Join us at 24 N Lexington Avenue in downtown Asheville, Thursday, May 2nd, from 5-8 pm, for an Opening Reception with artists Seth Clark and Jason Forck. Their collaborative show, Dissolution, explores what becomes of architecture with the passing of time. Jason and Seth present works they collaborated on as well as pieces created independently. Original collages are featured along with freestanding sculpture and wall installations made from glass and wood. Detailed architectural formations, in various sizes, play a significant role in the cohesive collection, with shingles made from glass and exposed beams and interior bracing lending to the works' authenticity. 

Clark and Forck came together through a mutual interest in Americana landscape and the concept of abstraction through decay. They are attracted to the aesthetics of buildings and architectural systems that are dissolving and dissipating. Dissolution describes their work formally in terms of architecture in collapse, but it also describes their collaboration in terms of disassembling ideas and then bringing them back together. Supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, Dissolution is a result of a one-year, Idea Furnace residency at Pittsburgh Glass Center that pairs glass and non-glass artists for explorations in material, content, and process.

Detailed architectural formations, in various sizes, play a significant role in the cohesive collection, with shingles made from glass and exposed beams and interior bracing lending to the works' authenticity. About the work, Seth Clark comments, “I see an inherent honesty in the face of my subject. Among all of the clutter—the shards of wood and layers of rubble—there remains a gentle resolve. The buildings, often on the brink of ruin, have something very energized and present trying to escape from their fragmented reality.”

Momentum Gallery is pleased to bring these artists and their dynamic body of work to Asheville for the first time. A strong collection of two- and three-dimensional work by two artists speaking in one voice—the Jealous Curator comments about Dissolution, “Perhaps one of the most amazing collaborations I’ve ever seen! They truly figured out how to blend their artistic skills and talents to create something beautiful.” Dissolution opens with an artist reception Thursday, May 2nd from 5-8 pm and continues at the downtown gallery’s Lexington Avenue location through Saturday, June 22nd.

Thursday, June 27, from 5-8 pm Momentum Gallery, located at 24 N Lexington Avenue, hosts an Opening Reception for the following new collections, coming in for the summer: Mariella Bisson, Setting Shapes; New Work by Lisa Clague & Paul Sattler, and the sensational invitational Give Me Wood, featuring stimulating, contemporary sculpture and paintings that share wood as the central material. These exhibitions continue at 24 N Lexington Avenue, our downtown Asheville art gallery, through the end of August. More details to follow in our next newsletter!

Mariella Bisson deftly delineates the sculptural planes of regional waterfalls and sylvan scenes creating refreshingly contemporary landscape paintings.  Her oil-over-collage paintings feature built-up texture, suggesting the complex surface of stone and tree bark, lichen, and moss. Bisson's paintings demonstrate a strong understanding of formal composition and reflect a sensibility honed from time she's spent immersed in the outdoors. Of note, Bisson is a two-time recipient of the Pollock-Krasner grant and was awarded a New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship in painting. 

Lisa Clague is an internationally known sculptor. She has been the recipient of the North Carolina Arts Council Fellowship and the Virginia Groot Foundation Grant. Clague’s dreamlike ceramic and mixed media figures are elegant and mysterious.  While a psychological component is evident, many of Clague’s works suggest the relationship between mankind and the natural world.

An accomplished oil painter, Paul Sattler was a recipient of the John R. Solomon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship. In 2004, he was selected to exhibit at the 179th Annual Invitational Exhibition of Contemporary Art at the National Academy of Design in New York, where he received the Wallace Truman Prize. Dramatic narratives unfold in his charged and enigmatic oil paintings which reference historic and literary sources. Sattler comments, “A diverse population of animals are enmeshed in my works’ human-inhabited environments, theatrical locales, and domestic dramas.”

Give Me Wood is an imaginative and evocative collection of contemporary painting and wood sculpture. Central to the identity and creation of all the extraordinary two- and three-dimensional works in the exhibition is the common material of wood. The participating artists defy logic, explore space (both real and imagined), carve, bend, turn, and otherwise construct some truly amazing and innovative work! Featuring Garry Knox Bennett, Gil Bruvel, Christian Burchard, Tom Eckert, David Ellsworth, Ron Layport, Wendy Maruyama, Jason Middlebrook, Sylvie Rosenthal, Dan Webb, and more. 

Please join us in congratulating Momentum Gallery inaugural artist Amy Gross as the finalist (second place) for the prestigious 2019 Southern Prize, a fellowship which recognizes and celebrates the highest quality artwork being created in the American South! Based on the sole criterion of artistic brilliance, Amy was chosen as the finalist from a pool of more than 800 applicants by a national jury.  Her imaginative and refined, hand-embroidered and beaded fiber sculptures "suggest not only what can be seen, but also what cannot: the early alterations of time, the first suggestions of disintegration." More can be read about Amy's work and the fellowship here.

Imagine our delight when we saw Bryce Lafferty's work featured in Hi-Fructose Magazine! We were so pleased that they included a number of works currently appearing in our In the Landscape and Of the Landscape exhibition (March/April 2019). Lafferty's elaborate drawings in watercolor and gouache take us on a journey of discovery, eluding to the story behind the geology and inner connections within the landscape. 

We love seeing Momentum in clients' homes! Check out this cool profile in the latest issue of Carolina Home + Garden and try to spot works by the following Artist Partners – Mariella Bisson, Christian Burchard, David Ellsworth, Brian Fireman, Drew Galloway, and Ron Isaacs! Thanks to Carolina Home + Garden, Samsel Architects, David Dietrich Photography, and of course our North Asheville clients for loving our artwork! 

We are excited to announce that Momentum Gallery artist, Tim Tate, has been selected to participate in the sixth edition of GLASSTRESS, an international collateral event of the Venice Biennale investigating the relationship between contemporary art and glass.  Each artist was invited to explore ‘how glass redefines our perception of space’, which, for those of you who are familiar with Tim’s work, describes his groundbreaking and conceptual glass pieces perfectly. Other artists invited to participate include Ai Weiwei, Tony Cragg and Thomas Schütte.  Debuting in 2009, GLASSTRESS aims to revive the traditional craft of Murano glassblowing by creating new unions with internationally renowned artists. It has since become an unmatched platform demonstrating innovative and cutting-edge works in glass. Representing the United States, Tate's contribution to this prestigious exhibition is Endless Cycle, an infinity mirror Momentum Gallery was honored to show. Referencing gun violence, this provocative piece will surely garner a lot of attention worldwide. To read further, please visit the Washington Glass School’s website here.  Congratulations Tim Tate! We are so proud of you! 

We hope you agree that Momentum Gallery is the Best Local Art Gallery in Asheville! Vote here! You must register and vote in 30 categories in order for your vote to count, so here are some suggestions. We appreciate your support! 

M O M E N T U M     G A L L E R Y

✔Local Art Gallery
✔Store that Represents the Spirit of Asheville 
✔Business that Represents the Spirit of Asheville 
✔Best Customer Service 
✔Craft Oriented Gallery
✔Local Asheville attraction
✔Party Venue
✔Place to take Your Eccentric Friends

Please join us for an

Artist Talk and Reception

In the Landscape and Of the Landscape

Jennifer Bueno | Bryce Lafferty | William Henry Price

Sunday, March 31 st, 
3:00–5:00 pm (Artist Talks begin at 3:30 pm)

We hope you will join us this Sunday afternoon for a special reception and informal artist panel, offered in conjunction with The Collider's Climate City Expo. Meet the three artists featured in the current exhibition: In the Landscape and Of the Landscape  at Momentum Gallery, 24 N Lexington Avenue in Downtown Asheville.  Each artist will speak individually about their work, followed by an open discussion citing shared influences and overlapping themes they explore, and an opportunity for Q&A. Beverages and light refreshments are offered. This event is free and open to the public. All are welcome.

