“wayfinding” Solo Show at Olney Gallery Feb 2018

Please join us—First Friday Artists Reception Feb. 2nd 6–9 pm
Exhibition dates: Jan 26–Feb 22.   Gallery is open: Mon–Fri 9 am–4 pm

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“Steel Branches: Yin/Yang” and “Syncopation” ©Joan Waters 2018 all rights reserved
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Olney Gallery installation view ©Joan Waters 2018 all rights reserved
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“Tree” ©Joan Waters 2018 all rights reserved
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Olney Gallery installation view ©Joan Waters 2018 all rights reserved
New acrylic paintings and steel sculptures embrace the unknown as an essential part of their process. To move beyond the limitations of words and what we ‘think we know’ asks us to rely on direct observation and experience. John Keats called this “negative capability— to be capable of “being in uncertainties, mysteries, and doubts without any irritable reaching after fact and reason.”

Returning to her roots in painting and drawing, Waters’ Portal series of paintings are inspired by the mysterious patterns of tar lines used to patch cracks in the road. Finding similar patterns in glazed ceramics, aerial city maps, leaf veins and coiled garden hose fuels her curiosity about the universality of these patterns. Colored glazes are layered over calligraphic brush strokes to build depth and movement. Steel sculptures echo the calligraphic mark making in cutout steel shapes and hammered rod with patinas.

“Working across different mediums allows me freedom to break the ‘rules’ and cross-pollinate ideas. Seeing change as evidence of aliveness, I seek to create a visual language out of what is unfamiliar, and use imagination to convey a sense of exuberance and vitality which challenges viewers to reconnect with their own sources of positive energy and magic in the world.”
“Not all those who wander are lost.” J. R. R. Tolkein

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