At the Village Gallery, see how copper and mixed media capture the creatures and plants that dwell in the Sea & Sky.
By Meghan Meier
With summer just around the corner, copper artist Anne Jordan and mixed media artist Karen Watson are diving deep and flying high in their new exhibition at the Village Gallery, Sea & Sky, to capture the ambiance and creatures that animate the Earth’s horizon and its blue waters.
The exhibition will feature about 20 pieces showcasing Watson’s mixed media techniques of acrylic painting and dimensional surface-building that incorporate objects like bottles, seashells, butterflies and more. Jordan will incorporate free-standing copper sculptures and hammered reliefs that depict a variety of birds, aquatic species and plants.
The reason Jordan and Watson chose to examine the sea and sky is because it allows them to use their artistic mediums to explore the diverse elements that inhabit these two worlds without the feeling of being limited and draw the attention of the audience, according to Jordan.
The Village Gallery is not just an exhibition space, but also a co-op where artists can augment their skills and experiment with other talent. Members team up to showcase work that relates to a particular topic. However, it is not just about working with any professional but finding that someone whose creativity resonates with your own. Watson and Jordan had admired each other’s craft for some time, so partnering together when it came time to anchor the May 2016 show was a natural decision.
This exhibition explores the relationship between the sky and sea, but it also explores the partnership between the two artists and how they balance their respective skills in copper and mixed media to convey the interrelation of the components that reflect these two landscapes. “We talked about our work a lot,” Watson says. “It was a logical partnership for us. We both do things that have to do with nature and oftentimes the ocean, so it felt really comfortable and natural that we could come up with a good show together.”
As much as Sea & Sky is collaborative, the art being created has its own significance to each creator. As an artist, Watson loves to use her hands to mold the materials to form mixed media paintings. With this showcase, she wants to capture the feeling of a particular place, like the beach, through color and texture that is original but in a formation that is relatable to the audience.
For Jordan, this exhibition provides the chance to demonstrate how copper can be manipulated to form accurate textures of a specific entity. “I would like for [viewers] to be impressed with the cool stuff you can do with copper, how you can take something hard and firm like metal and just hammer and bang on it with different tools and make it come alive and make it look like a real plant or animal,” she says.
Sea & Sky will be displayed throughout May. The public is also invited to join Watson and Jordan for the Artists Reception at the Village Gallery on May 14 from 5-8 p.m.