Bryce Lafferty, Megaflora, Watercolor and gouache, 40 x 51 inches

Thanks to the Laurel of Asheville for featuring Momentum Gallery artist, Jennifer Bueno, in the March issue of the magazine. Check out this article on Jennifer - and then come and see her work in our current exhibition, In the Landscape and Of the Landscape, up at Momentum Gallery in Downtown Asheville through April 27th, 2019. 

Jennifer also appears on an Artist Panel at a Gallery Reception on Sunday, March 31st, from 3-5pm, at 24 N Lexingotn Avenue. Come meet the artist and enjoy a drink with us! We look forward to seeing you! 

Bryce Lafferty, West (The Tree of LIfe), watercolor & gouache, 46 x 94 inches

On Thursday, February 28th, Momentum Gallery opened two new exhibitions with three artists featured in each show. In the Landscape and Of the Landscape and Vernacular both feature regional artists whose work is influenced by the world around them. 

 Jennifer Bueno, Mississippi and Kazakstan in the Same Time, glass, 24 x 60 inches

In the Landscape and Of the Landscape

Jennifer Bueno | Bryce Lafferty | William Henry Price

Three regional artists draw inspiration from nature, creating imaginative and intuitive works that respond to environmental conditions, explore unseen interconnections, and incite investigation.  

 William Henry Price, Astarte, 42 x 52 inches

Three artists convey their wonderment with the natural world and allude to its unseen, inner workings. Through abstract expression, imaginative cross-sections, and works that depict satellite views of our planet, they take viewers on a journey of discovery and introspection. Dimensional blown glass and mixed media works, emotive paintings, and original drawings attempt to reveal the impermanent and transient nature of things as well as the consequence of Man’s presence in the landscape.

Vernacular

Phil Blank | David C. Robinson | Sasha Schilbrack-Cole

Narrative paintings, original prints, and ceramic sculpture by three regional artists reference subjects such as faith, race, and identity in the South. 

 Phil Blank, The Bean Kings, watercolor, gouache, ink

Sasha Schilbrack-Cole, Comforted, but not for long, etching, 8 x 6 inches

David C. Robinson comments, “I hope to encourage the viewer to reflect on the not-so-distant past and to perhaps invite a reexamination or reevaluation of one’s own prejudices and assumptions associated with race, religion, and cultural differences. There is something almost mythical about the deep south that is every bit as dark, powerful and timeless as a Greek tragedy or as absurd, complex, and ironic as a Shakespearean comedy.”

David C. Robinson, Question of Faith, ceramic

Image courtesy of WNC Magazine

The sensual curves of Jeannine Marchand's unglazed ceramic Folds Series have delighted visitors to Momentum Gallery since we opened our doors in October 2017.  Since then, the gallery has taken Marchand's distictive work to art fairs in Chicago and Miami placing pieces in several major collections.  WNC Magazine recently caught up with the ceramist to discuss her process and inspiration. The full article can be seen here.

Jeannine Marchand is one of Momentum Gallery's original artist partners.  Her understated and elegant works–framed (and unframed) wall sculptures, vessels, and dramatic free-standing sculptures can always be seen at Momentum Gallery.  We are proud to work with some of the region's most talented makers!

Image courtesy of Asheville Made

Anne Lemanski is one of the local makers profiled in the current (February 2019) issue of Asheville Made magazine.  One of Momentum Gallery's original artist partners, Lemanski was one of six artists the gallery represented at CONTEXT Art Miami last December.  For CONTEXT, Lemanski made one of her most ambitious pieces to date, a life-size tiger standing on a 32 inch diameter ball! The sculpture, Tigress T1, was named after a tiger in India that made news while Lemanski was working on it.  Tigress T1 features an impressive "skin" composed of kaleidoscopic photographs of plastic drinking straws.  Lemanski quite deftly hand-stitched adjoining panels ensuring continuity to the mosaic pattern over the surface of the multi-faceted piece.  An image of Tigress T1 and the Asheville Made article can be seen here. 

Lemanski's tiger, a blue shark, and a rabbit may be seen along with the artist's prints at Momentum Gallery's Lexington Avenue location.  We hope you'll stop by to see this amazing artist's work!

Image courtesy of Asheville Made

It is a privilege to work with such amazing artists!  Asheville Made magazine recently featured local superstar, Cristina Córdova, on their cover!  Cordova's work can be seen at a number of museums including Charlotte, NC's Mint Museum and the Racine Art Museum in Racine, WI.

From Racine Art Museum's website... "Córdova has become nationally known for her large-scale figurative sculptures. Because they are representational, her works suggest to viewers some form of narrative or a literal story. However, upon closer examination, her figures express a wide range of emotions for they are much more personal in meaning and open to multiple interpretations. 

"Córdova was a dancer throughout her youth and her figures demonstrate an understanding of stance, gesture, and body language that is almost theatrical. The artist remembers studying statues of saints in Catholic church, while attending services with her family as a child. She was struck by the emotions expressed by these figures but also their hand gestures, body positions, and the drape of their robes. Some of Córdova's sculptures recall the openness of devotional statuary as their glistening eyes and open faces invite one's gaze. At the same time, her works challenge the viewer, as if the subject has been interrupted in a moment of thought or reflection.

"Córdova was born in Boston to parents who were studying in medical school, but spent her childhood in their native Puerto Rico once her parents had completed their studies. She received her BA degree at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez in 1998 and her MFA in Ceramics at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 2002. In 2003, she entered a three-year residency at the Penland School of Art in North Carolina and has remained in the community since then."

Cristina Córdova's two-headed piece "Arco" received a lot of attention in Momentum Gallery's latest installment of Small Works | Big Impact, an annual exhibition of smaller scaled pieces by visiting and represented artists.  You can read the Asheville Made article here.

Pam Longobardi’s Drifters Project, an exhibition of photography and installations made from ocean plastic, draws to a close at 24 N Lexington Avenue at the end of this month. It has been a real privilege to share her work with you, and we’re excited to welcome Longobardi for a closing reception/gallery talk/book signing on Friday, February 1st, at 5PM. This event is free and open to the public. The artist will talk about her experiences with refugees in the Mediterranean and her work that addresses the environment, climate change, and humanitarian issues. Light refreshments will be served during this Artist Reception and Book Signing. We hope to see you there. 

Longobardi’s artwork involves painting, photography, and installation to address the psychological relationship of humans to the natural world. She has exhibited her artwork across the US and in Greece, Monaco, Germany, Finland, Slovakia, China, Japan, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Costa Rica and Poland. She currently lives and works in Atlanta and is Professor of Art at Georgia State University. Presently she drifts with the ongoing Drifters Project, following the world ocean currents. With the Drifters Project, she collects, documents and transforms oceanic plastic into installations and photography. The work provides a visual statement about the engine of global consumption and the vast amounts of plastic objects and their impact on the world’s most remote places and its creatures. Longobardi’s work is framed within a conversation about globalism and conservation. Longobardi participated in the 2013 GYRE expedition to remote coastal areas of Alaska and created project-specific works for the exhibition at the Anchorage Museum February 2014. Longobardi was featured in a National Geographic film on the GYRE expedition and her Drifters Project was featured in National Geographic magazine. Also in 2013, Longobardi created a site-specific installation for a special project of the Venice cultural association Ministero di Beni Culturali (MiBAC) and the Ministry of Culture of Rome for the 55^th Venice Biennale, on the Island of San Francesco del Deserto in the Venetian Lagoon, a work made from plastic water bottles, mirrors and a satellite dish that signaled an apology to St. Francis across the lagoon to the island of Burano. She exhibited photography in Seescape at George Adams Gallery in New York, and won the prestigious Hudgens Prize (2013), one of the largest single prizes given to an artist in North America.  She has an ongoing collaboration supported by the Ionion Center for Art and Culture in Metaxata, Kefalonia, Greece. In 2014, Longobardi was awarded the title of Distinguished University Professor, and has been named Oceanic Society’s Artist-In-Nature.

