LINES from Laura Chance on BURNAWAY

13 artists sketch invisible forces in Align at Spruill Gallery

March 16, 2011

By Laura Chance

The name of Spruill Gallery's group exhibition, Align, is playfully punned. A thought-provoking dichotomy of complex meaning and bare-bones honesty, Align celebrates the line as “the essence of drawing,” illustrating its versatility in painting, photography, writing, and sculpture. Thirteen artists evaluate the importance of line within their works and compose statements defining its significance...


A special thanks goes out to BURNAWAY and Laura Chance for a beautifully written prose. Click here to read her entire article.

Read between the LINES

Review: Engaging “Align” at Spruill Gallery draws a multimedia bead on line

by Catherine Fox | Mar 9, 2011

Contrary to retail blandishments, one size never fits all. Yet, Hope Cohn, Spruill Gallery's energetic director, organizes exhibitions that serve the multiple and sometimes competing interests of the community, offering a judicious mix of readily accessible and high-concept work by an equally broad cross-section of artists. “Align: An Exploration into the Artistic Use of Line,” on view through March 19, is a case in point.

High on the accessibility index, Jeffery Merritt’s charming wire animal sculptures exemplify line in space. They bring to mind Alexander Calder’s circus, though the self-taught artist knew nothing about them when he began bending wire. The drawings George Vlosich makes on Etch-A-Sketch screens are not profound, but anyone who’s tried the thing will marvel at his virtuosity. It’s hard to get it do anything but horizontal and vertical; Vlosich not only makes organic line but also shading and subtle detail.

Read the entire review on ArtsCrticATL

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

Artist's Talk LINE Up

Wynne Ragland, Untitled, 2010


Artist's Talk
Saturday, March 5
12 pm

the LINE up:

Barrett Feldman
Margaret Fletcher
Julia Hill
Jeffery Merritt
Mary O'Horo
Wynne Ragland
Ashley Schick

Join us at the Spruill Gallery next Saturday for an informal intertwining of artists and the lines they work within.

Artists Talk On LINE

Margaret Fletcher, line field 1 .3, 2010

Artist's Talk

Saturday, March 5, 12 PM

Follow the dotted line all the way to Spruill Gallery on March 5 for a special Artist's Talk event at 12 noon. Meet the local artists in this group show and hear them speak about their work and the role that the line plays in their art.

The work in ALIGN explores how line defines space, inspires meaning and pushes spatial boundaries by challenging the surface and taking the line beyond the borders. Traditionally we consider line to be a mark, an exact stroke, but the definition of line has been redefined as artists and technology have seized opportunity to look beyond convention. A line may define an object, but also an object is defined by the space that surrounds the line.

Stars ALIGN

Mary O'Horo, Fluxus, 2009

A line is the carrier of its own narrative...It is to me a visual economy that embraces a multitude of possibilities. I employ it as a fluid moving point that travels through space, the edge of a shape or a current of energy.
-Mary O'Horo

There is a thin LINE...

Barrett Feldman, Convolution 3, 2011

Thousands of lines on a page awake a thin surface shifting between the macroscopic and microscopic. The work emerges from an intention to make surfaces and spaces that have detail, depth and complexity in order to create work that flickers between landscape, fabric and biomorphic matter. Each ink line is an individual fact placed on paper with its own shape, thickness, and character: together the lines create a new wholeness from distinct elements.
-Barrett Feldman

To view more of Barrett's work, click here

Opening Night Photos

Installation shot of Julia Hill's Tidal Reoccurance
courtesy of Whitespace Gallery

The lines of Rex Brodie's Mother Knows Best, 2010

Mobiles by Jeffery Merritt

Julia Hill, oh currents: waking, 2009

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.

Opening Tomorrow

The Spruill Gallery Presents

Opening Reception:

Thursday, February 3, 6-9 p.m.

February 4 – March 19, 2011

Walk the line and join us for this unique exhibition and view works by:

Rex Brodie, Lucinda Bunnen, Blake Butler, Barrett Feldman, Margaret Fletcher, Julia Hill, Jeffrey Merritt, Mary O’Horo, Wynne Ragland, Rocio Rodriguez, Ashley Schick, Corinne Vionnet, and George Vlosich.

Special thanks to Whitespace Galllery

Spruill Gallery presents align, an exploration of the artistic use of the line in painting, drawing, photography, and alternative media. align celebrates the essence of the artist's vocabulary and how the line defines space, inspires form and meaning.

"The essence of drawing is the line exploring space."
-Andy Goldsworthy -

February 4 - March 19, 2011

Join us for the Opening Reception: Thursday, February 3, 6 - 9 PM


Spruill Gallery 4681 Ashford Dunwoody Road, Atlanta, GA 30338
770-394-4019

Gallery Hours: Wednesday - Saturday 11 AM - 5 PM