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David Newton Sculpture Exhibit Explores Tension
and Motion
By Jeff Eason
Four years ago sculptor David Newton made the transition from
full-time artist to sculpture instructor at Guilford College in
Greensboro. Little did he know that the added responsibility of
having to teach would help
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Sculptor David Newton (left) relaxes
after setting up his new art show at the Catherine Smith
Gallery with ASU art students Blair Brown, Reese Bolton,
Megan Sayre, Kara Needham, Dayna Seman, Jennifer Livingston,
and gallery director Jody Servon. Photo by Jeff Eason.
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write a new chapter in his development as an artist.
“My wife and I moved down here from New York four years ago
when I got the teaching job,” said Newton. “And I started
this new work when I got here. It was based on some ideas that
I had been playing around with in my mind more than in reality.
But when I got to school with this new job, I just felt so pressured.
I can’t begin to tell you how stressed I felt that first
year. That pressure is really what gave birth to this new work.”
David Newton’s new work is part of a dual artist exhibit
at the Catherine J. Smith Gallery on the campus of Appalachian
State University. Newton’s exhibit features sculptures and
drawings on the first floor of the gallery and artist Althea Murphy-Price’s
lithographs and sculptures are on the second floor of the gallery.
Both visiting artists will take part in public and student events
while their exhibits are on display.
An artists’ reception for the two exhibits will be held at
the Catherine Smith Gallery, located in the lobby of Farthing
Auditorium, on Friday, October 5th from 5 to 7 p.m. The exhibition
and reception are free and open to the public.
“I am intrigued by the innovative ways both of these artists
use materials such as synthetic hair, sponges and light bulbs,
and transform them into objects ripe with multiple meanings,”
said Jody Servon, curator for the exhibits and director of the
Catherine Smith Gallery. “Their works are inventive, witty
and humorous, but at the same time they question our environment,
identity and contemporary culture.”
Also an assistant professor with ASU’s Art Department, Servon
recruited several of her students last Friday to help Newton install
his work in the gallery.
Newton contends that his sculptures are mostly abstract with a
decidedly humorous aspect to them.
“I think there’s a little bit of a statement in there,”
said Newton. “A lot of the things have a combination of being
kind of funny, but also there’s a little bit of ‘ouch’
involved. There’s a little bit of cringe there like when
you’ve heard one of those comedians who makes you feel uncomfortable
and makes you laugh at the same time. I like that combination
a lot. It sort of feels like life.”
Experienced at both old school blacksmithing and modern welding
techniques, Newton usually starts his sculptures with a geometric
structure. From that point he uses found objects and other materials
to create sculptures that have distinct personalities. Newton
used parts the mezzanine of the Catherine Smith Gallery and created
site-specific sculptures unique to this exhibit.
“I like this mezzanine,” said Newton. “That’s
kind of what happens with my work. If you look at it, it’s
stuff that feels confined and it’s trying to break out of
that in some way. Everything looks like it wants to get through
but can’t quite. It needs a little more room, which is certainly
how I feel about life. We’re all feeling a little compressed
and pushed right now.”
Newton admits that his artwork, rather than being timeless, is
rooted in the here and now.
“In the fifties, the world was all good if you were an American,”
said Newton. “Everything was growing and expanding. The future
was so bright everybody had to wear shades, right? Then the sixties
come…and it’s just gotten rougher and rougher. I’m
not sure I could have done this work in the fifties. Those people
wouldn’t say, ‘Yeah, I’m feeling pressured. Nah,
we just bought a new Chevy.’”
Newton’s new exhibit at the Catherine Smith Gallery will
run through November 21st. On Friday, October 5th at 4:30 p.m.
Newton will give a gallery talk on the first floor of the Catherine
Smith Gallery. For more information, visit www.art.appstate.edu.
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