About Drifters Project, Longobardi comments:

“In 2006, after discovering the mountainous piles of plastic debris the ocean was depositing on the remote shores of Hawaii, I began collecting and utilizing this plastic as my primary material in my project called Drifters.  Since then, I have made scores of interventions, cleaning beaches and making collections from all over the world, removing thousands of pounds of material from the natural environment and re-situating it within the cultural context for examination. These collection missions were originally done solo, as part of my process, but soon grew to encompass thousands of people in hundreds of global sites.  I approach the sites as a forensic scientist, examining and documenting the deposition as it lay, collecting and identifying the evidence of the crime.

Plastic objects are the cultural archeology of our time.  These objects I see as a portrait of global late-capitalist consumer society, mirroring our desires, wishes, hubris and ingenuity.  These are objects with unintended consequences that become transformed as they leave the quotidian world and collide with nature to be transformed, transported and regurgitated out of the shifting oceans.  The ocean is communicating with us through the materials of our own making.  The plastic elements initially seem attractive and innocuous, like toys, some with an eerie familiarity and some totally alien.  At first, the plastic seems innocent and fun, but it is not.  It is dangerous.   We are remaking the world in plastic.

In keeping with the movement of drift of these material artifacts, I prefer using them in a transitive form as installation.  All of the work can be dismantled, reconfigured but nearly impossibly recycled.  The objects are presented as specimens on steel pins or wired together to form larger structures.  I am a conceptual artist with a strong affinity to materials and process.  I was trained as a painter and printmaker, and continue this in my studio practice, but have always worked in varying mediums from photography to painting and collage to installation, allowing the ideas to dictate the materials I work with.  I am interested in the collision between nature and global consumer culture. Ocean plastic is a material that can unleash unpredictable dynamics.  I am interested in it in particular, as opposed to all garbage in general, because of what it reveals about us as a global culture and what it reveals about the ocean as a type of cultural space, as well as a giant dynamic engine of life and change.  As a product of culture that exhibits visibly the attempts of nature to reabsorb and regurgitate this invader, ocean plastic has profound stories to tell.”

We are thrilled to announce the opening of our new space, Momentum on Broadway! On Thursday, November 15^th, from 6-9pm, join us for grand opening! Located at 52 Broadway Street, the opening of our new downtown Asheville art gallery brings more of the intriguing work you have come to love! New artists, new works, and a brand new space will all be highlighted during this celebration! All are welcome! Please join us!

Momentum Gallery hosts a special reception to celebrate the highly-anticipated opening of its new space located at 52 Broadway Street in downtown Asheville, Momentum on Broadway, on Thursday, November 15th, 6-9pm. A number of Momentum’s Artist Partners plan to be in attendance. The reception is free and open to the public. 

Ron Isaacs, Couple, No. 17, acrylic on birch plywood construction, 8 x 8 x 1 inches.

This event marks the official unveiling of the first phase of renovation, for a 4000-square-foot space on the ground floor of the historic, three-story building Momentum acquired earlier this year. Clean lines and a brighter, more open venue await visitors who were familiar with the space previously occupied by Stuf Antiques. Momentum Gallery intends to continue upfitting additional square footage in the building over the coming months while maintaining locations on both North Lexington Avenue and Broadway Street.

Kate MacDowell. Memento Mori 2, Slip cast and hand built porcelain, glaze, 4-1/2 x 5-1/2 x 4-1/2 inches.

Select works by Momentum Gallery artists occupy the new space along with two exhibitions which also open November 15^th, Small Works, Big Impact and Casey Roberts – Cyanotype Paintings. The former is an annual curated collection of paintings, sculpture, and mixed media works by gallery artists and special guests. Emotive ceramics, surreal painting, intricate glass curiosities, embroidered foliage, and memento mori come together in a provocative collection of intimately-scaled works by familiar and new gallery artists. Although small in size, these works are nonetheless powerful, conveying the vision and prowess of their accomplished makers and taking on themes of mortality, natural phenomena, and discovery. The exhibition features new works by Samantha Bates, Cristina Córdova, Amber Cowan, David Ellsworth, Hillary Waters Fayle, Amy Gross, Alli Hoag, Ron Isaacs, Kate MacDowell, Kit Paulson, Lawrence Tarpey, and more. 

Casey Roberts, Moon Lit (River Without End), Cyanotype on paper w/ collage, 37 x 47 inches.

The gallery is thrilled to announce the Asheville debut of Casey Roberts with a one-person exhibition to open the new space on Broadway. Dreamy and contemplative – Roberts’ large-scale cyanotype paintings on paper depict a variety of domestic and wilderness subjects which evoke a still and wonderous world.  Subjects the artist often revisits include trees, water, animals, and sky. About these works, the artist comments, “there is an intuitive wisdom in nature.” Through his thoughtful use of silhouettes and selective color, Roberts’ ethereal works, profound in their simplicity, tap into our longing for connection through nature. 

Jordan Ahlers is fulfilling his vision of two decades to elevate the Asheville art scene with the opening of Momentum on Broadway. Already a cornerstone in the downtown gallery district, Momentum Gallery (and now Momentum on Broadway) add to the expanding cultural offerings Asheville is currently enjoying. We look forward to seeing you on Thursday, November 15th! Have a drink with us - beer, wine, champagne, and craft cocktails by Troy & Sons will be provided!

Check out Amy Gross' interview on Colossal! Amy creates hand-embroidered and beaded sculptures that are beautiful and full of life - and yet they are created from all man-made materials, so there is no decay!

https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2018/11/symbiotic-assemblages-by-amy-gross/

AN INTERVIEW WITH RON ISAACS

AF: Can you tell me about the trajectory of your art career?

RI: My parents were from eastern Kentucky, very rural, and they moved to Cincinnati before I was born. I was born in Cincinnati in 1941 and started drawing fairly early. And for some reason, we’ve never figured out why, when anyone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up I never said anything but an artist. I don’t know where it came from or why. But at any rate I never questioned it. Didn’t even go through the cowboy stage or the fireman stage or anything. 

My parents moved back to Kentucky when I was 12. I had no opportunity to take art in high school at all. What I did was self-taught until I got to college. I went to Berea College in Kentucky and majored in art there and then went on to grad school at Indiana University and majored in painting. So I was trained as a painter. 

About 1970, while I was working on canvas as a normal painter would, I happened to get the idea of attaching a piece of sawed out plywood to the surface of the canvas with an image on it to add another level and a little bit more interest. After I did about three of those, painting images on the surface of the cutout wood, I said why do I need the canvas? I can make any shape I want! So that was my big epiphany and eureka moment and I started sawing out everything and layering them first. 

I was doing figurative imagery at the time, based on magazines, newspaper, photographs and other sources. I was stacking things, lots of multiple images. And eventually that led to an improvement in craftsmanship and learning to construct things out of many pieces of wood, trying to make relief sculpture. These were then painted and the trompe l’oeil things came along, you know ‘fool the eye’. Garments were my first subject matter for that, filled often with figurative imagery pouring out of them or other things. 

AF: And when was that?

RI: This was the early 70s, about 1972. I think the first piece was my own raincoat. It took me forever to try to build it out of 3/8 inch regular domestic plywood, which is pretty raw stuff. Lots of cheap filler and so on. Eventually I discovered Finnish birch plywood, which is much higher quality with no fillers and many layers. That was a big step up in improvement. That’s what became my career, basically, are these relief constructions. I now define them as being almost exactly halfway between painting and sculpture. I used to have a sculpture friend who would kid me that someday I was going to invent sculpture all by myself. 

I sort of did because I stumbled in through the back door, I think. It’s still hard for me to think of myself as a woodworker or as a wood craftsman at all because I’m still making surfaces to hang paint on. I sometimes have to define myself as a sculpture or a painter. The works came out of painting but they really are exactly halfway between. That breaks down into the division of labor too, because it usually takes about half the work to construct and half the work to paint. Some are harder to build, some are harder to paint. The idea is to translate flat panels or sections of birch plywood of various thicknesses into something that flows, behaves, like fabric or leaves. That’s just my way of working that evolved out of the original imagery.

