"Eight Stories" (virtual)
On display August 8 - September 8, 2021 at www.touchtonegallery.com
"Eight Stories" by à deux: Charlene Nield and Ann Pickett; Chris Tucker Haggerty, Mary Lagnaoui, Teresa Roberts Logan, Sharon Malley, Donna K. McGee, Debra Perkins, Janathel Shaw (virtual)
Virtual Exhibit Zoom Artist Talk & Opening: Sunday, August 8, 5 pm EST
RSVP to attend at https://www.touchstonegallery.com/rsvp
Artworks details by Mary Lagnaoui, Sharon Malley, Debra Perkins, à deux: Charlene Nield and Ann Pickett; Janathel Shaw, Teresa Roberts Logan, Chris Tucker Haggerty, Donna K. McGee (left to right)
In their new series Royals, Charlene Nield and Ann Pickett (painting as the collaborative à deux) offer their painterly interpretation of who should wear a crown. The genesis of the series was their painting Royal Wedding which led to a series of whimsical portraits, each rich in color, pattern and texture and each wearing a signatory crown. Painting in tandem, at the same easel at the same time, the two DC-area artists' collaborative is recognized for primarily figurative works that incorporate an element of abstraction in a style uniquely their own.
Chris Tucker Haggerty's work is broadly inspired by international travel, the American Southwest and family culture. Chris has a great appreciation of the created world and often incorporates natural elements—feathers, leaves, branches, things that have known life— into the work. Scavenged treasures such as these as well as discarded bits that have a history— scraps of metal, pieces of maps or photos, relics of experiences——imbue the work with a certain power. She is interested in cultural beliefs and histories, manifested through traditional customs and symbols, especially circles. Circles gather you in and hold you safe. They are infinite. They connote Divine Providence and wholeness. They represent the sun, moon, the cycle of the seasons and the cycle of death to rebirth. Within a composition, elements create a dialogue, first with one another and then with the viewer. Chris enjoys facilitating the conversation.
For Mary Lagnaoui, painting involves a plan, a search, and surprise. She begins with an idea that firms up into a sketch, but it is not until she is exploring it on canvas that she sees and feels an image coming into being. Something starts to come to life. One drop of blue over another, a darker blue changes the feeling of the purple next to it, or a brushstroke pulls an edge closer in. Shape, line, and mix of colors build up and pull together into what Mary is looking for, imagining, realizing, and sometimes surprised to find.
A bold graphic approach is central to Teresa Roberts Logan’s work, and she is exploring figures and shapes in more abstract ways, with more attention to texture, pattern, while working in monochromatic (shades of black) schemes.
Great influences are comics and her Southern upbringing (Memphis, Tennessee), with her exposure to Southern music, quilting, and bold unapologetic folk art. Other interests which influence Teresa’s approach are Outsider Art, world textiles, Aboriginal dot paintings, Ben Day dots in pop art, Mexican contemporary and folk art, and African masks, as well as her trips to Mayan cities and temples. Teresa learns from art traditions with strong iconic images and a bold approach to storytelling and artistry, and works which communicate a narrative within the work.
Sharon Malley is predominantly an oil painter, currently focused on two different themes in her work, expressed in figurative narratives and abstracts. She usually starts with a base of acrylic and collaged papers, and then proceeds with oil, oil crayons, stencils, and stamping tools. The abstracts express the general theme of the environment and climate change, calling attention to the spiritual and what we are losing as we fail to address the issues we have caused.
For this exhibit Sharon chose to show these narratives, as they are timelier than she had ever expected when she started painting the first of them. They are part of a series centered on her experiences growing up on the Eastern Shore of Maryland during Jim Crow laws. Some of them are very specific to incidents and activities that she remembers, and some are the general essence of being together with children of a different race during those years. Sharon’s intention is to process and educate while telling a visual story, that the past very much decides the future, and that only through understanding can we move forward in a positive equitable direction.
Working in acrylic and texture often on a large scale, Donna K. McGee’s bold painterly brushwork combined with dramatic forms and color has a breathtaking impact on the viewer. McGee has caught the interest of collectors and her work can be found all over the DC area, corporate conference rooms, lobbies, as well as private homes. Most are in the DC area, but also in many other states and in London, England. As an abstract painter, McGee is frequently asked, “What were you thinking?” Her artist statement answers this question: “Nature has a strong influence on my work as I see many organic shapes emerge into each other on the canvas. I continue to add layers of paint and texture or sometimes scrape it off, until it becomes the total picture. No matter how serious I am as an artist and how authentic I want my work to be, there is always the question —“Will others like my work?” However, it is only when I am true to myself, by responding to the colors, textures, and forms on my canvas from my mind’s eye, can I put my brush down and call it finished. I love, that when others respond to my work and share the images they see, it reinforces the idea “It is all in the eye of the beholder.”
“Every single line means something.” That quote by Jean-Michel Basquiat captures perfectly the importance to Debra Perkins of every line in her paintings. Be it straight or curved, thick or thin, fluid or broken, pristine or textured, every line really does mean something to her. Debra’s lines are integral to visually telling a story or evoking an emotion. By connecting disparate things, creating or traversing boundaries, and forging paths to follow, she uses lines of all kinds to symbolize change, life journeys, and the reconciliation of conflicts. Her color palettes often involve considerable contrast to create strength commensurate with the challenges she is seeking to understand or resolve. The inspiration behind Debra’s abstract paintings may not be obvious, so there is room for each viewer to see the paintings through their own lens and to experience it in their own unique way.
In her latest drawing series, Janathel Shaw examines her experience and how she perceived others dealt with the series of upheavals in 2020 and 2021. The word THREAT became a psychological and three-dimensional entity. It tied the malady of Covid-19, the social unrest of racial killings, white supremacist rallies and xenophobia. Fighting for light and balance through community became her goal.
Janathel felt overwhelmed by the constant televised information that centered on death and hatred. She experienced the suffocating feeling of isolation as safety restrictions were created, and division continually mounted. Her emotional compass swung like a rocking pendulum. As she began her creative process, she had to revisit those emotions to imbue them in the drawings. Some of the pieces show a surreal approach as in “Social Pincushion”. In this drawing she is the pincushion. Janathel looks out at the audience stoically showing the scars that she received from the chaotic year. She embodies the role of an object. What signifies that she is human is the tethered heart.
Janathel experimented more with varied materials, with space and construction. She hopes to continue to push it more. As with most of her portfolio, whether ceramic sculpture or drawing, her approach is classic. She is fine with that but it is always good to experiment and grow.
