Ann Bondurant Trinkle
Alexander/Heath Contemporary
presents
‘6 WOMEN’
Ann Bondurant Trinkle, Carol “CJ” Phillips, Dreama Kattenbraker, Elaine Fleck,
Fleda Armistead Ring & Sarah EK Muse
November 1 through November 29, 2019
Roanoke.com / Roanoke Times
OPENING RECEPTION:
Art-by-Night Friday, November 1st, 6 to 10 pm
CLOSING RECEPTION:
Friday, November 29th, 7 to 9 pm
The “6 Women” Exhibition is an exploration by six established Roanoke area based female artists, pointedly exploring and creating artworks that are an intellectual and compassionate reflection on vital and important social and environmental issues. The works are as diverse in materials and mediums as the subjects and artists themselves. Intended as a traveling exhibition, the first showing of the works will be at Alexander/Heath Contemporary in Roanoke, Virginia.
Fleda Armistead Ring, Curator
Opening Reception on Friday, November 1, 2019
Refreshments / Music / Parking Map
Gallery located at Campbell Ave SW and 5th Street
(Enter on 5th Street between Campbell Ave SW and Salem Ave)
AFTER OPENING RECEPTION, BY APPOINTMENT ONLY:
Cell: Edward Hettig, 607.226.2473
By Appointment Hours:
Tuesday-Thursday 1 to 3:30
Fridays, 7-8:30 pm
Contact via Email: hettig@alexander-heath.com
Ann Bondurant Trinkle
Through the use of seemingly mundane materials, found and manipulated, Ann Bondurant Trinkle creates forms, images and content that evoke contemplation well beyond the work itself. Her work functions as physical poetry, defined and formed by the viewers own experiences and imaginations.
Trinkle received her M.F.A from VCU and B.A. from Randolph -Macon Woman’s College. She has exhibited extensively and most recently at the Lubeznik Center for the Arts in Indiana, and the Flood Fine Arts Center in Asheville, NC.
Carol “CJ” Phillips
Artist Statement:
Artist Statement / “6 Women”
“For the past 3 years I have created art from found objects calling the “smalls” now numbering nearly 300 pieces.”
Growing up in Eastern Kentucky, C.J. Phillips always wanted to be an Artist. Phillips, a self-taught artist, works not from life, but from the imagination. Her award-winning paintings, sculptures and assemblages are inhabited by emotive, mysterious images of people, animals and eggs emerging from rich, densely layered surfaces.
“My art is memories; sometimes embellished or even invented memories. Playing in the hollers and on the hills of eastern Kentucky my life was about imagination. I guess it still is today. As a four-year-old girl, I found an abandoned baby robin. My mother and I fed and nursed it back to health and the robin was my playmate staying outside by day and inside by night. One hot summer day we visited my grandparents and cousins in the country and took my bird along. While there, showing my cousins how it could drink I pushed its beak into the water and it immediately went limp, dead from drowning. This was my first knowledge of death and its finality. That emotional trauma is expressed in my artwork. I paint expressing life, loss and death using eggs, animals, crosses and people. I have found that black, white, gray and sometimes color best show these ideas. Adding found and made objects also help me in expressing my feelings.”
Phillips’ techniques are hers alone. Painting with acrylic and house paint on scrimmed wood she often adds found and made objects of glass, paper, polyclay, metal, rope, wood, etc. Her work conveys a universal message, which irrevocably connects artist and viewer.
Dreama Kattenbraker
Artist Statement: / “6 Women”
“Generations of my family lived on or within sight of the land my husband, Gary, and I now share with wild, feral and domestic creatures, trees, plants, a wee creek, pastureland and insects galore. These few acres represent a microcosm of homesteads in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Our sons, nephews, cousins and now grandchildren have all played and explored on the land where my grandfather once told me that all things have a spirit even dirt, plants, rocks, water, and all creatures, even that wasp that stung me. Each of these are made up of the elements that create us all: fire, water, air/wind, earth and the void. Sometimes these forces are unspeakably beautiful and creative, while other times they are fiercely terrifying and result in physical death and unexpected change. I humbly exhibit a respectful, love-filled, and sometimes playful homage of artwork honoring a small slice of life shared on this little microcosm by The Great Spirit That Moves Through All Things.”