Ron Isaacs, TROUSSEAU, Trompe l'oeil. Acrylic on birch plywood, 19-1/2 x 33 x 2-3/4 inches

AF: How do you construct the pieces? 

RI: A lot of Elmer’s carpenter’s glue...it’s very high tech [laughs]. Basically the garment or leaves, or whatever object it is, is pinned up to a Styrofoam board gridded off into one inch squares. It’s always a 1:1 relationship, I’m always looking at something. Then on paper gridded off in one inch squares I make a contour line pattern, just an accurate drawing of where all the edges are and the shapes involved and then I start making tracing paper patterns based on that and looking at the garment or object, trying to analyze it in terms of planes that I can saw out and join together to make a surface. A large piece may take hundreds of pieces of wood, a dress for instance. 

If you get enough pieces of wood going you can build about any surface. They’re layered various ways. They aren’t carved, there are no knives or chisels involved, but there is a lot of sanding, which is a form of carving, I realize. But I’ve never learned to carve. And you don’t carve plywood easily anyhow. My strategy is to build as much of the surface as I can without making myself crazy and then to rely on the paint to carry the rest of the illusion. 

I very much enjoy the fusion and confusion of real and illusory form. So part of it is actual form, which is where I have a leg up on the old trompe l’oeil painters, and the illusion of form I get from color and value changes and details that are painted on that. I use acrylic paints, I couldn’t possibly deal with the drying time of oil. This means I’ve had to develop some drybrush techniques and other techniques to be able to blend smoothly because you can only do so much wet into wet. Actually I do very little wet into wet. This is not the way I was trained to paint, I was actually a fairly painterly painter using oils until 1967. I’m still painterly because I see painterly. You can’t see a lot of brushwork in my pieces, but I’m not afraid for you to catch me painting. I’m not trying to completely hide the presence of a painter. 

Ron Isaacs, PASSERINES, Trompe l'oeil. Acrylic on birch plywood, 23 x 42-3/4 x 6 inches

AF: What is your favorite tool?

RI: That would be a scroll saw, which allows me to make whatever shape I want. The only tools I really use are a scroll saw and a belt disk sander and a Dremel that I use with a ½ inch sanding drum. Mostly the scroll saw and the belt disk sander. I use about a #3 blade on the scroll saw.

One of my main strategies is to set up something as being real and then violate it. I’ll find a way to interrupt it or create a metamorphosis or a transformation of some sort to make you go back and say wait a minute, how did I get here and question the reality of it.

I don’t consider myself a woodworker, truly, because I’ve never been into the romance of wood. Wood is sort of a friendly mystery, but basically I’m trying to make a surface to paint on. And the wood is all covered up. Before the pieces are painted they aren’t bad looking relief sculptures, actually.

Ron Isaacs, LITTLE SISTER, Trompe l'oeil. Acrylic on birch plywood, 32 x 22-3/4 x 3 inches

AF: Do they always hang on the wall?

RI: Yes. I guess I’ve done one or two pieces that didn’t have a back side but you can’t go all the way around. That would make me nuts completely to try to deal with an object in the round. One nice thing about garments is they stay close to the wall and present a surface that I can actually construct. I never made it all the way to 3 dimensions, I’m a 2.5 dimension artist.

Ron Isaacs, COUPLES, Acrylic on birch plywood construction, 8 x 8 x 1 inches

AF: You mentioned the first piece you did was your raincoat. Does that mean you always have a reference garment in front of you?

RI: Yes, that’s right, and I worked my way finally to trompe l’oeil because I like the authority that it gives the work. The authority of something seen directly that becomes convincing. I’m not actually fully committed to or terribly interested in the trompe l’oeil part of it. It’s just my way of making an image and the image is the important thing. It’s just to give the image authority. I think a lot of trompe l’oeil paintings…while I can be entertained by them, it isn’t terribly deep. It’s mainly a demonstration of skill, I think. You do get some surprising and remarkable and impressive images that way but I’m not that interested in just demonstrating technique. I’m trying to make a strong image.

I was trained as a formalist. When I was in grad school we didn’t talk about content much, we talked about the formal elements. We talked about composition and things like that, and that’s still the major element in the work to me, what it’s doing visually. I’m very concerned with shape and negative space, with color and form in general. If I can get an interesting—I don’t know if I like the word interesting or not because it has a reputation as being sort of a weak word, but sometimes it’s the best word—I’m trying for an interesting image, a strong combination of visual elements that presents itself in a striking way. After that I’m very lucky if I can make something with a good degree of psychological resonance as well. Something that’s evocative. 

I think my job is to make an interesting object that’s as evocative as I can make it that draws responses from the viewer without being pretentious about it. I find that the more I talk about content the worse it gets in general, so I’m better off to present the work and let the viewer bring what they will to it, and get what they will from it. I know that’s sort of a cliché of contemporary art, you know the open content idea where I bring my life to the work and now you bring yours. It sounds terribly corny and pretentious. But you know, your experience in front of a work of art is yours. I try not to mess too much with it. I present something that could have a number of readings, and probably can’t predict what you will get from it.

AF: Thank you for talking with me today.

Momentum Gallery proudly represents Ron Isaacs' work. Stop by to see his marvelous painted constructions at the gallery in Asheville anytime and at CONTEXT Miami, December 4-9, 2018.  Please contact us if you'd like to attend the contemporary Miami fair – we are happy to provide you complimentary passes.  

Momentum Gallery is proud to announce our return to Miami Art Week in early December! We look forward to seeing the many collectors and friends that we met at the last two Miami art fairs and in our downtown Asheville art gallery over the past few months. We have enjoyed participating in Miami's dynamic and cosmopolitan art market, and it's an honor to have been selected to join CONTEXT Miami, December 4-9th, 2018.

We are bringing incredible new work by six Momentum artists to the celebrated contemporary art fair – this one is not to be missed!  We are excited to represent Asheville in Miami's prestigious, international art event with dramatic new works by Samantha Bates, Hoss Haley, Ron Isaacs, Anne Lemanski, Michael Enn Sirvet, and Tim Tate. If you can't make it to Miami, be sure to keep an eye out on our Instagram page in December. If you would like complimentary tickets to CONTEXT, please call the gallery at 828-505-8550 or email alison@momentumgallery.com – we are happy to assist you.

Momentum Gallery is thrilled to return to SOFA Chicago at Navy Pier, November 1-4! We are eager to connect with artists, collectors, and friends new and old. The gallery is assembling a stunning collection of sculpture and furniture in a variety of media by fifteen artists for the international fair which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year! Several Momentum artists plan to attend, and we'd love to see you there! If you are interested in attending SOFA, please call the gallery at 828-505-8550 or email alison@momentumgallery.com so we can provide you with complimentary tickets! 

Additionally, Momentum Gallery is proud to announce our return to Miami Art Week in early December! We look forward to seeing the many collectors and friends that we met at the last two Miami art fairs and in our Asheville gallery over the past few months. We have enjoyed participating in Miami's dynamic and cosmopolitan art market, and it's an honor to have been selected to join CONTEXT Miami, December 4-9. We are bringing incredible new work by six Momentum artists to the celebrated contemporay art fair – this one is not to be missed!  If you can't make it to Miami, be sure to keep an eye out on our Instagram page in December. If you would like complimentary tickets to CONTEXT, please call the gallery at 828-505-8550 or email alison@momentumgallery.com – we are happy to assist you.

Pam Longobardi's The Drifter's Project, was recently installed at Momentum Gallery's 24 N Lexington Avenue location, as part of photo+sphere (November 7-11), an Asheville city-wide event focusing on how we see the environment and the role humans play in determining the future of our planet. This innovative festival features nationally known speakers, panelists, exhibitions, films, and special projects at venues throughout Asheville, NC. (www.photoplusavl.com) The solo exhibition is a powerful statement and will run though January 31, 2019. 

 Pam Longobardi, BROKEN BOATS, Archival pigment print , 27 x 40 inches

Longobardi's exhibition is an emotional response to her work cleaning plastic out of ocean waters worldwide. Her installations speak to the environmental devastation that plastic and other pollutants make on our world. As a scientist, Pam logs her excursions and photographs to catalog her experience. These photos are presented, in addition to her large scale art installations, to demonstrate her findings. 

