Lines and Edges
Juror: Allison Long Hardy|| Catalog || Flier
Awards:
- Tiny Hidden Hearts mixed media basket by Passle Helminski, Erie, PA
- Connections II mixed media by Barbara Taylor Hall, Fredericksburg, VA
- Succession of Events mixed media by Ana Rendich, Fredericksburg, VA
Honorable Mentions:
- Global Warming acrylic painting by Patricia Smith, Locust Grove, VA
- Kudus oil painting by Jurgen Brat, Fredericksburg, VA
- Hear No Evil digital print by Robert S. Hunter, Colonial Beach VA
- Diamonds in the Rough mixed media by Bob Worthy, Montross, VA
Juror's Statement:
I have had a long-standing affinity for line and defining what exactly a line is. In my drawing courses I always tell my students that lines do not exist in nature, lines are created by edges of objects meeting the edge of something else. There are no hard fast lines in nature, only changes in planes. However, even though I say this hundreds of times every semester, this notion is something that I struggle with on a daily basis in my own art making. How do lines get defined, how to create a line without making an actual line, how to layer lines, how negative space influences how the viewer sees a line, and so on, and so on. I am constantly obsessing over lines, and subsequently edges. Edges of planes, of shapes, of surfaces, of negative space, I could go on and on.
When selecting work for this exhibition I saw a lot of variety within the type of line I was seeing. I was interested in the line quality. I became infatuated with describing what type of line emerged on the page. I tried to consider the process in which the artist created the work and how the materials had a play in that. Some of the works have aggravated lines; other works have beautiful, calligraphic lines. Some lines were made quickly; others were made methodically and slowly.
I started viewing edges as a byproduct of the creation of a line. The line was the cause, the edge was the effect. The edges in a piece define the space, either positive or negative. Edges divide spaces and open spaces up. The edges contain an image or set the image free. While the edges were the effect of the lines, the lines were entirely dependent on the edges in order to be seen. The sort of dependency that the lines had to the edges opened up a dialogue between the two elements in the pieces, something that I thought was crucial when selecting the work for the exhibition.
