Photo Spread Spotlights Elements Exhibit

Gallery patrons discuss Steve Sachs' Inside and Out sculpture. 

Photograph courtesy of Samantha M. Shal and Neighbor Newspapers

Photographer Samantha M. Shal does a beautiful photo review of the gallery's current exhibit,  

Elements: Mixed Materials, open through March 2.

Click HERE for the full slideshow on 

the Dekalb Neighbor's website.

Artist Highlight: Stephen Hayes

   Stephen Hayes, Cash Crop, detail, chains, and mixed media
Photograph courtesy of Mason Murer Fine Art

Stephen Hayes’ 2010 MFA thesis from the Savannah College of Art and Design presented at Mason Murer Fine Art, Atlanta tackled the social issue of human bondage. The exhibit, Cash Crop, focused the viewer’s attention on the inhuman conditions of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, which, according to Haynes, is also a metaphor for today’s sweatshops. “I am a creator that dreams and enjoys developing engaging objects out of voids. My work is mixed media consisting of wood, clay, fibers, found objects, and recycled materials, in conjunction with printmaking.” Stephen Hayes

Artist Highlight: Steven Sachs

Steven Sachs, Dad's World, mixed materials
Photograph courtesy of the artist

Steven Sachs’ odd and strange bits of ephemera - a squished paint can, an old ruler, nuts and bolts --make up the quirky combinations of mixed materials that produce his sometimes insightfully serious, often whimsical and playful art. His art supply store is the parking lot, hardware store or heaps of rubble in a vacant lot where he collects objects that are combined into intricate abstractions or witty commentaries on current events. A recent piece, "Kitchen Sculpture,” evokes “The Store,” a sculpture from the 60’s by Claes Oldenburg, however in his piece, Steve has created an assemblage of disparate objects into a whole while Oldenburg’s painted sculpture is more about the image than the process.

Artist Highlight: Kem Alexander

 Kem Alexander, High Heel Lady Shoes, concrete, metal tacks, bead chain, bolts and wedge washers Photograph courtesy of the artist

Kem Alexander is a sculptor who lives and works in Chattanooga, TN. She began her journey and fascination with concrete in 2000 while pouring pier caps during the renovation of her house. Examples of her art and creative technique were published in Creating with Concrete and Creative Concrete Ornaments for the Garden both by Sherry Warner Hunter. Her concrete western boot stitched barbed wire handled sculptures have been exhibited extensively throughout Tennessee and are included in many private and public collections including the Tennessee State Art Collection. This will be her first exhibition in the Atlanta area.  To view more information on Kem Alexander, click here.

Artist Highlight: Maxine Hull

Maxine Hull, Can You See Me 3 , collage
Photograph courtesy of the artist

An art psychotherapist when not passionately pursuing image-making in her studio, Maxine Hull uses the collage process to create both two and three dimensional objects.“In resizing, merging, juxtaposing the collaged images the nuances of content and meaning are altered to present and engage the viewer in a new perspective of the self in relation to the universe.” Hull’s fascination is to accept without judgment or discrimination the hideous and outrageous alongside the exquisite and sublime. She marries such images, manipulating them as a painter without paint while purposefully blurring them to overall abstraction. The viewer, seduced into close examination, becomes drawn into new worlds of images.

Artist Highlight: Andrew Crawford

 Andrew Crawford, Bathtub Scissors, enameled cast iron
Photograph courtesy of the artist

Atlanta-based Andrew Crawford's foundry is an exciting cacophony of loud clangs, fire, heavy metal music and art - from bathtubs he creates gin bottles and from steel and fire he makes guns and valentines. After graduating from Rhode Island School of Design in 1993, Crawford opened his workshop and studio, the Andrew T Crawford Ironworks, with the goal of creating functional objects with an emphasis on blacksmithing. Crawford’s public work can be seen at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, the Federal Reserve Bank, as well as schools and businesses. His work is sought after and collected by many public, private and museum collectors.

Artist Highlight: Tom Haney

 Tom Haney, Home, 2012, mixed media
Photograph courtesy of the artist

Tom Haney uses found objects and discarded, obsolete artifacts to create intricate set pieces occupied by carved, mechanical figures -- each telling stories, often of human perseverance, which demand the viewer’s interpretation. Gaining his skills from making props, models and miniatures for television commercials, photographers and movies, each figure and mechanism is made by hand over scores of hours carving, sewing, painting, assembling. To catch a glimpse of this painstaking process, visit Tom’s blog, and to view Tom's work in person visit Spruill Gallery's new exhibit, Elements: Mixed Materials opening January 24.

