The Artside: Artist turns old books into new works of art
Brian Dettmer explores beneath the surface in his intricately sculpted works, taking media such as old science and engineering books, dictionaries, encyclopedias and maps, and transforming them into fine art pieces. A selection of his works will go on exhibit Dec. 11 in the Morris Museum of Art's west lobby gallery.
Dettmer's process involves cutting into the books to selectively discover and reveal content - images, text and symbols - to create three-dimensional works that may reveal new or alternative interpretations of the books. His works have been exhibited in museums and galleries around the world.
A native of Illinois, Dettmer earned a bachelor's degree in fine arts from Columbia College Chicago and worked as an artist and in graphics and signage design. From 2006 until a recent move to New York City, he lived and worked in Atlanta. He will come to Augusta in February for an Art Now talk at the Morris. See samples of his creations and videos at briandettmer.com.
THE AIKEN CENTERfor the Arts will open a varied array of exhibits Dec. 11, with a free reception from 6 to 8 p.m. In addition to the annual 'Tis the Season exhibit by member artists, there will be paintings by Nena Depaz, Hyssong pottery from the collection of Laura DiSano and works from the East Aiken School of the Arts.
In her show titled Tradition and Innovation: Modern Biblical Art for Contemporary Culture, Depaz updates images of biblical subjects and themes using a variety of media including plastics, fabrics and disposable items of consumer culture. In her artist statement, Depaz notes that she intends the exhibit to promote respectful and informed conversations among people of different faiths.
From a few pieces first acquired in 1976, DiSano has developed a comprehensive collection of 19th and early 20th century pottery crafted by the Hyssong family of central Pennsylvania. For nearly 100 years, the Hyssongs produced functional pottery including jugs, poultry fountains, water coolers, batter jugs, rabbit feeders and pipe for the Bloomsburg, Cassville and Lewistown communities. DiSano, a descendent of the Hyssong family, is showing 15 examples from her collection, displayed with images and texts.
• Marsha Shelburn is the artist for December in the Aiken Artist Guild gallery at the ACA. Growing up in rural Virginia, Shelburn graduated from the College of William and Mary, and later taught finance at USC Aiken. After retirement, she taught for two years at her undergraduate alma mater.
It was not until she happened to take a painting class that she discovered a passion for art. Her exhibit includes oil paintings focusing on geometry, color and texture, with subjects including scenes from her travels abroad as well as landscapes and still lifes.
WORKS BYMimi Durant Caroe are on display at the Ridgecrest Coffee Bar at 2502 Wagener Road in Aiken. Born in Connecticut in the 1960s, she displayed an early talent for art, and at age 10 began to apprentice under renowned artist and master craftsman Priscilla Manning Porter. In her 12 years there, she advanced from apprentice to studio artist, and later studied with Arthur Getz, best known as a long-time New Yorker magazine illustrator.
Caroe's paintings have been exhibited by the Mattatuck Museum and Washington Art Association in Connecticut and Aiken Center for the Arts, and she has works in numerous private collections. She is a descendant of renowned American landscape painter Asher B. Durand.
AIKEN ARTIST GUILD members Diana Hunt and Robbie Bellamy will exhibit their work at the Stables Restaurant at Rose Hill Estate at 221 Greenville St. NW, in Aiken, through Dec. 31. Guild artists Gail Wheeler, Carolyn Bohn, Joy Abbott, James Brownlow, Ron Buttler and Ann Lemay have works on exhibit at the Family Y of Aiken and Hitchcock Healthcare, where clay works by Tom Supensky are also displayed.
THE AIKEN CENTER for the Arts has posted a call for artists to submit proposals for solo and group exhibitions. For guidelines, visit aikencenterforthearts.org/submissions.html.
FIBER ARTISTJudy Maxwell is featured artist of the month at Gallery on the Row, exhibiting needle-felted birds. She and her husband, Michael, raise alpacas and angora bunnies, and she felts, dyes her own colors, and does spinning and weaving at the gallery.
In January, the Maxwells will assume leadership of the gallery, which they plan to expand to include fiber and yarn art. Betsy Borgatti, Cyndy Epps, Jim Dunaway and Cathy Tiller have elected to change their status from partner to artisan, and will continue to exhibit there.
LAST CHANCE: Friday, Dec. 12, will be the final day for three exhibits at the Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art. The Georgia Regents University art faculty show and exhibits by Thomas Needham and the Savannah River Wood-turners Club have been on display since early November. In January, GHIA will present Marianna Williams' work and a new series by Lillie Morris.
ONGOING: Paintings by Doug Larsen at Sacred Heart Cultural Center; Civil War drawings by Edwin Forbes and From New York to Nebo: The Artistic Journey of Eugene Thomason, at the Morris.