Pam Longobardi, SIGNAL FLAGS FOR CLIMATE CHANGE 

Pam comments: "I was trained as a painter and printmaker, and continue this in my studio practice, but have always worked in varying mediums from photography to painting and collage to installation, allowing the ideas to dictate the materials I work with.  I am interested in the collision between nature and global consumer culture. Ocean plastic is a material that can unleash unpredictable dynamics.  I am interested in it in particular, as opposed to all garbage in general, because of what it reveals about us as a global culture and what it reveals about the ocean as a type of cultural space, as well as a giant dynamic engine of life and change." 

 Pam Longobardi, ISLAND REFUGE VII, Defunct & devalued currency collage and paint, 13 x 16 inches

We are thrilled to announce that Andy Farkas has a new moku hanga print available! His latest print, titled, Strength of No Force, comes with an original chat book by the artist, Magic, which beautifully compliments his editioned image. Farkas tells a tale of the grey wolf who finds himself in a lush garden in this eloquent short story. The handset letterpress type on this piece reads: "Failing the challenge illuminated the choice he never realized he had, the strength of no force."

Followers of Andy's work often ask about the stories that each print comes from -This is your opportunity to acquire his newest print and the story related to it (as a special bonus)! 

Andy Farkas will be in attendance at our upcoming Artist Reception on Friday, October 5th, from 5-8pm at our downtown Asheville art gallery at 24 N Lexington Avenue. Come meet the artist and have a drink with us! We look forward to seeing you!

We are privileged to represent Andy Farkas and look forward to sharing his newest print and chat book with you! Please call the gallery to reserve your personal copy of this special release orginal woodblock print and accompanying chat book at 828-505-8550.

 Andy Farkas, More than enough, Moku Hanga, 14-1/2 x 5-1/2 inches, Edition of 51

Drew Galloway

October 20, 1964 – September 18, 2018

Jordan Ahlers with Drew Galloway, October 20, 2017 in front of Drew's painting, Still Life

We are mourning the loss of our dear friend, Andrew Kirklyn Galloway. It was an honor to represent Drew Galloway, open Momentum Gallery with him, have him join us for our debut event, and celebrate his birthday with him in Asheville last October. It was our privilege to present Drew’s work in Miami this past February at the international fair Art Wynwood and host his final exhibition, a pairing in the spring with wood sculptor, Christian Burchard. Drew was one of the first artists to join Momentum; he was excited to be a part of this new venture, and more recently about the new space we’re upfitting on Broadway. 

Celebrating Drew Galloway's last birthday at Momentum Gallery, October 20, 2017

We had a number of conversations over the years about painting (his as well as other artists’ work), the business of art, and life in general. Drew appreciated connecting on a personal level. He always showed genuine interest and had thoughtful inquiries about my kids and our family’s traditions. He was an intellectual who didn’t lose sight of compassion and empathy. He was a special soul.

Drew was intrigued by nature and music. Although he was already a gifted painter, he had the gumption to immerse himself in the rich history of Giverny, where Monet found inspritation. He spent months learning, living, and painting in the same town as the impressionist. He absorbed the scenery of France and imbued it in his creations. 

Drew Galloway, Across the Pond, Oil on metal, 36 x 48 inches

Drew earned a BFA from Atlanta College of Art. He held a lifelong fascination with the overlooked and often underappreciated charm he found in everyday places and things. “Championing ordinary beauty that we get immune to as adults,” he once said. Drew’s practice of late focused on landscapes rendered in oil on found sheets of metal. He’d incorporate the natural patina of the metal (rust, oxidation, etc.) and, in some cases, only a third or half of the painting’s surface was covered in paint at all! Intricately detailed renderings, Drew cropped in on reflections of trees or sky on the surface of water to the extent that they felt like abstract compositions, despite essentially being photo-realistic. Still, Drew said, “It’s not about being bogged down by details, but capturing feeling, memory, and the essence of a place or a person.” 

He will be missed. 

Drew Galloway, September Song, Oil on tin, 36 x 48 inches

Dr. Alysia Fischer (AF) interviews Artist, Samantha Bates (SB). Alysia Fischer is an author, artist and anthropologist who lives in Weaverville, NC.  She received her PhD in Anthropology from the University of Arizona and her MFA from Miami University (Ohio).  Her research on crafts includes the books Hot Pursuit: Integrating Anthropology in Search of Ancient Glassblowers and Myaamia Ribbonwork (co-authored with Andrew Strack and Karen Baldwin).  Alysia is also an accomplished maker, as both a glassblower and metals artist. 

AF: Did you always know you were going to be an artist?

SB: My family had a lot of makers in it. My aunt does cross stitch and quilting, we used to do all these projects together and that's where I made a gift for the first time. I followed the instructions for a little napkin angel. I remember doing all the stitches and painting the face, then giving it to my mom. Every stitch was a record of my time and care. Those early experiences in making art and building gifts and doing fiber work with my family came into my practice later. But I actually fought being an artist pretty hard, even though I loved to do it for myself and I went to an arts high school. I knew that I loved to do it but I also didn't know any artists. There wasn't an artist in my family, I didn't know any. I didn't know if it was reasonable. We were a family of worker bees, you know. You take care of your family and above all you go for security and food and shelter. You get a job. If you go to school it's directly to get a job.

The idea of being an artist was just unfathomable to a fundamental part of who I was. But I couldn't not do it. I was at University of Washington for one quarter without any art classes and it was like I was completely stifled. I couldn't see my life going that way. And then the next quarter I changed my major to Painting/Drawing and I never looked back. I also think how completely lucky I am that at 18 I found something that I could do for 10 hours a day and wake up and be excited to go back to. How many people have that?

AF: How did you arrive at your distinctive style of mark making? I've seen some of your work with marks made with pens and markers and pencils and other work with embroidery and other sewn marks.

SB: The work crosses a lot of mediums in the sense that it has drawing, painting, fibers--and even within fibers there's coiling and there's machine sewing and hand-stitching. I think an umbrella that covers all of it is repeated mark and care. I wanted to continue to grow so I started asking, 'What's the hard thing that I can tackle next?' 'What's the challenging thing that I'm not sure I can do but I'm really excited about?'

Samantha Bates, Home, Stitch, Walk, Pen, screen print, machine sewn thread

and hand sewn embroidery thread on un-stretched primed canvas, 22 x 28 inches

And that's when I started the piece Reprise that's in the show. It's a really important piece for me. I didn't know if I could do it. It was nine months of focusing on one piece--which is not how I usually work--and it's hundreds of thousands of small dashes building to this imagery. The imagery comes from when you look out on the ocean of Washington and the tide has gone out and there are all these little pits in the sand that have collected water but are reflecting the light and the sky and the water. It's not strictly representational, it's abstracted, but that's where it comes from. And then there's the tide going in and out and the repetition in that and the repetition of the marks. Hundreds of thousands of dashes. It all felt like it really came together-the nature that is so important to who I am and where I live. It's in the work in a visual way, it's in the work in how I move and how I make the mark. The repetition just clicked; it became an essential part.

When I put Reprise on the wall, after working on it on a table, I didn't really know what it was going to be. I put it up and everything went silent like the on the Fourth of July when a firework goes off and everything else gets kind of quiet for just an instant. That happened. And it was such an important moment for me. I felt like I had really found something. I also realize the repetition and the mark came from a memory that I have of my grandma. My Oma passed away when I was in 5th grade but we were really close. I was her youngest of many grandkids and she'd come over to the house and we'd all get our little moments with her. My parents had this deep rug in the living room, which was a quiet room with no tv. You don't eat there. It's where guests come. My Oma liked it because she didn't like to be near any of those things. We'd sit on this plush rug and we'd kind of sink into it and straighten out the fringe. And she would say, 'How did you sleep little one?' and we would do that practice every time she came to visit. I was in grad school and trying to figure out where the repetition in my work came from. I knew the small subtleties that happened were fascinating to me. I couldn't get away from it, it was such a part of my practice. I think it stems back to those memories with my grandma and that physical action, and stitching with my aunts. Repetition in fiber work and repetition in the drawing are all the same. It also ties back to the gift giving so it's about care and labor and time and landscape.

