Tacoma Arts In Review: "Marked" and "Patterned Remarks" at the Kittredge Gallery

Art by Michelle Grabner
_{Image Courtesy of University of Puget Sound}

“Serendipity” is the word Elise Richman used to describe how she and Janet Marcavage came to curate complementary exhibitions, which are currently on view at the Kittredge Gallery on Puget Sound campus. Both Richman, who curated Marked in the Large Gallery, and Marcavage, who curated Patterned Remarks in the adjacent Small Gallery, found themselves drawn to artists who implement repetition and explore mark making. The resulting works of art correspond, but also retain a strong sense of autonomy.

Marcavage, who teaches printmaking at Puget Sound, invited ten artists who demonstrated an interest in pattern making in their earlier work to each contribute a print to the portfolio titled Patterned Remarks. In contrast to our age of digital-ease, each of the artists works by hand to produce original reproductions. The prints show the artists’ response to the systems that pattern our world, from visual to biological, and societal to psychological.

Some might be uneasy with or disinterested in the “abstract” nature of Marked, but this reaction should be reconsidered. As a professor curating for a teaching gallery, Richman uses this exhibition as an opportunity to connect with her students and the greater-Tacoma community who might be a bit wary of non-representative art. These paintings, which defy traditional painting behavior, are visually captivating as they stimulate the visitor’s curiosity in regards to the technical aspects and cognitive processes behind their making.

The three artists represented in Marked — Michelle Grabner, Susan Dory, and Margie Livingston—all employ repetition not only as a means for literally making a mark, but also to investigate how we mark time in our daily lives, mark each other and the world in which live, and the mark our predecessors have left on us.

I found myself especially gravitating towards Grabner’s Black Circle Paintings, which reveal the passage of time through the meticulous application of tiny dots arranged in concentric circles. Each mark represents a brief moment of respite from the many other things in the artist’s life that clamor for her attention. As the unintentional consequence of being applied over multiple sittings, each tondo becomes a pulsating optical illusion as the radiating circles appear to shift clockwise or counterclockwise.

To satiate the inquisitive, Marked is accompanied by a catalog with ample information about the artists and their works of art. Likewise, the Kittredge Gallery will soon have podcasts of interviews between Richman and the artists on their website.

Marked and Patterned Remarks will be on view through February 26, 2011.

Gallery Location: University of Puget Sound, N. 15th St. at N. Lawrence St., Tacoma, WA (Directions here)

Review by Kate Albert Ward

ABOUT TACOMA ARTS IN REVIEW
Tacoma Arts In Review, a new column on Exit 133, regularly shares timely reviews and stories on art happenings in Tacoma written by local college students and community members. For more information and application details, go here.