New Exhibit Opens January 24th

EA12 Artist Highlight: Adam Bodine

Adam Bodine, What You Say, 2012, Steel + Cast Iron
Image courtesy of Jennifer Price and Spruill Gallery

The transition from adolescence to adult is a curious turning point.  We either consciously or otherwise chose to edit our lives, typically with a lasting effect.  Whether fitting into or out of social norms, the decisions made in this moment give great insight onto culture, society, and individuality.  This “coming of age” is the foundation upon which I work.  By using the image of the toy in conjunction with the industrial, I explore both sides of the equation using themes of play, dreams, building, learning and teaching.  My sculptural proactive serves as a way to observe, document, and remind people of their personal change.

 Adam Bodine, Sometimes You Just Gotta Play in the Dirt, 2010, Wood

Image courtesy of Adam Bodine

In the creation of my work, an emphasis is put on craft, pride, tradition and the hand-made.  I wasn’t to document many aspects of our society using skill, craftsmanship and enduring materials to create tangible records much like the civilizations of the past.  I have developed a way of working that is symbolic of our hopes, desires, and dreams.  The images are typically a simplistic and youthful approach to sophisticated challenges and issues.  Often, I feel that I draw on the same sources of imagination, experimentation, commitment, and vigor of artists, inventors, scientists, and instigators of the past and present.  I urge people to act on their imaginations, dreams, and play-impulse.

-Adam Bodine

EA12 Artist Highlight: Ernesto Gomez

Ernesto R. Gómez is originally from Highland, Michigan. He earned his BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago with an emphasis in sound, installation and instrument building. His work has been exhibited both in the United States and Internationally, and he has performed in many experimental and standard rock ensembles.

                                   

Ernesto R. Gómez, Hadrian, 2010, Italian Alabaster, 12 x 24 x 12 inches.
Photo courtesy of Ernesto R. Gómez.

In 2010 Ernesto was awarded the Friends of Cortona Scholarship that allowed him to study stone carving and bronze casting with the University of Georgia in Cortona, Italy. In 2012 Ernesto was elected to the Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges and nominated for a 2012 Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award through the International Sculpture Center.

 

Ernesto R. Gómez, Rogus, 2010, Cast plaster + wood, 60 x 20 x 60 inches.
Photo courtesy of Ernesto R. Gómez.

In 2012 Ernesto earned his MFA in Sculpture from the University of Georgia and graduated with distinction. He lives in Milledgeville, Georgia with his wife Emily.

Opening Reception this Thursday, 6- 9 PM

Celebrate the early beginning of summer with Spruill Gallery's HOT new garden, and cool new exhibits!

SITE UNSEEN

Trisan Al- haddad

BLDGS

Jeffery Collins Architect

Tim Frank Architecture

Lord, Aeck & Sargent

Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects

Nodus LLC

Perkins + Will

Stanley Beaman & Sears

SPRUILL GARDEN PROJECT

Gordon Chandler

Phil Proctor

Gregor Turk

Pandra Williams

StreamLINE

Rex Brodie, Neo-Luddite Rebellion, November 2010, Hand-forged Steel and Wood

"There is also an evident beauty of line in sculpture, similar to the beauty of line in painting. The curved line is expressive of movement and grace; the horizontal, of repose; the crooked line, of energy and conflict."
-Dewitt H. Parker, from The Principles of Aesthetics

Explore the beauty of every line at Spruill Gallery.
ALIGN open through March 19

Follow the Line

Filament, May 2010, Photograph, Ashley Schick

My photography from Lacoste, France, seeks abstraction in everyday objects through attention to light, shadow, and line. The wire imagery is part of a photography series that looks at the various forms, installations, and locations of the exterior wiring found on the buildings in the Luberon Valley. Through the rigorous cropping of these found scenes the functional wires become formally beautiful lines drawn over the surfaces of the villages.
-Ashley Schick

View more of Schick's photography and discover the importance of line in all mediums of art at Spruill Gallery's exhibition, ALIGN. On view until March 19.