AF: You mentioned working on the pieces while they're flat, is that always the case or was that just the one piece?

SB: It depends. Oftentimes I'll go between the two. I'll have a large table in my space and I'll work on it on a table for a week and then I'll put it up on the wall and work on it for a week. I think it's important to have both experiences. There's a tree fibers piece, Home Stretch Grow that's like 14 feet. That was constructed mostly on the ground and handstitched together. And a lot of the fiber pieces are constructed in a seated position and they feel much more intimately connected to comfort and coziness.

 Samantha Bates, Stretch, Grow, Shelter, Yarn, thread, and cotton piping cord, 16' 4" x 10' 6 

AF: Your works are quite large, what is important to you about the scale?

SB: I have 4 or 5 smaller pieces in the show as well. But I do really enjoy working large. I think that part of it is that I spend so much time on the work and the labor is so important to the repeated line. The larger scale allows me, and hopefully the viewer, to enter into it. It's an engulfing kind of feeling. I also think something beautiful happens with the marks where when you approach the work your experience changes. So from 10 feet away it's a landscape and then from 5 feet away it's hundreds of thousands of marks becoming abstracted and then up close maybe it's a landscape again and you get to change how you understand the work. And the second time you see it it's not like the first. I love to play with that and reward the viewer for their extended time and attention and I think sometimes there's something different about approaching a work that's larger than you and how you can feel in front of it.

AF: You mention your work draws upon the imagery of your native Washington State. How were you impacted by living in Boston [for graduate school]?

SB: It had a huge impact on my practice in general but especially this show. Up until I was 25 I lived in Washington. I had this [West] coast connection. When I was upset, when I was happy, I would go out into nature, I would go hiking, camping. It was where I thought, it was where some of my happiest memories are. It's a huge part of who I am, but then I moved to Boston. The dislocation of that was bodily. I felt isolated and separated from it. And the work called home as much as I did. Sometimes it was a comfort to me, sometimes a celebration, sometimes it was mourning.

The dislocation and separation, the yearning for home. The work was really how I visited and found that place, a shelter for me. Now I'm reveling in my reunion and so happy to be so close to those places again. Being able to go out and experience and go back to the studio and remember specific details of how your feet feel when you step into dirt. In the winter it can be hardpacked or a little bit damp and squishy and things smell differently and the sound is different. Can I bring that into the work? Can I bring the specificity and richness into the work? There's a piece, Winter's Mist, in the show. Western Washington has this dense cleansing air in the winter. It's like after it rains or everything is snow-covered and everything smells clean. It's cold but it feels like a specific, beautiful thing. I'm trying hard to find that light and that air. I like to pursue those kinds of feelings.

AF: What has it been like to work with Momentum Gallery?

SB: It's been amazing. I feel grateful and happy. I trust Momentum and they trust me. I tell my friends I'm so lucky and I can't believe it and I'll list like 20 things that are amazing: Jordan is so smart and intuitive and considerate. When he talks about the work he gets it and he's interested in it and he's been thinking about it and he's invested in you. And that's amazing. And even just the little things about pricing and framing, everything is fair and ethical and being able to trust that. I'll think 'Sam, you're lucky and it's amazing that you found each other but also you worked for ten years so when that opportunity came you were ready for it.' So there's a gratefulness, but also a pride that when an opportunity like this came to me I was ready to take advantage of it.

AF: Thank you for talking to me today.

SB: Of course.

Samantha Bates, Lean Into the Winds, Embroidery thread hand sewn into paper, 10.5 x 13.5 inches

TWO MULTIMEDIA, NATURE-THEMED EXHIBITIONS 

OPENING at MOMENTUM GALLERY on AUGUST 30th

On Thursday, August 30^th, from 5-8pm, Momentum Gallery invites you to the Opening Reception for the group exhibition, Transformation: Earth, Water & Wood along with a collection of new paintings and textile works by Samantha Bates. Artists Ron Isaacs, David Ellsworth, Vicki Grant, and Samantha Bates, along with other Momentum Gallery Artist Partners, will be in attendance! We are so pleased to be showing such innovative work at our downtown Asheville art gallery! The reception takes place at the gallery's 24 N Lexington Avenue location and is free and open to the public. All are welcome. These exhibitions continue through October 31^st. 

Ron Layport, Return to Gardens, Turned, sculpted, and pigmented Maple, 10-1/2 x 6-1/2 inches

The group exhibition, Transformation: Earth, Water & Wood features recent work by five Momentum artist partners: Mariella Bisson, oil painting with collage; David Ellsworth, wood; Vicki Grant, porcelain and mixed media; Ron Isaacs, trompe l'oeil painting on wood; and Ron Layport, wood. New York painter Mariella Bisson turns her attention to our regional waterfalls, depicting dramatic scenes of stone, water, and woods in her signature style. Bisson deftly delineates the sculptural planes of her subjects and often selects scenes that represent metaphors for adaptation and change. Trompe l'oeil master Ron Isaacs refers to his work as being "exactly halfway between sculpture and painting." His birch plywood constructions, painted with acrylic, often portray the illusion of shirts or dresses (representing the figure) in the midst of a state of metamorphosis into foliage and branches. 

Ron Isaacs, Little Sister, Acrylic on Birch plywood construction, 32 x 22-3/4 x 3 inches

Vicki Grant has developed an exciting new body of free-standing sculptural totem forms inspired by an intersection of nature and literature. Maurice Sendak and Edgar Allan Poe are some of the writers Grant cites as influencing the direction of her most ambitious project to date.  Towering individual forms installed as modular trios and larger ‘families’ evoke the idea of a whimsical forest. Highly-textured ceramic serves as the jumping-off point for imaginative columns embellished with found natural objects, carved wooden birds, and even basketry (a collaboration with Montana Blue Heron).

 Vicki Grant, Botanical Series #18042, Porcelain and mixed media on slate, 24 x 12 x 2 inches

New Botanical wall tiles are inspired by things one would see in the woods. Textures of tree bark and imagery suggestive of toadstools and lichen, foliage and wildflowers all coalesce in abstract dimensional works that are an unexpected alternative to traditional paintings and wilderness photography. The works nod to Grant’s background in architectural design through compositions of seed pods and bundled reeds or gathered horsehair, organized to form elaborate structured patterns.

 Vicki Grant, Windows to the Earth #18020, Porcelain and mixed media on slate, 12 x 12 x 2 inches

Momentum Gallery is pleased to represent Vicki Grant and present her newest work in relationship to other artists whose work references the bounty and wonder of nature.  The textures and palette that define Vicki Grant’s work complement the surfaces and forms that make up Mariella Bisson’s contemporary landscape paintings and original collages. Grant’s work relates to vessels and sculpture by world-renowned wood artists David Ellsworth and Ron Layport through shared inspiration, reference to material, and (in the case of the latter) intricate surface carving.  Ron Isaacs’ fantastic garments which transform into and out of wildlife and botanical imagery complete the collection. 

 David Ellsworth, Mataak #2, Ash, 30 x 20-1/2 x 12 inches

Transformation also proudly presents work by two renowned American wood artists, David Ellsworth and Ron Layport. Ellsworth, who recently relocated to the Asheville-area, is a preeminent wood turner with work in 36 museum collections around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. Ellsworth's aesthetic embraces nature's irregularities and might be compared to the Japanese principle, wabi-sabi, where anomalies that arise through the process of making add uniqueness and elegance to the work. Ellsworth's turned work is done on the lathe while the wood is still green, allowing for unusual things to happen as the turned forms cure and dry. Precisely rounded vessels may become oblong and asymmetrical, or even split open -Ellsworth welcomes these effects as part of his creative practice. Some might find it curious that the masterful woodturner's latest series isn't turned at all. For his Ascension series, Ellsworth cuts blocks of burled wood into concentric rings, then telescopes them out into dramatic, towering spires. Interestingly, Ron Layport first learned how to turn wood in a class led by David Ellsworth. Over the past 30 years, Layport has established a place among the top wood artists in the world. Layport uses negative space as a design element, carving intricate patterns of wildlife and habitat into the surfaces of his turned vessels. The results are complex relief carvings that maintain the integrity of the original form despite having been completely transformed.

