| CRAIGHEAD-GREEN GALLERY // JUNE 13 // 6-9PM |
| CRAIGHEAD-GREEN GALLERY 1011 Dragon Street DALLAS, TEXAS 75207 214.855.0779 |
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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” |
