Heather Hietala, an Asheville-based artist, delves into exploring form, purpose, and design across mediums, including woodfired ceramic, wire, and fabric. Her sculptural creations serve as profound reflections on life's journey, with recurring motifs of vessels symbolizing both personal narratives and universal experiences. Seedpods, canoes, paddles, sailboats, weaving shuttles, and kayaks become metaphors for relationships, interior and exterior self, protection and containment, and transport.
A celebrated multi-media artist, Hietala has taught at Penland School of Crafts, Haystack, Arrowmont, and Warren Wilson College. Her work has been published in American Craft, Surface Design Journal & Sen Shoku Alpha. She has exhibited in the Asheville Art Museum, Wustum Museum of Fine Art, Mint Museum of Craft and Design, and internationally at Wesserling Textile Museum and Singapore Art Museum.
Momentum will host Hietala for an artist talk and reception at the gallery on Sunday, May 19, at 2 pm.
Samantha Keely Smith, known for her dramatic and expressive oil paintings, captures the fluctuating landscape of the human psyche in vivid, visceral abstracts. With large-scale canvases resembling vast sunsets, churning oceans, and fiery horizons, Smith invites viewers to explore the depths of consciousness and emotion. Critics have hailed Smith's “fictional landscapes” for their prophetic significance, reflecting mankind’s complex, increasingly challenged relationship with nature and the environment.
An avid music fan, Smith has collaborated with musicians such as Richard Barbieri (of the renowned British new wave/art rock band Japan), Lloyd Cole, and experimental drone metal band SUNN O))) - whose albums have featured Smith’s paintings on their covers.
Drawing inspiration from serene wilderness, Brian Sostrom creates mesmerizing paintings with translucent acrylics on specially developed substrates. With moody and ambient use of color, combined with signature blending techniques, Sostrom masterfully creates ephemeral landscapes. Luminous cloudscapes and gentle waves over the shoreline – the artist’s dreamy compositions evoke a sense of tranquility and wonder, inviting contemplation of intimate moments in woodland scenes and open spaces with atmospheric phenomena.
These three solo exhibitions continue at Momentum Gallery’s 52 Broadway location through Saturday, June 22, 2024.