Samantha Bates, Hoodsport, Pen, acrylic, screenprint, pastel, and colored pencil

on unstretched canvas, 100 x 90 inches

Momentum Gallery is also thrilled to debut a collection of new mixed media paintings and textile works by Samantha Bates. Bates' contemporary landscapes are created through meticulous mark making and patterning, thousands of dashes and dots emerge into imagery of forests and water on the surface of Bates' unstretched and primed canvases. The artist's wall-mounted textile works are sculptural constructions with imagery of sky or trees developing out of sections of expressive marks she makes by 'drawing' with a sewing machine, embroidering, and weaving. Read more about Samantha Bates in our interview with the artist on our blog. Both exhibitions continue through October 31^st.

Mariella Bisson, Five Trees Five Mountains, Oil and mixed media on linen, 50 x 38 inches

The expertly detailed wood sculptures of Ron Layport are not assemblages - each is sculpted from a single piece of wood. Working directly from sustainably-sourced, fresh cut local hardwoods (trees felled as a result of storm damage or otherwise destined for landfill, firewood, or the chipper), Ron first turns the logs on the lathe, then sculpts and finishes the pieces by hand over a period of months. What may have begun as an eighty-pound cross-section of tree is reduced to a beautifully finessed vessel weighing less than two pounds by the time it goes to the pedestal.

We are asked daily about our upcoming move to Broadway. Curiousity often surrounds the timeline of the move and commentary includes how excited people are about our new space! We are grateful to our clients, supporters, and friends so interested in our plans and want to take this opportunity to share a quick update. 

As many of you have heard, our new gallery space will unfold in several phases over the coming months.  The current timeline includes an intial relocation this fall, to begin establishing Momentum Gallery's new and permanent home at 52 Broadway Street, next to Mellow Mushrooom. Contractors are working diligently to get us into the space as soon as possible. Partitions are up, and the space for Phase 1 has begun to take shape in the section of the historic building that previously housed Stuf Antiques.  Clean lines define dramatic open areas as well as intimate spaces with work stations that are at once accessible and set back.  Sheetrock is nearing completion and the space will be painted next week. The flooring and some other minor cosmetic work still need to be addressed, though we anticipate these items progressing quickly.

We will certainly announce (through our Facebook page and other social media) once we're in the space and begin to install artwork. Keep in touch with the most up-to-date information by liking Momentum Gallery Asheville on facebook, and stay tuned for unfolding details. Thank you for your interest and support!  

TWO MULTIMEDIA, NATURE-THEMED EXHIBITIONS 

OPENING at MOMENTUM GALLERY on AUGUST 30th

On Thursday, August 30^th, from 5-8pm, Momentum Gallery invites you to an Opening Reception for the group exhibition, Transformation: Earth, Water & Wood along with a collection of new paintings and textile works by Samantha Bates. We are so pleased to be showing such innovative work at our downtown Asheville art gallery! The reception takes place at the gallery's 24 N Lexington Avenue location and is free and open to the public. All are welcome. These exhibitions continue through October 31^st. 

Ron Isaacs, Arrow,acrylic on birch plywood construction, 42-1/2 x 50-1/2 x 4-3/4 inches.

The group exhibition, Transformation: Earth, Water & Wood features recent work by five Momentum artist partners: Mariella Bisson, oil painting with collage; David Ellsworth, wood; Vicki Grant, porcelain and mixed media; Ron Isaacs, trompe l'oeil painting on wood; and Ron Layport, wood. New York painter Mariella Bisson turns her attention to our regional waterfalls, depicting dramatic scenes of stone, water, and woods in her signature style. Bisson deftly delineates the sculptural planes of her subjects and often selects scenes that represent metaphors for adaptation and change. In ceramist Vicki Grant's new series of Botanical wall tiles, the NC artist explores rich texture through deep carving and beaded embellishments inspired by tree bark. Grant's latest free-standing totemic sculptures are also featured. Trompe l'oeil master Ron Isaacs refers to his work as being "exactly halfway between sculpture and painting." His birch plywood constructions, painted with acrylic, often portray the illusion of shirts or dresses (representing the figure) in the midst of a state of metamorphosis into foliage and branches. 

Mariella Bisson, Summer Falls Panorama, oil and mixed media on linen, 34 x 74 inches.

Transformation also proudly presents work by two renowned American wood artists, David Ellsworth and Ron Layport. Ellsworth, who recently relocated to the Asheville-area, is a preeminent wood turner with work in 36 museum collections around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. Ellsworth's aesthetic embraces nature's irregularities and might be compared to the Japanese principle, wabi-sabi, where anomalies that arise through the process of making add uniqueness and elegance to the work. Ellsworth's turned work is done on the lathe while the wood is still green, allowing for unusual things to happen as the turned forms cure and dry. Precisely rounded vessels may become oblong and asymmetrical, or even split open -Ellsworth welcomes these effects as part of his creative practice. Some might find it curious that the masterful woodturner's latest series isn't turned at all. For his Ascension series, Ellsworth cuts blocks of burled wood into concentric rings, then telescopes them out into dramatic, towering spires. Interestingly, Ron Layport first learned how to turn wood in a class led by David Ellsworth. Over the past 30 years, Layport has established a place among the top wood artists in the world. Layport uses negative space as a design element, carving intricate patterns of wildlife and habitat into the surfaces of his turned vessels. The results are complex relief carvings that maintain the integrity of the original form despite having been completely transformed.

Ron Layport, Captured by Feathers, maple burl, steel, pigment, 12-1/2 x 29-1/2 x 4-1/4 inches.

Momentum Gallery is thrilled to debut a collection of new mixed media paintings and textile works by Samantha Bates. Bates' contemporary landscapes are inspired by her time in wilderness areas, largely in her home state of Washington. Through meticulous mark making and patterning, thousands of dashes and dots emerge into imagery of forests and water on the surface of Bates' unstretched and primed canvases. The artist's wall-mounted textile works are sculptural constructions with imagery of sky or trees developing out of sections of expressive marks she makes by 'drawing' with a sewing machine, embroidering, and weaving. Both exhibitions continue through October 31^st.

Samantha Bates, Reach Toward the Pacific, acrylic, colored pencil, artist pen on unstretched and       primed canvas, 52-1/2 x 48 inches.

Jordan, along with Momentum's staff, and our Artist Partners, would like to express our sincere appreciation for the enthusiastic response to our glass show this summer! Thank you to everyone who visited!  The Opening Reception, the Artist Reception, and our Artist Talk with Tim Tate were well-attended by friends, collectors, and esteemed colleagues. Troy and Sons provided incredible Momentum Mixers and Karen Donatelli Bakery created fabulous desserts that referenced the opulent glass work. As a community, you demonstrated how much you love a thoughtfully conceived and exquisitely presented collection of contemporary glass work from around the country - and we thank you for your support!  We look forward to seeing you again soon! Thank you for helping make our first thematic group exhibition such a tremendous success!!!

 Dale Chihuly, Terre Verte & Prussian Green Venetian with Madder & Gold Leaves, 

Blown and hot-formed glass, 17 x 14 x 12 inches

We are honored to present a special collection of work by two pioneers in the field of studio glass, Dale Chihuly and Therman Statom. Held in conjunction with Asheville's Summer of Glass, the collection features original blown glass objects from Dale Chihuly, Chihuly Studio, and original works including unique serigraph on plate glass shadowboxes from Therman Statom.  The gallery is also thrilled to include a curated collection of original vitreographs, printed in small editions here in WNC at Littleton Studios, when Chihuly and Statom visited the area previously. Note: Due to popular demand, we recently brought in additional Dale Chihuly vitreographs Ikebana, and Piccolo Venetians as well as a dramatic Chihuly glass sculpture, Terre Verte and Prussian Green Venetian with Madder and Gold Leaves.

