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