Ventura College Art Galleries
February 8, 2007 CONTACT:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE. Alisa Sparkia Moore
Public Information Officer
(805) 654-6462
Sharon Coughran-Rayden,
Gallery Director
(805) 648-8974, sharon@cielhaus.com
VENTURA COLLEGE GALLERIES HOST
DIVERSE EXHIBITS
VENTURA: The Ventura College Galleries continue their spring 2007 shows with an unusual pairing in the New Media Gallery: the paintings of S.A. Smith, and the photography and sculpture of Leighton McWilliams. In Gallery 2, in lieu of the postponed National Drawing Competition, will be the drawings of Santa Barbara artist Marie Shoeff. The exhibits run from February 20 through March 13. The reception for the artists is February 20, from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on the patio by Gallery 2, and the press and community members are welcome to attend.
In Gallery 2, Marie Schoeff’s drawings; of which Michael W. Darling, of the John-and-Mary-Shirley Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seattle Art Museum notes, “....when one has the privilege to see the drawings of Marie Schoeff. Her highly psychological abstractions immediately send the viewer into an often otherworldly realm of vaguely familiar forms and atmospheric expanses of color that may as well be landscapes of the psyche....Assiduously chosen combinations of color set the mood for each work, deftly steering the senses with a keen knowledge of color theory and its affective qualities. ....Coupled with her studied understanding of the emotive potential of color is Schoeff’s ability to draw a range of meaning out of the tradition of landscape which extends beyond the literal representation of nature. In particular, Schoeff sensitively explores the metaphoric possibilities of landscape imagery...”
Marie Schoeff was born in Moscow, Idaho and grew up in Northern California, (Vallejo and Sonoma). Her undergraduate degree in art studio is from CSU Sacramento. Since 1983 Marie has maintained a studio in Santa Barbara, taught art throughout the community and currently teaches at Santa Barbara City College and Westmont College. She has exhibited, lectured and participated in artist-in-residence programs in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and the Midwest. In Santa Barbara she has shown her work at the Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Ro Snell Gallery, SBCC Atkinson Gallery and Westmont Reynolds Gallery. Locally her work is in the collections of the SB Museum of Art, UCSB, the County of Santa Barbara and Barry & Jo Berkus.
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The New Media Gallery will exhibit Leighton McWilliams and S.A. Smith in an exhibit titled “Mixed Points of View.” Multicultural influences and realms of chance in every day activities are pieces of a puzzle that fill a larger picture. These two artists have distinct styles yet share their approach to art making based on eclectic materials and cross cultural references..
Leighton McWilliams notes that, “My work is a distillation of my interests, concerns and sensibilities as manifested through the mediums of photography and sculpture. My everyday activities inform and influence the images I make. Tearing out the wall of a house, tuning a race car, or watching a B-52 circling overhead all have consequences in my work. The seemingly disparate realms of chance, mechanics, humor, architecture, eroticism, death, kitsch, construction and aviation are all fused into what I produce.”
In an corollary vein, S.A. Smith says, “My works draw upon iconography derived primarily, but not solely, from Celtic folklore and from my own catalogue of personal images. I hesitate to give the viewer/interpreter a one-to-one correlation between specific fables and the iconography within each picture. A work of art is the vehicle through which the interpreter arrives at a new understanding of self and the world. Each viewer, including the artist through whom a work of art finds its genesis, has a unique personal response to the visual image, the meaning lies within. My work draws upon a number of historical influences. The viewer will note sources as varied as graffiti to First Nation hide paintings and shields. Japanese stencil painting and ceramic glazing play a great part in the technical aspect of my work.”
Students staff both galleries, so the hours vary. For additional information and changes on hours, call Sharon Coughran-Rayden, gallery director, at Ventura College, (805) 648-8974 or contact her by email at sharon@cielhaus.com.##### |
