Hammond Hall Gallery: From Dust, To Dust, Stephen Watson
“You are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19).
Artist’s Statement
The artworks in this installation are made of powdered spices and herbs, including chili, cinnamon, clove, cumin, curry, lavender, paprika, rosemary, sage, and turmeric. Creating art using spices is visually and aromatically enthralling. They delight my eyes, then burn them. They entice my nose, then make me sneeze. Working with spices is a labor intensive, fascinating, pleasurable
pain. Long-suffering yields a beautiful image and aroma, but only temporarily. The completed designs are fragile. The spices rest loosely on the earth, unfixed and unprotected. They are lowly and vulnerable, and destructible by wind and breath, finger and foot. I construct them on site, they deteriorate in time, and I dispose of them after the exhibition. The concentric designs and dense patterns of the spice paintings accentuate the locations they occupy, like pins on a map. They are my tracks, my trail, and my scent. They are concentrations and remnants of my presence, marking places where I sat, worked, created, and believed. They are temporary evidence that I was here and there, and they are precious, physical reminders of the unseen things I also hope to leave behind.
Biography
Stephen Watson earned an MFA in Studio Art from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa and a BA in Studio Art from Williams Baptist College in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas. Watson is an Associate Professor in the School of the Arts at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, where he teaches courses in art and design foundations. He lives in Hoover, Alabama with his wife, Lily, and their three children: Eli (8), Zoe (5), and Anna (2). Recent solo exhibitions include Dust Ye Shall Be, at Berry College; Nearly Nothing, at Pittsburg State University; and Patterns of Devotion, at Gordon College.
Round House Art Gallery: Family Heirlooms, Annette Guy
Artist’s Statement
Family is what makes us who we are. My family is very important to me and they have instilled values and beliefs in me that I still hold on to today. This body of work pays respect to my grandmother and mother.
I remember as a young child seeing a photograph of my grandparents in long white christening gowns. I remember thinking about how beautiful the image was. When I started this body of work I knew that I wanted to create cyanotype images on christening gowns. I am working with my mom who is the seamstress on the gowns. My grandmother taught my mom how to sew.
The images created are those showing the family farm that was in my family for over 100 years, where we would visit my grandparents in the summer. The last image in the series is of my mom holding the flag that was on my father’s casket. The images have a nostalgic feeling to them even though they are my views on who I am.
Bio
Annette Guy is a Nebraska based artist with an Associate of Applied Science in Photography degree from Metropolitan Community College, Omaha, NE Associate of Graphic Design degree from The Creative Center, Omaha, NE. Annette enjoys working with alternative processes in photography, as well as mixed media. She has shown her work all across the United States, as well as Tokyo, Japan.
