Exhibition of local work at The Associated Artists exhibition finds divergent strategies
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"Humanimal #8: Sheepish" by Gayle Marie Weitz. -
Ron Bayuzick's "Art Rover." -
Gerry Florida's "Trespassing Heaven 5 of 5."
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The Associated Artists of Pittsburgh enters its second century with an Annual Exhibition that fits the organization's strategy to explore new directions for survival, relevance and growth. The show is being held for the first time at the Society for Contemporary Craft, which prompted some members to try new media or to apply a familiar one in a new way.
Ceramist Ceil Sturdevant, for example, frequently submits large sculptural works to the annual. She responded to the opportunity offered by this site with two handsome petit "Water Dragon Tea Sets," each comprising a cup and pot with dragon handle, inspired in size and design by the famed Yi Xing clay pots and by the 2012 Year of the Dragon.
Other artists whose pieces have at times been minimized by high-ceilinged galleries or a predominance of larger works are at home here, including Joan Iversen Goswell's always elegant artist books like "Stick Book," a blend of sculpture, print and commentary. The most fastidiously crafted work is Robert Bishop's "Keepsake Box No. 96" of spalted oak, box elder and macassar ebony.
But the venue was not limiting and juror Fo Wilson accommodated work that would be comfortable anywhere, such as Karen Kaighin's beautifully composed photographs "Radie's Dresser" and "Dawn," a mix of the banal and the personal, taken in her daughter's apartment, or David Montano's "Monument 1 and 2," which is made of found objects and questions how we privilege, or critique, ubiquitous, media-constructed pundits and celebrities.
Two artists, Tina Williams Brewer and Charlotte Ka, are very contemporary voices that explore racism from different viewpoints and aesthetics. Ms. Brewer's "Out of the Drawer, 'Lest We Forget,'" places historic examples of racial stereotyping within her great-great-aunt's charming wooden side table, setting up a contrast between reality and socially-driven fiction. Ms. Ka combines galvanized wash tubs, wash boards, black-eyed peas, doilies and burlap to convey the strides of black women from slavery to professional.
First Published January 11, 2012 12:00 am
