Women’s Words Art Mix Group Exhibit On Display at Mazie Jones Gallery By Jeff Eason The trouble with many art shows is that they concentrate too much on one particular aspect of art. Some are nothing but portraits while others are completely made up of landscapes. If variety is truly the spice of life, then the new art exhibition at the Mazie Jones Gallery in Boone is one of the spiciest in recent memory. Fantasies by Orna Bentor Figure Study by Barbara Timberman Kimberly Lewis’ ceramic creation Woman with Two Vessels. House and Chairs by Kimberly Lewis. Art Mix, a collection of nine women artists in northwest North Carolina, has produced a stunning new show called Women’s Words. The exhibition will remain in the Mazie Jones Gallery through the month of September and includes oils, acrylics, watercolors, collages, photography, print works and ceramics. An artists’ reception for Women’s Works will be held at the Jones House Community Center in downtown Boone on Friday, September 1st from 6:30 to 8 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Representing a variety of artists from Newland, Boomer, Statesville, Boone, Blowing Rock and Wilkesboro, Art Mix features Orna Bentor, Anne Burgess, Judy Humphrey, Kimberly Lewis, Betty Powell, Marianne Stevens Suggs, Amy Cooke and Barbara Timberman. For Women’s Words, each artist was asked to create one or more 8” x 8” pieces with wraparound canvases and text. In addition to that requirement, each artist was free to submit other recent work for the exhibition. In particular, it was the text portion of this art project that seemed to get the creative juices flowing for the members of the Art Mix collective. “I did a collage of torn pieces from my English/Hebrew dictionary,” said Bentor. “This is a symbol of my existence—living in two worlds, in two cultures and languages. I am an Israeli-American citizen, a challenging situation I try to capture in my artwork.” Lewis’ ceramic piece of a woman carrying two vessels was inspired by both text and history. “During the Seventh Crusade, led by Saint Louis, Yves le Breton reported how he once encountered an old woman who wandered down the street with a dish full of fire in her right hand and a bowl full of water in her left hand,” explained Lewis. “Asked why she carried the two bowls, she answered that with the fire she would burn up Paradise until nothing remained of it, and with the water she would put out the fires of Hell until nothing remained of them: ‘Because I want no one to do good in order to receive the reward of Paradise, or from fear of Hell; but solely out of love for God.’ Today, this properly Christian ethical stance survives mostly in atheism.” Humphrey recently began photographing signs that have text and artificial color that are in stark contrast to their natural surroundings. “I am interested in the visual relationships as well as the social context that these images suggest,” said Humphrey. “Selecting text as the common thread for our collaborative piece has inspired me to develop a new series that will investigate the subtle ways in which the human presence both intrudes upon and coexists with nature.” For her unique juxtapositions of the natural and the artificial, Humphrey uses Polaroid transfers and then adds decorative printed borders with printed text. “I hope to explore a wide range of methods for using text as a starting point for the visual image as a result of this collaboration.” That preoccupation with natural surroundings also influences Timberman’s paintings. “My images reflect an ongoing fascination with the components of my life,” said Timberman. “The title is My Cosmic Dance (containing) the six parts Green Shoots, Harvest, Meditation and Reflection, Creative Outpouring, Family and Connecting. “I love and need to grow things, harvest them, fill up my spirit with solitude, paint and draw, be with family and enjoy connections with friends which allow this dance to continue. These life-parts are all overseen by my belief in God and my hope that the Holy Spirit is near at all times.” That desire to nurture the beautiful aspects of life through art is also reflected in Powell’s philosophy. “Beauty is everywhere: it just takes time to see it, from the tiniest lens to the panorama of a magnificent sunset or a moonlight starry night sky,” said Powell. “I am fascinated by the play of light and cast shadow and I love looking for compositions that dramatize a subject. “Using pastels, paint and mixed media, I like to experiment with new approaches in my attempt to convey to the viewer my own authentic, personal and poetic vision.” While beauty for its own sake inspires some of the Art Mix collective, Suggs finds meaning in her work by exploring the ugly side of beauty. Her work concerns itself with large number of women worldwide who work with dangerous chemicals so large flower and produce manufacturers can make a profit. “Third world producers grow roses in sterilized soil in greenhouses fumigated as often as once a day with fungicides, insecticides, memoticides and herbicides,” said Suggs. “One-fifth of these chemicals are carcinogens or toxins that have been restricted for health reasons in the USA, and nearly two-thirds of Columbia’s 75,000 flower workers suffer from maladies including nausea, impaired vision, conjunctivitis, rashes, asthma, miscarriages, stillbirths, and congenital malformations associated with pesticide exposure. The first several weeks of the year can be particularly hazardous (as) workers spend up to 18 hours per day, seven days a week, in poorly ventilated greenhouses producing the more than 100 million pesticide-laden roses that Americans buy every February.” Suggs’ previous work The Game of the Rose was inspired by the South American flower industry. Her latest works are inspired by migrant farm workers in North Carolina who have had disfigured babies after working with a host of chemicals on tomato farms. Burgess’ work is inspired in part by the writing of American novelist Eudora Welty who wrote in One Writer’s Beginnings, “The word ‘moon’ came into my mouth as though fed to me out of a silver spoon.” “The words I’ve chosen for my part of the group piece thrill me the way the word ‘moon’ thrilled Eudora Welty,” explained Burgess. “They are part of my history. When I hear them I go back to whatever age I was when I first heard and felt them. They are as much a part of me as my eyes or hands.” Women’s Words is presented by the Watauga Arts Council and sponsored in part by Cheap Joe’s Art Stuff. For more information, contact the arts council at (828) 264-1789.