Storytime at SPA

I put a tremendous amount of effort into curating the Storytime exhibit at Studio Place Arts (SPA), where I have a studio on the third floor. I was interested in exploring the human impulse to construct narratives. I have noticed that even when people are looking at abstract work, they tend to see images and construct stories about what's going on. It's as though we need to make things make sense -- and not only descriptively (what it looks like), but also narratively (what's happening). When I called for and selected work, I expected more pieces with words and text -- lots of comic books, drawings, collages, etc. That just didn't come in, but what I got is truly fascinating and of amazingly high quality. I love every single piece in the show, and am sorry if I didn't get a good shot of your piece among these images.

Artists in the exhibit are (not in alphabetical order, but in order of the groupings of work): Cereal Lab, Julia Shirar, R.C. Sayler, Nancy Dwyer, Phil Whitman, Owen Bissex, Rachi Farrow, Beth Robinson, Bryce LeVan Cushing, Rob Millard-Mendez, Dorothy Weicker, Kristin Richland, John Douglas, Janet Fredericks, Jack Rowell, Carol Radsprecher, Whitney Ramage, Fran Bull, Lisa Lillibridge, Dana Walrath, Valerie Hird, Jill Pabich, Delia Robinson, Adelaide Tyrol, Kate Bieschke, Micah R.O. Litant, Jude Bond, Stephen Derrickson, Bonnie Gloris, Kelly Glentz Brush, Bonnie Morrisey, Rio Aubry Taylor, Robert Towne, Dave Kearns, and Peter Schumann.

The opening reception is tonight from 5:30 - 7:30 at SPA. Here is a little digital tour around the exhibit (the large work is very large, so smaller pieces get lost a bit in these overview shots, but not as you are actually moving around the gallery.

These are shots of the first floor Gallery.











The exhibit continues on the second floor, with work I think of as "Animal Tales". The work in the space outside the elevator all has a connection to animals, while the work on the wall in the hall is much more about social commentary.