How to go
What: Art by John Emery, Amy Sacksteder and Patrick Vincent
Where: Dayton Visual Arts Center, 118 Jefferson St., Dayton
When: Continues through June 20
Gallery talk: 6:15 p.m. June 15 (John Emery)
More Info: 937-224-3822 or www.daytonvisualarts.org
Memories, transience and metaphor: these themes are all explored in the current show at the Dayton Visual Arts Center. Critically acclaimed artists John Emery of Dayton, Amy Sacksteder of Ypsilanti, Mich., and Patrick Vincent of Moorhead, Minn., all rely on paper to get their ideas across to the public.
“Each artist is a true innovator, mixing technical skill with amazing creativity,” said DVAC executive director Eva Buttacavoli. “DVAC was founded specifically to support and sustain innovative, original Dayton artists and the vibrant local arts community. Emery, Sacksteder and Vincent are perfect examples of the incredible talent that DVAC supports. We are thrilled to showcase their work.”
Emery has been busy; he is showing 36 watercolor or plein-air cut-paper constructions. Collectively, the works are titled “John Emery: things left behind.” The works were inspired by his time spent in New Zealand. Many of the works have a fly-fishing theme. “Tight Lines & Tall Tales” consists of a fishing hat, rod & reel, and fishing vest, with a rainbow trout as the grand prize in the middle. He creates realistic objects from his talent with paper and paint.
“These paintings are visual chronicles of experiences, travels and adventures. The watercolor sketches, layered snippets of landscapes, visual textures and tromp l’oeil objects are constructed completely of paper,” Emery said. “The objects, like memories, are often not what they seem. The shifting perspective and use of three-dimensional formed paper provide the environment, but it is the viewer who must complete the story.”
Emery splits his time between two studios: eight months in Dayton, and four months in the south island of New Zealand. He has taught/lectured at various universities in both countries, and his works have been exhibited and collected up to an international level.
Sacksteder’s theme is mind mapping; her works are titled “Amy Sacksteder: The Interior.” Her 24 works are a combination of paintings, prints, collages, and bronze/glass objects mounted on the walls.
“My paintings, drawings, and installations embody the inability to convey the significance of an event or the impact of a place,” explains Sacksteder. “The work draws upon the traditions of landscape painting and natural science illustration, and incorporates the visual language of maps, diagrams, and artifacts, as a way of exploring our connection … to specific places and occurrences.”
Sacksteder’s work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions at Threewalls, Chicago, Illinois; The Urban Institute for Contemporary Art, Grand Rapids, Mich.; the Drawing Room, Budapest, Hungary; and SÍM Gallery, Reykjavík, Iceland. She has been a resident artist in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Newfoundland, Southern France, Budapest, Reykjavík and Berlin.
Vincent’s installation, “A Capricious Covenant,” reflects on the declining bee population. He juxtaposes printed images of swarming bees with chemical diagrams of pesticides, and binary codes representing dangerous radiation from cellphones/towers.
“Since they are essential to the health of the planet and healthy agricultural products, our mortality is linked with theirs,” said Vincent, an asst. professor of printmaking at Minnesota State University. “More than anything, I want people to stand in the space … and think about the different clusterings of bees … as well as reflect on these different human-made and natural geometric systems.”
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