"Collections" features Adams, Ellington, Howitt, Smith and Thorsen
Paintings, drawings, photos, wood turnings, handmade prints
Wednesday, August 4, 2010 - 11:00am - Sunday, August 29, 2010 - 6:00pm
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Painters, a woodturner, a printmaker, and a photographer gather to share new works in “Collections.” The show features Duane Adams, Carol Meis Ellington, Doyle Howitt, Alan R. Smith and J.K. Thorsen and will run Aug. 4 through Aug. 31, 2010. The artists will host an opening celebration at the Artists’ Cooperative Gallery, 405 S. 11th St., from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 7, 2010, that will feature live music by the Prairie Gators. In addition, Ellington and Thorsen will conduct demonstrations from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2010, in conjunction with the Old Market Gallery Walk.
Duane Adams features his colored pencil drawings in this show. He builds layer upon layer of color, creating an image that resembles a painting more than a typical drawing. Selected imagery focuses on light, people and architecture. Some images include surrealistic effects. Adams earned a master’s degree in painting and drawing and taught art to high school and college students before retiring several years ago. Adams was an early member of the Artists’ Co-op in the days the gallery was located above M’s Pub. He has shown work extensively throughout the upper Midwest.
Carol Meis Ellington says that most of the work in this show is “about having fun with prints that weren’t used as part of an edition, but were still good prints.” There may have been an area that printed too light, for example, or where ink showed up in an area she didn’t intend. In the past, she has recycled prints to create two-dimensional paper quilt patterns or to enliven shoes and handbags. Ellington’s work has been shown in numerous juried exhibits throughout the country and is included in several university and private collections. She has won awards both locally and nationally.
Doyle Howitt creates sensuous pieces that emphasize the natural grain, texture and colors in exotic and domestic woods. He often incorporates into his designs the aberrations that occur in burls, rounded knotty growths, or spalting, black irregular lines created by fungus growth. Howitt’s pieces range from classic to whimsical, especially evident in his UFO series of vessels.
Alan R. Smith will show photographs portraying Nebraska landscapes, in which he uses his choice of subject matter, formal composition, lighting, pattern and color to express ideas about the look and feel of the region. “I hope the viewer will be able to experience something of what I encountered,” Smith says, “recall a similar circumstance, or, perhaps, discover something new. Smith has had a photography studio in the Burkholder Project in Lincoln, Neb., since 1987 and has taught film and digital photography at Doane College in Crete, Neb., since 2001.
Painter J.K. Thorsen tallied the most votes in the gallery’s emerging artist program, gaining her a 3-month mentored membership in the gallery. Thorsen will exhibit part of her latest series, which explores people’s desires, experiences and wishes. Her new works include “color-focused memories on painted linen posters, as well as an assemblage of raw landscapes and modern portraits that are sometimes framed by, or hanging from, different period pieces,” she says. She uses oil and acrylic paints and other media to create multi-layered works that explore the tensions of competing elements and change.
The Artists’ Co-op has been showing the work of respected regional artists for nearly 35 years. This cooperative group of artists conducts educational and cultural outreach activities, and it maintains and staffs a gallery that features works in a wide variety of media, including sculpture, weaving, painting, pottery, photography, printmaking and drawing. Monthly opening receptions provide opportunities to meet member artists and learn more about their work.