Dreama J. Kattenbraker, October 2019
Elaine Fleck
Artist Statement:
“Over the years I have created a technique that allows me to merge my passion of textiles with my passion for painting. What was originally hand embroidered scenes are now paintings with a background of the endless variety of man-made prints available. Some of my favorites consist of Indian batiks, insect and bird prints, and vivid flower prints. Each painting has as its foundation, a canvas that has been prepped by my cutting and thoughtfully placing small pieces of fabric on it with matte medium. This technique gives my work the textured feel that is an essential part of nature and as the painting unfolds, I meticulously integrate the patterns of cloth with the use of oil paints to bring the images into focus. My inspirations come from the intricate patterns in nature, whether they are from the texture of a reptile’s skin, the markings in a seashell, or the multi-colored fish feeding off a coral reef. I’m drawn to the rich patterns of Gustav Klimt and the textiles and mosaics of contemporary designer Kaffee Fassett. Artists such as Faith Ringgold, Miriam Shapiro and Judy Chicago have helped to give me license to use fabric in my work.”
Biography
Elaine Fleck is a painter, muralist, mosaic artist, and organic gardener. She is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University with a BFA in painting and printmaking. She completed further Art studies at City College of San Francisco and The San Francisco Art Institute. Roanoke has been her home since 1996
Fleda Armistead Ring
Artist Statement / “6 Women”
“The focus of my works for 6 Women is intended to draw attention to problems and needs within society through abstract visual content and by using quotations and words. These artworks are intended to inspire introspection and conversation with a reminder that our world, and those inhabiting it, existing in fragile disrespected and difficult circumstances, must have our focus and support everyday. If we do not find ways to draw attention to and force funtioning dissent, as is needed, to improve the circumstances of all existence each and everyday, then society fails. Consequently, governments tumble as they become fault driven with the possible eventual failure of the universe. Clearly- small or large- none of us can afford such failures. Current breakdowns are wholly based on the lack of individual empathy, compassion and awareness. As well as, unchecked societal irresponsibility and an unwillingness of people to always fight for accountability with the scores of people and corporations gaining control over society and the world as a whole. Action is not a choice. It is necessary.”
“Let’s begin by challenging ourselves to expand our knowledge, interests and pursuits. Researching more in many varying outlets by many varying people and not focusing on our “comfort zone” exposure is an incredible source of betterment for our intellects, existence and experiences. The more we do such activities the more we evolve and comprehend. Our consciousness will be awake to all plights and will further our willingness to wade in deep. Our commitment and actions can and will begin to balance and wholly improve existence throughout the world. All this could seem like a lot stimulated by a few works of art. But couldn’t it happen? With sincere respect it is my great hope that some will gather a few seeds to plant, finding ways to grow them for the rest of their existence- without solely benefiting the individual self, just as art can do with its often singular and intimate assimilation.”
Sarah EK Muse
Artist Statement:
I’m a Roanoke based Jeweler, Designer, Metalsmith. I create hand-formed copper architectural tiles and bespoke jewelry designs.
Always evolving as a metalsmith, in 2006 after forming (repouse’) large copper pieces for an exhibit, I broadened my repertoire into home decor.
The images emerge from the copper through line, form, texture and color, implementing a meditative approach. Thus my hashtag #zenhammering. These labor intensive in-relief tiles are hand hammered and chased, colored with the heat of the torch or other hand applied mediums and are then hand rubbed with steel wool and finished with an acrylic enamel.
Both, my custom designed jewelry and copper tiles are thoughtfully crafted with a passion for the materials, the sculptural process, my clients, the story behind it and the creative journey.
In 2017, after a seven year “homesteading/soccer Mom” sabbatical, I re-inaugurated my studio full-time with a new passion and direction. My current inspiration is derived by the people I design for, the bounty of my natural surroundings and concurrently the destruction and life cycle of that bounty, whether it be by man, beast or Mother Nature and the experiences I share with my family and friends on our mountainside homestead nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.