A little of this, some of that fill up exhibit

A trio of very different approaches to art come together in a show running to month's end.

By Times Staff Writer
Published June 10, 2005

Three unusual exhibits are at the Pasco Arts Council's Arts Center in Holiday throughout June. One is pure whimsy; the second part performance, part art; and the third has several pieces done in the rare egg tempera medium.

The public can meet and talk with all three artists - Kim Northrop, Bob Zappacosta and Gainor Roberts - at a coffeehouse-style reception from 7 to 9 tonight at the center.

Ms. Northrop and poet-artist Zappacosta share the downstairs galleries, while Ms. Roberts' work fills the intimate Upstairs Gallery.

Ms. Northrop said her playful artwork grew out the doodles she created when she went to staff meetings during her days in the corporate world. Indeed, the 9- by 12-inch canvases are covered with squiggles, loops, scribbles and geometric shapes that look like the typical scratch pad after a long, boring meeting.

Actually, the marks and illustrations are created on pieces of transparent acetate that Ms. Northrop glues onto a canvas she has painted one color. Somewhere in each jumble she has written an aphorism, a variant of an aphorism or a single, cryptic word. It's up to the viewer to make the connections and decide what it all means.

"We have had several serious exhibits here recently, and we just wanted something whimsical and fun," said Marj Golub, executive director of the council.

Zappacosta, who has been designated "Poet-in-Residence" for the center, combines the objects he has entered in the exhibit with either a poem or some kind of auditory explanation.

For example, he has painted a backdrop in burnt sienna on an exhibit panel at the center and mounted on it what looks like a bent, discarded metal railing or chair leg and dubbed it Juvenile Delinquency .

"There's a story behind this," and that story will emerge during the exhibit, Zappacosta said. He has imagined various scenarios - someone tossing the metal piece out a car window, kids stealing it and tossing it around - but it might turn out to be something else altogether, depending on what people say as they look at it during the exhibit.

After the show, Zappacosta will create a story and then stage and film events that lead up to the moment the piece came into being and what happens after it is created.

"I'm hoping to find a film student who can help me put this together, maybe for a (class) project or something," Zappacosta said.

His other entries center on his poetry, and he will give dramatic readings and recitations of the poems during the reception.

The most traditional appearing, but perhaps most unusual, are the egg tempera paintings by Ms. Roberts in the Upstairs Gallery.

"Egg tempera was the favored medium before oil paints were around," said the former graphic artist. "It's very durable. Some things created hundreds of years ago are still bright and colorful." The paint is created by grinding color sources, then mixing them with equal parts of water and egg yolk to make the color liquid enough to use as paint.

The egg tempera still lifes and skyscapes are hung adjacent to Ms. Roberts' oils, watercolors and pastels, so the viewer can easily see the differences among the various media. The egg temperas are the ones where the colors appear translucent.

Ms. Roberts will demonstrate the egg tempera techniques from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. June 25 at the center and will hold a two-day egg tempera workshop later in the month.

Also participating in today's coffeehouse reception will be singer-songwriter Sheila Kirsten-Huges.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: "Nobody Got Hurt - It's Alright" and "Small Works"

WHERE: Pasco Arts Council's Arts Center, 5744 Moog Road, Holiday

WHEN: Through June 30. Hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. Coffeehouse reception 7 to 9 p.m. today.

ADMISSION: Free; a donation of $5 will be accepted for the reception

[Last modified June 10, 2005, 01:12:14]