With a particular focus on caves, ravines, and abandoned limestone quarries, Lagodzki vividly portrays the delicate balance between human disruption of the land and nature's reclamation. She believes these reclaimed landscapes still resonate with great power in the human imagination, serving as a testament to the resilience of nature and the cyclical dance of disruption, ruin, and renewal.
Tommy Simpson, Untitled Abstract, Gouche on paper, 10 x 12 inches.
Tommy Simpson, an Asheville-based artist, is internationally renowned. A self-proclaimed "imaginist," Simpson transcends conventional boundaries of craftsmanship, fine art, and whimsy. This solo exhibit is a tribute to his prolific sixty-five-year career, encapsulating his creative evolution and mastery across diverse mediums such as woodworking, painting, printmaking, clay, rug design, and prose.
Simpson’s solo show includes folky, figurative sculptures, whimsical wooden furniture, clocks, vibrant abstract paintings on carved panels, ceramics, woven rugs, and sculpture. Words enhance Simpson’s furniture and poetic works – his showcase will be uniquely bound together by written expressions.
Simpson’s influence extends beyond gallery walls, with seven published books to his credit and the unique honor of being featured on two US postage stamps. A significant publication with over 200 photos, curated by Oscar P. Fitzgerald – author, historian, and authority on American furniture – is currently in the works, offering an in-depth exploration of Simpson's impactful contribution to the world of art.
Simpson’s works find a permanent place in prestigious museum collections, including the American Craft Museum in New York, the NY Museum of Art and Design, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, the Boston MFA, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Connecticut’s Wadsworth Atheneum and New Britain Museum of American Art. His works are in the public collections of Playboy, Inc., Boston Public Library, Brown University Library, Harvard Fine Arts Library, and more.
Jill Hotchkiss, Quince, Gold leaf on Arches archival cotton paper, 30 x 22 inches.
Works on Paper is a group exhibition featuring original prints and unique works by represented artists and special guests. Pattern and color play prominently in the collection, which includes figurative and botanical subjects, as well as non-objective and geometrical abstractions, and abstracted landscapes by Mariella Bisson, Chakaia Booker, Ellen Heck, Jill Hotchkiss, Harvey K. Littleton, Therman Statom, Chuck Webster, and more.
Therman Statom, Buddha (Forest Stories), Vitreograph AP, 30 x 24 inches.
Works on Paper marks Momentum’s second team-up with master printer Phil Sanders, who has a studio in downtown Asheville. Sanders worked with several artists in the show, helping to create some of the featured works. At some point during the exhibition’s run, Sanders will speak at the gallery about his experiences as a collaborative printmaker.
These three exhibitions continue at Momentum Gallery’s 52 Broadway location in Downtown Asheville through Saturday, May 4th.
