Word Play
Mary Colbly Asmus was born and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Her show "Word Play" features 58 unique quilts displaying a plethora of techniques and subject matter. Mary earned a BFA from the University of Michigan and spent several years as an elementary school art teacher, followed by a career in interior design. She was a member of the Ann Arbor Potters' Guild for 15 years. In 2007 she joined the Oakland County Quilt Guild and was a founding member of the Art Quilt Guild Oakland. She has made most of the standards: Kaleidoscope, New York Beauty, 1863 Jane A. Stickle sampler, Stack 'N' Whack, Mariner's Compass, Pineapple, Double Wedding Ring, Log Cabin, and pictorial quilts. Her techniques include: piecing, hand and machine appliqué, paper-piecing, and English paper-pieced hexies. She loves all fabrics: stripes, hand dyes, batiks, Civil War reproductions, 30's reproductions, black and white geometrics, as well as many Australian prints not yet cut. She strives for visual impact and sustained interest in her quilts. "There is nothing better than challenges that poses a problem to stir creative solutions that engage the viewer." Most recently she has worked with improvisational designing, cutting, and piercing which excites her. She hopes to explore more abstract and modern quilt concepts going forward.
Martians, Cows, and Mystical Creatures
Silas Cheo is an artist residing in Baltimore, Maryland. Cheo’s work primarily involves paintings and drawings depicting animals and otherworldly creatures. The work spans from ink and pastel drawings to paintings in acrylic and oil. Growing up, he learned the basics of oil painting taking classes at The Yellow Barn studio and Plein-air workshops painting the landscape. Silas always loved to draw and paint, but it was after his first time painting cows on a farm in Frederick, Maryland that he became serious about art and painting as a career. Cows are the main subject matter as he took his love of painting them from his days growing up in Maryland into his years at college at the Rhode Island School of Design. The subjects of his most recent paintings performing “everyday” tasks allow the viewer to relate to the subject and find humor in the motif whether it is a cow, a pig, or even an alien species.
Campfire Stories
"Campfire Stories," consists of recent works by Indianapolis-based artist and Seymour native Travis Owens.
Owens’ work, all acrylic on canvas, is symbolically inspired. His focus is to create a sense of warmth and vibrancy with a touch of surrealism inspired by his Hoosier roots and world travels. Owens is a self-taught painter.
“Growing up in Seymour I was always close to nature. Camping at Vallonia Lake or Hoosier National Forest sparked a lot of imagination for me. I always knew I wanted to be an artist/painter,” Owens said. “Coming back home is always a nice feeling, knowing that this is where the seed was planted for this adventure.”
Works in the “Campfire Stories” exhibit ranged in size from 12 inches by 12 inches to 24 inches by 48 inches, and prices started at $250.
Cursed Fate: Labors & Landscapes of Hercules
"Cursed Fate: Labors & Landscapes of Hercules" was a gallery show by Alexander Winch..
This show combines two series of works, both relating to the ancient Greek Hero of Hercules. The First Series is the Twelve labors of Hercules. Hercules was the son of Great God Zeus, but his mother was not Zeus’s wife Hera, but Alcmene, a human. Out of Jealousy, Hera made Hercules’ life difficult. In a fit of rage caused by Hera, Hercules accidentally killed his children. As penance, Hercules submitted himself to the King Erystheus who gave him a series of twelve impossible tasks which Hercules completed over a period of 10 years.
In this Show the Story of Hercules is a jumping off point to explore how the myth is painted. Instead of making paintings of scenes and having the paintings framed, the paintng and its frame are united by painting decorative patterned borders onto the canvas itself. In much pre-modern art, a figurative composition was on the same substrate as its frame (think of an ancient Greek vase or a French tapestry). In this series that technique is updated with modern flair.
The second half of this show is a series of paintings of mountains as seen from my mother’s hometown of Patras, Greece. These landscapes were painted because they also have a Herculean connection. Legend has it that one of the mountains was next to a river where the centaur Nessus tried to capture Hercules’ wife, Deianeira. Hercules killed the centaur, but just before he died, Nessus gave a small vial of poison to Deianeira for use if she ever suspected Hercules of cheating. Hercules never cheated, but in a tragic mix-up, the poison resulted on both of their deaths. This show is called Cursed Fate because of the twelve labors Hercules had to complete, and the story of Nessus and Deianeira.