Thomas Barry Fine Arts: Summer Invitational - Layered

On Tuesday, I met up with my dear friend, Emily Smith to check out her new work that is currently on exhibition at the Thomas Barry Fine Arts Gallery in the warehouse district. I feel like I'm admitting a dirty secret when I say I've never been to this gallery before, and worse, had never even heard of it... eek! But I'm glad my naivete was remedied, and what an excellent first exposure, I must say.

The show is a group show featuring works by Bethany Kalk, Caleb Coppock, Josie Lewis, Drew Peterson, and of course, Emily.









Apart from Emily's work (which was my favorite by far, and I'd like to think it's not because I'm biased..) I also really enjoyed Josie Lewis' pieces. I have never seen her work before, and I thought it was pretty incredible. Emily told me that all of her work is comprised of cutouts from Vogue Magazine. I can't imagine the process she must go through keeping track of all of these tiny pieces of paper..







All of the artists also collaborated to make this amazing installation:







It is a fantastic show. I really recommend checking it out, and you have another 4 weeks, so hop to it! Below is more information about the show (taken from the Thomas Barry website.)

Summer Invitational: Layered
July 17 - August 27

We are excited to announce our fourth annual Summer Invitational featuring the work of five artists, Caleb Coppock, Bethany Kalk, Josie Lewis, Drew Peterson, and Emily Smith, who share similar interests in layering images, information, and materials. This exhibition will open with a reception on Saturday, July 17th from 6-9 PM and run through August 27th. Please note that the gallery will be closed on Saturdays until September. This exhibition originated from a proposal by Bethany Kalk to engage four artists and herself to collaborate on a common work in the gallery as well as a compliment of individual studio pieces.

Bethany Kalk is a Minneapolis-based artist and Master of Fine Arts graduate from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design working in a variety of media and subject matter. Her imagery ranges from representational to purely abstract and is inspired by natural phenomena and technological development and desecration.

Caleb Coppock lives and works in Omaha, NE and is a 2007 graduate of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. His encaustic paintings are expressive and colorful, often incorporating geometry and found and invented objects.

Josie Lewis received her Masters in Fine Arts from the University of Minnesota in 2008 and is currently living in the Twin Cities. Her assemblages of resin and paper strips cut from glossy, mass publications are primarily abstract compositions that use light and shadow to create a sense of volume and multi-faceted surfaces.

Drew Peterson graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2008 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. The imagery in his work comes from Sears and Montgomery Ward catalogues circa 1900. Through a process of reconstructing and combining these images electronically, the final composition becomes the subject of large paintings on canvas.

Emily Smith received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 2006 and her Masters of Fine Arts at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, CA where she currently lives and works. Her mixed-media-on-panel pieces are layers of medium and information that seem to identify a specific location being charted and navigated through colorful, topographical references.