WAC Gallery Information for February 2008

The Watauga Arts Council February gallery exhibits in the Jones House Community Center feature photography and encaustic painting.

In the Mazie Jones Gallery, Ben McKeown’s photography will offer the viewer an opportunity to interact with the exhibit by proposing their own titles for each piece. The show is “Untitled” as are all the photographs; however, pen and paper will be available to write down proposed titles. Everyone will see something different in each photo, so it will be interesting to see how each person interprets and reacts.

“My work is based heavily around storytelling, “ McKeown said. “I believe that the point of my images, even the ones that do not include people, is to tell a story, to convey a meaning or a purpose of some sort. ”

”Additionally, I believe that art at its core is most effective when the viewer is called to make some sort of investment of their own. It could be simply an emotional investment, as might be made upon seeing a painting of a picturesque mountain scene that touches a piece of the viewer's self. It could be a responsive investment, as is made at the end of a ballet in the form of applause. In whatever form it occurs, I believe the art is truly art only when the viewer is able to feel its purpose, ” he said.

By proposing titles for each work the art will become inherently more meaningful to each person. Also, the list of volunteered titles will hopefully also become a significant part of the art itself, for as new titles are volunteered, new meanings and new understandings of the art will be made available.

Open Door Gallery is displaying the work of Charlotte Shristi for the month of January. Shristi combines and layers medias - water color, pigmented wax, pastel, acrylic, ink, graphite, charcoal, while the textures of canvas, hand-made paper, wood and under-painting are important to the development of each work. Recently she has begun to use encaustic, a process of painting with molten pigmented wax, fusing the layers one by one onto wooden panels or canvas stretched over braced panels.

“ Encaustic painting allows me immediate experimentation with texture and layering as well as the incorporation of drawing in the form of incising lines (known as sgrafitto,) collage and mixed media elements which are easily integrated with encaustic media, “ she said.

“My themes and process has been informed as much by my rich life experiences as by formal study, including living for periods in the Dominican Republic, on the Hopi Reservation in Arizona where I was an elementary art teacher, in Nepal where I volunteered with a human rights organization and trekked and in Colombia where I did peace advocacy work,” Shristi said.

Currently the artist is inspired by the rocks, trees and clear running water surrounding her mountain home.

Both exhibits are on display from Tuesday, January 29 until Friday, February 29 from noon to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays. The Arts Council galleries are also open Thursdays from 7:30 to 11 p.m. during the acoustic jams at the Jones House .

The gallery reception to welcome these exhibits is Friday, February 1 from 6:30-8 p.m. and is held in conjunction with downtown Boone’s First Friday Art Crawl.

The galleries are sponsored in part by Cheap Joe’s Art Stuff and Grassroots Funds of the North Carolina Arts Council. The WAC’s offices and galleries are located in the Jones Jones House Community & Cultural Center, owned by the town of Boone.