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Art show tests the waters
Squares by Jean Grastorf, acrylic.
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By BRANDY STARK
© St. Petersburg Times,
published August 9, 2001
The Arts Center in St. Petersburg presents ''Uncharted Water,'' an exhibit that features works stretching the traditional boundaries of watercolor technique.
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ST. PETERSBURG -- "Uncharted Water," currently on display at the Arts Center, is a refreshing mixture of traditional watercolor and bold extremes in experimental water-based media. Juror Edward Minchin selected 36 diverse works to create this lively, satisfying show.
"I am drawn to paintings where artists have stretched the imagination," Minchin says. "I chose works that showed originality of concept, exhibited excellence in execution, good composition and strong design principles."
Jack Barrett's The Moon Lover received the show's Award of Distinction. The painting depicts three figures watching a musician play, as a winged woman pushes the crescent moon across the sky. Composed of shapes cut out and placed against a dark background, the graphically detailed work holds the viewer's interest as the dramatic scene unfolds.
Best of Show winner Jean Grastorf's Squares appears as a merger between backgrounds, one dark red and the other white. The white area is filled with enthralling textures. The eye is drawn to the central image: a small black box.
Lee Albion, who received the Award of Excellence, depicts a man in Middle Eastern costume scrutinizing the pages of a book in The Reader. Somber tones create an atmosphere of respect for this mysterious figure, while the use of color emphasizes the true subject of the work: the book itself.
In Theo's First Pose, Patton Hunter creates in watercolors the portrait of a young woman both relaxed and apprehensive as she strikes her first modeling pose. Grace-Ann Alfiero's abstract Water Under the Bridge uses writing, drawing, painting and sewing, all in natural colors that create a powerful work.
Many pieces invite audience interaction. Blue Cows in the Sunset, by Renee Foucault, presents two cows bathed in the red rays of the dying sun as they stare passively at the viewer. The entertaining Lizards on a Wire, by Sally Evans, features a blue dog and a pink cat seated by a window. The dog watches the antics of red-dotted green lizards on a wire. The cat has found something equally entertaining: She is observing the antics of the audience.
Vivid colors are another boundary-stretching highlight. Lady of Vermeer, by Beverly Abell, shows a woman in traditional Spanish dress painted in bright yellows, purples, pinks and greens. LuAnn Justi's Evie's Hat is a watercolor, pencil and crayon portrait of a teenage girl painted against a golden yellow background. She wears a deep-blue hat patterned with flowers that match her shirt.
PREVIEW
"Uncharted Water" at the Arts Center, 719 Central Ave., St. Petersburg, through Aug. 24. Free admission. Gallery hours are Mon.-Sat., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. (727) 822-7872.
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