KIRKLAND SMITH - Oct 6-18

ARTIST TURNS CONSUMER WASTE INTO FINE ART

Items Destined For Landfill Find New Life in 3-D Paintings

Columbia artist Kirkland Smith will present an exhibition of work created almost entirely from Post Consumer Waste items collected from friends and family members. The 3-Dimensional  items have been assembled into large representational "paintings" including portraits of Marilyn Monroe, Bob Marley, and Audrey Hepburn. The show, "Re-Created", will be held at Gallery 80808 in the Vista from Oct. 6-18th, with the opening reception on Oct. 6th from 5-9pm.

At close range, the image is unrecognizable but the individual items are not. Viewers will recognize items that consumers discard daily: plasticbottle caps, make-up containers, cell phones, and fast food toys. Viewed from a distance, the Assemblages come into focus to reveal representational images- primarily portraits. "The challenge in getting a likeness is getting the values right. Working with objects instead of paint is like putting a puzzle together. The challenge is getting each piece in the right place."

Kirkland, a classical painter, began creating the Assemblages when she entered an environmental art contest and decided to use post-consumer waste as her "paint". She was looking for a powerful way to drive home the message of the importance of reducing, reusing, and recycling. Giving new life to discarded objects, she made something new. She created a haunting portrait of a child. By giving a face to the problem of litter and pollution, she points out that is people that are the problem as well as the solution.

The Opening Reception of "Re-Created" will be Thursday, October 6th, 5-9pm, and the show will run October 6-18, 2011. Gallery hours are weekdays 10am-5pm, Saturday 11-5pm, or by appointment.

Vista Studios/Gallery 80808

808 Lady Street

Columbia, SC 29201

(803) 252-6134

email: Kirkand@KirklandSmith.com

www.KirklandSmith.com

www.VistaStudios80808.com

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If you would like more information or images, please call 803-622-7838 or email Kirkland@KirklandSmith.com .

Click image to enlarge

CLAY WORKS: LUND, COCKRELL, AND CARR

CLAY WORKS2011

An Exhibition of Clay Sculptures by Columbia Artists,

Sandra Carr , Rita Ruth Cockrell and Richard  Lund.

September 29 - October 3, 2011

80808 Gallery 

808 Lady Street, Columbia, SC 29201-3104

Opening Reception

Friday Sept. 30, 2011

Meet the Artists 6-9 pm 

Gallery Hours:

Thurs. Sept. 29,  10-5pm

Fri. Sept 30,        10-4pm

Sat. Oct. 1,         12-4pm

Sun. Oct 2,         12-4pm

Mon. Oct 3,         10-5pm 

If you have any question please call 

Richard Lund   954-812-8342  or  Sandra Carr   803-665-6255  

The Carolinas have a long history and tradition of artists who work with clay. 

This exhibition Clay Works 2011 features three contemporary artists who live and work in South Carolina: 

Sandra Carr 

Rita Ruth Cockrell  

Richard  Lund. 

Each of the artists use clay as a sculpting medium.  Rather  than make functional pieces, they use clay as a medium for personal expression. Each has a distinctive style.  They create sculptures  with conceptual meaning, taking the viewer past the decorative to a more emotional experience.

Artist Statements:

Sandra Carr 

Clay represents healing for me as an artist. It has been forgiving, stable and has the capacity to change when altered by outside influences. All characteristics I admire and strive for. Sculpting figurative pieces allows me to tell a story in my work or communicate a feeling. It speaks for me when I choose not to.    

Rita Ruth Cockrell

Born and raised in South Carolina, I love this place, every road side weed, every red clay road, leopard clay bank, shadow of white sand. After traumatic event with myself, my mother and authorities, I began working in any medium that came  my way, always going toward the inside to go outside. Believing that if I can be good enough, some aspect of truth or beauty would help me understand that even if I can't get there, the glimmering of the source comforts me. 

Richard  Lund

I moved to Columbia South Carolina three and a half years ago. Shortly after I arrived I joined the City of Columbia Arts Center studio which began my working with clay. I have been an artist many years creating paintings, photographs and sculptures but clay was a new exciting medium for me. Sculpting in air dry clay offers me a seductive tactile experience that other mediums can not give. As I mold, move and pinch the clay with my hands it allows  me to  easily release my ever changing  imagination and ideas realizing them in three dimensions.  

RESIDENT ARTIST SHOW Sept 12-27

The Resident Artists of Vista Studios will exhibit their work from Sept 12 - 27.  Hope you can come by and check it out.

Whirling Dervish

Black Chlorite

$2,200

Repose

Marble

$2,000

Lemon, 5x7, oil, $250

"Fishy Trio"