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Arts Center Exhibition: February 10 thru March 26, 2006
Where: The Arts Center, 719 Central Ave., St. Pete, FL
Creighton Michael: Intersection
Creighton Michael's meticulous sculptures, paintings and drawings intricately explore the power of singular and collective mark-making. Process driven, meticulous and labor intensive, this series of works also reflects the unruly world of nature and individuality, a continuum of ideas, manifested as moving through time.
The works of Creighton Michael illustrate the steadfast pursuit and exploration of an idea. With each new series, the work becomes richer from the traces of previous incarnations, all the while making fresh tracks, covering new ground. Moving with ease from drawing to painting to sculpture, Michael makes visible his connection to nature and spirit, his ceaseless curiosity about the world, how things fit together and his place in the mix.
The Dimensional Drawings series of Creighton Michael's work encompass several series of three-dimensional works and installations, all stemming from the treatment of the mark as both individual unit and collective pattern. Inspired by the late reed pen and sepia ink drawings of Vincent van Gogh in which calligraphic marks were employed collectively to describe landscapes, Michael created a series of reed pen and ink drawings entitled Rhapsody (1998-2001). Dimensional Drawings resulted from this initial exploration. These three-dimensional works are informed by the activity and process of drawing. Of the Dimensional Drawings Creighton states, "These works strive, through concept and instruction, to capture a sense of immediacy and discovery inherent in traditional drawing."
The Daily and the Divine: Keba Konte and Nzingah Muhammad
Nzingah Muhammad captures quiet but emotionally weighty moments in her photographs, staged by the artist and performed by herself and others, often using prepared sets and costumes. The photographs, created by Muhammad in her early twenties, provide entry into the private world of the artist and moments in time where life-altering decisions were being formulated. The backdrops juxtapose the stability of a traditional Muslim home-life and the uncertainty of a larger world populated with lovers, lifestyles and career choices.
Muhammad, born and raised in Brooklyn, NY in an African American Muslim household with her father, seven mothers and thirty siblings, brings that life experience to this body of work. They describe feelings of rebellion, confusion and polarization between the comfort and stability that she derives from her family and her faith and the restrictions that come with her Muslim lifestyle versus the discomfort, discrimination, isolation and personal freedoms that come with life in the mainstream. This compelling show of Muhammad's work was curated by Catherine Thompson of Esso Gallery, NY.
The majority of Keba Konte's photomontages present the images in a large format. This shift in scale brings an importance to the figures, directing our attention to each individual's story. The materials that Konte uses, from gold leaf to old wood, the carefully detailed areas and broadly roughed out sections, evoke the range of the human experience with its highs and lows, bumpy and smooth places. Konte skillfully controls all of these elements, trusting his intuition to create work that connects, person to person.
The body of work on exhibition stems from photographs taken in New Orleans on July 9th, 2005 at the funeral procession and second line for Big Chief Allison "Tootie" Montana, Chief of the Yellow Pocahontas tribe of Mardi Gras Black Indians. Widely respected in the community, Montana died while testifying at City Hall during a hearing convened to address allegations of police intimidation of the Black Indians. Montana's funeral was attended by thousands who honored his lifelong work and reaffirmed the living culture of New Orleans' Black Indians. Sadly, much of that culture was lost during Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, adding poignancy to Konte's work.
After Katrina, Konte traveled to Houston to collect the stories of survivors from New Orleans. The experiences of the survivors and the images that they conjured of rising water and household objects floating by (some with people clinging to them) have found their way into this body of work, being expressed in part by his choice of found objects that reference home. Konte returned to New Orleans in November to photograph the route that the funeral procession took and includes the images in this body of work.
Related Events:
All events free and open to the Public
February 10th
Artist talk with Creighton Michael and Keba Armand Konte 5:30 - 6:30
Opening Reception: 6:30 - 8:30
February 12th
Family Day
1-4pm
Hands-on activities, Soulful Arts Dancers, and ART, ART, ART!!!
The Class Menagerie
Risser Gallery
Word & Image Elementary School exhibition incorporating a written narrative
and visual piece on the importance of pets in the lives of children.
Sponsored by the Hough Family Foundation
Dimensional Drawing
Students of Creighton Michael Progress Energy Gallery
A selection of pieces from Creighton Michael's Master Artist class,
focusing on expanding the boundaries of drawing to include multi-dimensional
pieces.
PCCA Senior Thesis Exhibition
Progress Energy Gallery
Feb. 27 - March 27
An exciting exhibition featuring new works by graduating seniors at
the Pinellas County Center for the Arts: Heather Falvey, painting; Danielle
Johnson, photo-collage; Rebecca Keilty, 3D mixed-media; Natalie Shelley,
3D mixed-media; Kati Sohl, drawing/painting; Alex Glueck, painting.
Beach Notes & Other Abstract Thoughts
Mar. 1 - 26
Work by Sexton Elementary School students during an artist-in-residency
of Cassandra Gordon-Harris. Sponsored by the Pinellas County Arts Council.
