Kentucky Woods

We dropped by Artsplace (in Lexington) yesterday to see the Kentucky Woods exhibit at the LexArts Gallery.

Nathan Zamarron, the LexArts Community Arts Manager, told me this morning that the exhibit of 14 wood artists has been extended to run through the end of the year. The reception will be held during the November 20 Gallery Hop.

TR has three pieces in this exhibit, seen above.

My favorite is this carved cherry bowl:

This post serves as a commercial to remind folks to go by and see this show.

The exhibit is impressive in its variety, a samplimg of the many ways artists are working with wood here in Kentucky. There are carved and turned vessels, cabinetry and boxes, scroll saw work, primitive chisel-work sculpture, shadow boxes, and relief carving in distressed wood.

Sophisticated highly finished work such as Jamie Donaldson’s turned vessels stand in contrast to the primitivism of Nathan Zamarron’s chisel-and-mallet carved cedar stumps.

On the sophisticated side, Nathan Hatch’s two large bent-wood sculptures are a highlight of the show, impressive in both design and craft. They are a study in movement held in stasis, works of great tension.

Lavon Van Williams’s folksy relief sculptures in old wood are lively, jazzy works. Double-sided and painted, pieces like “Saturday Night, Here Comes Sunday Morning” are both a tribute to and a comment on African-American culture.

Michael Shambro’s scroll-saw landscapes on black velvet are impressive examples of work in exquisite detail, like Persian miniatures in their delicacy. By contrast, Willie Robertson’s series of “conversations” are all about nail holes on plywood, wonderful in their whimsy. The conversations are with earlier American artists and their iconic works, such as Thomas Hart Benton’s “The Ballad of the Jealous Lover of Lone Green Valley.”

Two really nice examples of cabinetry are included: Steele Hinton’s wall hanging cabinet and Jake Oxnard’s self-portrait chest with ceramic vessels. Because my father used to have a cabinet-making shop, I’m particularly fond of these pieces.

Other artists included in the exhibit are Waylon Bigsby, Robert C. Henrickson, Larry May, Lynn Schwantes, and James Wade.

TR’s pearwood vase, below, was turned from a huge old Kieffer pear that used to stand in our north yard. Those of you who have known my work for a while know that that north yard stands important in my own work, so I consider this piece special. It’s more poetic than most of what I manage to produce.

All photos here taken by TR Williams with permission.

TR will also have several pieces in the Third Annual Gallery & Gifts Holiday Market at the Scott County Arts & Cultural Center. The Gallery is located in the old jailer’s house, 117 North Water Street, Georgetown, Kentucky. The show opens on November 1 and will run through December 19. Gallery hours are 12 N to 4 pm, Tuesday through Saturdays, Sundays 1 to 4 pm.

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