HOW TO GO
What: Art by Sophia Maras and Landon Crowell
Where: Rosewood Gallery, 2655 Olson Dr., Kettering
When: Continues through May 8
Hours: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday; 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.
More Info: 937-296-0294 or www.ketteringoh.org
Sophia Maras of Dayton sees the beauty in everything, even trash bags. She uses wood to frame common objects such as string and grocery receipts. Landon Crowell of Kettering uses wood in his exploration of construction materials and how the end results change the environment. They are currently presenting their separate mixed-media shows at Rosewood Gallery.
Maras is exhibiting “Delicate Issues,” nine mostly large-scale works that invite the viewer in for a closer look. For example, “I’ll Keep You Safe” is made from a grid of delicately folded receipts that form aesthetically-pleasing patterns with punches of color. “Preservation” is created from old class notes and doodles folded around dozens of little wooden cubes, arranged in a semi-linear fashion.
“My work emphasizes the subtle aspects of these items by incorporating large numbers of them into a unifying whole,” said Maras. “Arranging materials such as paper, screws, or plastic grocery sacks in a deliberate, yet unnatural order presents viewers with an opportunity to investigate.”
The various colored tiny trash bags are imagined as a large woven composition that is unraveling at the bottom, “The Overflow.” The bags free-flow out of the wooden frame. More bags are disguised as a knitted rug that meanders from a small wooden chair, “Never Ending,” or a highly textured abstract, as in “Consumption.”
“These juxtapositions (of my found objects) are intended to pull individuals out of their normal realms of thought by giving them different perspectives on the materials, and perhaps the opportunity to see a new beauty in some of the minute building blocks of our daily lives,” said Maras.
Maras holds a bachelor’s degree of fine arts in 3D studio art from Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, Louisiana.
Crowell is a sculptor who imagines a different layout of ‘building blocks’ in his wood medium series titled “Constructed Landscapes.” He is presenting 12 works, including a six-piece installation titled “Inertia in light of a likely disaster.” Made of wood and hose clamps, the six square pedestals hold vertical slats in various precise designs.
A large piece of plywood is re-imagined in “Score and Curl.” The horizontal work is curled up at one end, forming interesting shadows.
“This work is meant to be stark and, in some cases, even feel unfinished,” said Crowell, who gets his ideas from odd jobs as a construction worker, and summers spent as a mountain guide in Yosemite National Park.
“This work deals with such themes as memory, landscape, and the interaction we as humans have with the natural world. Some imagery comes from aerial views, mapmaking symbols, and the landscape itself,” said Crowell. “This is to create an inner tension between the artwork and the viewer.”
Crowell has a bachelor’s degree of fine arts in sculpture from Wright State University. He is an adjunct sculpture instructor/gallery technician at the university.
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