CRAIGHEAD-GREEN GALLERY

CRAIGHEAD-GREEN GALLERY // JUNE 13 // 6-9PM

CRAIGHEAD-GREEN GALLERY
1011 Dragon Street DALLAS, TEXAS 75207
214.855.0779

www.craigheadgreen.com

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Craighead Green Gallery is proud to present new works by painter and sculptor Heather
Gorham, mixed media artist, Danna Ruth Harvey and abstract painter Joey Brock. There
is a very strong bond amongst these three artists; each has personally transitioned into
a new chapter in their lives over the last several years. Those familiar with the artist’s
work will undoubtedly see references of loss, discovery and growth.

Heather Gorham is a well-known and respected Dallas artist. Gorham has been actively
showing her work and contributing to the Dallas arts scene for over 20 years. A graduate
of Booker T. Washington, Gorham continued to study art while attending Brookhaven
Community College, Dallas. Gorham's paintings are beautiful narrative works on
canvas. Each piece tells a story, often bringing to mind memories of childhood
and relationships. The work appears to be whimsical at first glance, bringing a
smile to the viewer. Upon further study a much deeper meaning surfaces
challenging one to understand the motivation of Gorham. This newest body
of paintings is inspired by change. Change has been a word that has been a
part of Gorham’s life for the past several years. She comments that the work
is "an exploration of what change means and how we adapt to it, struggle
against or embrace it..." Gorham also recreates some of the characters in
her paintings into 3-dimensional sculptural pieces made of bronze, carved
wood and found objects. Her sculptural work shares with the viewer the same
sense of challenge of understanding as her paintings do. This will be Gorham’s
third exhibition at Craighead Green Gallery.

Houston based artist, Danna Ruth Harvey, has long been a well-respected regional
artist. Once Harvey had raised her family she began her studies in art. Her
dedication paid off being accepted into the very prestigious Vermont Studio
School. She received her MFA Graduate award in 2004. In 2003 she received
her MFA from Johnson State College, VT. This will be Harvey's fifth exhibition with
Craighead Green. Harvey’s works on board begin as drawings and come to
life with her use of paint, encaustic, thread and paper. Subtle landscapes,
elegant and mysterious, surface from layers and layers of her mixed medium.
Harvey states that her inspiration for this body of new work comes from Carl
Jung's autobiography titled, Memories, Dreams, Reflections. Jung writes, "Life
has always seemed to me like a plant that lives on its rhizome. Its true life
is hidden in the rhizome..." This understanding and appreciation of Jung's
writing is very obvious in each of Harvey’s pieces. At times, Harvey will allow
the roots of her trees to be exposed to the viewer. In some of the pieces the
root system or rhizome become the focus, the trees secondary. The paintings
themselves invite the viewer to come close to examine the details of her
subject and the materials from which she them.

Joey Brock is presenting his second collection of paintings for Craighead
Green. Brock, a Texas native, has successfully captured the attention of collectors
and consultants over the past several years. His paintings have been recognized
both locally and nationally, included in both private and corporate collections
. Each piece is a combination of different techniques of applying acrylic, oil,
and graphite canvas, board and Mylar. For this exhibition, Brock is layering
Mylar and photography together. The subtle imagery surfaces from beneath the
painting. Brock's abstract work has been inspired by the urban environment in
which he lives. Brock states that "The paintings are a combination of the
planned and the accidental - just as I find in the urban and natural landscapes.
The end result is a walk through a misty modern landscape of cool colors and
strong lines subtly revealing traces of the paths that were traveled before."
Brock's work has a universal appeal. The mystery, the layers, the mostly
hidden imagery has caught the eye of many that openly admit that they
are not sure why they are so attracted to and moved by the work. This
acceptance for Brock is a mark of success that he had dreamed would
happen one day.

Joey Brock + Heather Gorham
Danna Ruth Harvey
May 18 – June 22, 2013

Joey Brock, Reflecting Pool, 72x72, mixed media on Mylar

The next First Launch, #4 in the series, features Ft. Worth artist Devon Nowlin - an incredible
painter who explores the dynamics of relationships through gestural paintings often doubling
an image to suggest self-reflection. The paintings are narrative and invite the viewer to create
their own experience through imagination. Below is the artist’s statement on this body of work,
which is titled Relationship Status. While still young in her career, Nowlin is currently the gallery
manager at Texas Christian University, where she received her MFA, and has already been
awarded public art commissions and received numerous awards.

Devon Nowlin on Relationship Status:

First Launch: Relationship Status represents a three-year investigation of narrative figure painting
that has evolved through my use of a variety of source material and an exploration of different
painting techniques for their effect in suggesting time and space. Dynamics of relationships are
depicted through gesture, pose, and the pictorial device of “doubling” that I use to suggest
self-reflection or movement through time. The paintings are composed with the intent of
creating an open or ambiguous narrative that is actively created by the viewer as they
bring their own experience and imagination to interpreting the images.

The works The Honeymoon and Double or Nothing (2010) are representative of a body of
work utilizing found photographs from the mid nineteenth-century as a source material,
painted with subdued palettes that are suggestive of nostalgia and memory. In The
Grass is Always Greener and Underneath the Bois D’Arc Tree (2011), I continued my
interest in figures within a landscape to devise narratives based on myself and friends
as models, adding abstractions and aberrations into the image for subtle-but-
fantastical other-worldly effects. In my current works, I have expanded my store of
sources to include television and film references, and a heightened use of color, in
order to achieve an aesthetic of “high-definition.”

Looking back now I see that experimenting with source materials that range from
precious, tiny, 2x3” black and white found photographs to the expanse of the digital
realm has been a quite logical, linear progression to take. Though firmly grounded as
a painter, my strong interest in photography and moving images has naturally included
an investigation into video works that I see as “moving paintings,” one of which is also
included in the exhibition. Seeing this group of works together in one exhibition is an
opportunity to review these developments and assess a course for the future.

First Launch, #4
features Ft. Worth artist
Devon Nowlin

Honeymoon, 2010, oil on canvas, 70” x 45”

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