is carved out for the unfolding narratives of human existence. The precarious in-between-ness of the backyard – outside/inside, public/private, wild/tame – makes it a space of mystery and play.

The artworks in the exhibition allude to the elusive liminality of the backyard space. Many of the works are purposefully distant and spare with only selective imagery – a fire pit in a painting by Bill Ciccariello, a popsicle sculpture by Bill Conger, a table edge in a photograph by Dawn Roe, and carefully outlined rocks in a painting by Amanda Smith. These works in their various ways attempt to recover a feeling or trigger a Proustian memory of a specific space and time. Other artists in the exhibition heighten our awareness of the in-between-ness of the backyard by capturing images of the space at an in-between time of day. Langille photographs neighborhood children at play in the late afternoon. Hargrave culls twilight views of the backyard just before, or may be just after, a family gathers to eat and talk, play and relax. These artists utilize the imperfect clarity of the gloaming to heighten the ambiguity and emotion of these dusky scenes. The space and scale shimmer. The echoes of innocent laughter visually linger and point to the fleeting temporality of the backyard.
the backyard will be on view in the MCAC’s Armstrong Gallery through September 11, 2010. Please join us for a closing reception for the artists on Friday, September 10, 5pm to 7pm. This event is free and open to the public.

the backyard is generously sponsored by Cathy & Reid Richards and Peg & Bill Wetzel.