The collection at Momentum is a nice complement to Chihuly's installation on view at Biltmore through October. Momentum Gallery's exhibition continues through August 25th.  If you haven't been in to our art gallery in downtown Asheville recently, come check out this amazing work!  

Andy Farkas, More than enough, Moku Hanga, 14-1/2 x 5-1/2 inches, Edition of 51

Momentum Gallery is pleased to announce a fundraiser for the Center for Craft! We will be raffling an original vitreograph by glass pioneer, Therman Statom, titled "Frankincense" (signed and numbered by the artist, unframed) and all proceeds will benefit the Center for Craft, a non-profit committed to advancing the understanding of craft by encouraging and supporting research, critical dialogue, and professional development in the United States.   

Therman Statom's "Frankincense" is a colorful vitreograph, a print made from etched glass plates, created with Harvey Littleton (known as the Father of Studio Glass) in Western North Carolina, at Littleton Studios. The print depicts various imagery, including a buddha, a heart, and a feather.

Tickets are on sale now through August 15th and may be purchased at our downtown Asheville art gallery, located at 24 N Lexington Avenue, or by telephone at 828-505-8550. 

Ticket Prices are as follows:
$30/ 1 ticket
$50/ 2 tickets
$100/5 tickets

Therman Statom, Frankincense, ed. 25/50. Vitreograph from glass plates, 30 x 24 inches. Signed, 1999.

All tickets will be labeled with the purchaser's name and entered in a sealed box. A representative from the Center for Craft will choose the winner on August 15th at 6pm. The winner need not be present at the time the name is selected. Once the winner is notified, the unframed print may be picked up or will be shipped as per the winner's request.

In conjunction with the Summer of Glass, Momentum Gallery, in downtown Asheville, is pleased to present a collection of works by contemporary glass pioneer, Therman Statom. Featured works include translucent shadow boxes constructed from sheet glass, screen-printed with various imagery and combined with found objects; a large-scale painting of two playing cards within a plate glass shadowbox with found objects entitled Summer Queens; a solid cast-glass house; and works on paper (vitreographs done at Harvey Littleton's studio in Western North Carolina). Frankincense is available for purchase at the gallery during this show, which runs through August 25th, 2018.

Therman Statom (b. 1953) is an artist whose primary medium is sheet glass. He cuts, paints, and assembles the glass - adding found and blown glass objects - to create three-dimensional sculptures. Many of these works are large in scale. He often utilizes sound and projected digital imagery as features in his work. He is best known for his painted ladders, houses, and chairs, and glass boxes.

Statom studied glass at Pilchuck Glass Center, received his BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, and holds an MFA from Pratt Institute of Art and Design. He has taught at Pilchuck and the University of California, Los Angeles. He has also received commissions for countless large-scale installations, including those at the Los Angeles Central Public Library and the Toledo Museum of Art.

Statom has also focused on the importance of educational programming within the arts. He regularly holds workshops for children and adults to create handmade art and to effect positive social change within the community.
Momentum Gallery will be selling tickets for this special unframed and matted print, edition 25/50, and the proceeds will benefit the Center for Craft. This fundraiser is open to all ages and we will not discriminate against any person. Momentum Gallery, the Center for Craft, and any other affiliates do not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression, age, height, weight, physical or mental ability, veteran status, military obligations, and/or marital status.

Our Summer of Glass shows, Reflections and GLASS PIONEERS: Therman Statom & Dale Chihuly, include works made utilizing a variety of techniques by contemporary glass sculptors across the country. We are thrilled to be exhibiting such incredible glass artists in our downotwn Asheville art gallery. Some have said "it is the best glass show Asheville has ever seen."

Everyone loves to see the exquisite work, but some people want to have a deeper understanding. In case you'd like to brush up on your glass vocabulary, the Corning Museum of Glass has an insightful list of terminology with pictures and definitions: 

Dale Chihuly, Chandelier, Vitreograph, Edition of 50,  36 x 30 inches

We are thrilled to be exhibiting Dale Chihuly's intriguing work to commemorate the Chihuly installation at the Biltmore Estate! The Chihuly work can be seen at Momentum Gallery, along with the memorable work of Therman Statom, as part of the Summer of Glass 2018. The show opens with a reception on July 1st, from 5-8pm. Wine, beer, and light refreshments will be provided. This event is free and open to the public. All are welcome. Come see Chihuly's work in our downtown Asheville art gallery through August 25th. 

 Dale Chihuly, Persians, Vitreograph, Edition of 50, 36 x 30 inches

Momentum Gallery will be exhibiting select glass pieces by Dale Chihuly in addition to an exclusive collection of vitreographs produced at Harvey Littleton's Studio in Western North Carolina. Chandelier, reflects the artist's series in glass which Chihuly has revisited since his ambitious Chihuly Over Venice project in 1996. Experience this series in glass at Chihuly at Biltmore, on exhibit through October 2018. 

Dale Chihuly (b.1941) is a multi disciplinary American artist with an extensive history in the field of studio glass. He is known worldwide for his creation of large scale environmental installations. He also creates sculptures for personal collections, paints, and has made prints and vitreographs based upon his noted work. As a pioneer in his primary medium, he cofounded the Pilchuck School of Glass in Washington state. 

Dale Chihuly, UNTITLED, 1981, Blown glass, 3-1/4 x 11-1/2 x 8-1/4 inches

Arguably one of the most famous glass artists in the world, he began his foray into design work when he attended the University of Washington in Seattle. In 1963, he took a weaving class where he incorporated glass shards into tapestries. Chihuly graduated from the University of Washington in 1965 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Interior Design. Chihuly began experimenting with glassblowing in 1965 and in 1966 he received a full scholarship to attend the University of Wisconsin - Madison. There, he studied under Harvey Littleton, who established the first glass program in the United States at that school. In 1967, Chihuly received a Master of Science degree in Sculpture. Chihuly earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1968. At that time, he was awarded a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation grant for his work in glass, as well as a Fulbright Fellowship. He then traveled to Venice to work on the island of Murano, where he first saw the team approach to blowing glass. After returning to the United States, Chihuly spent the first of four consecutive summers teaching at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine.

Chihuly's art appears in permanent personal, corporate, and museum collections all over the world, including in the United States, Canada, England, Singapore, and in the Middle East.

Dale Chihuly, Studio Edition, CHINESE RED SEAFORM PAIR, 1995, Blown Glass, 6 x 11 x 7 inches

Tim Tate, Summer of Love, Cast poly-vitro, mirror, UV LEDs, 32 x 32 x 3 inches

On Thursday, August 9th, from 4-7 p.m, Momentum Gallery is hosting an Artist Cocktail Reception in conjunction with its current contemporary group glass exhibition, Reflections. The reception takes place at the gallery’s Lexington Avenue location and is free and open to the public. Several artists whose work is featured in Reflections will be in attendance, including Tim Tate, Penland School of Craft's 2018 Benefit Auction Signature Artist as well as Thor & Jennifer Bueno and Pablo Soto, and other Momentum Gallery artists. The festive atmosphere will include fun food, cookies by Karen Donatelli Bakery, craft cocktails by Troy & Sons, and a raffle for the Center for Craft. The exhibition Reflections continues through August 25th. We hope you will join us for one of the most engaging contemporary glass shows ever shown in an art gallery in Asheville.

Alli Hoag,Taxonomy/Memory (detail), Cast glass, blown glass, silvering, mixed media

And, for more fun, head up to the Penland School of Craft's 2018 Benefit Auction, Friday and Saturday, August 10th and 11th. It’s no surprise that a number of Momentum Gallery's phenomenal Artist Partners are closely affiliated with Penland. If you’ve never been to the Auction, it’s only an hour’s drive north of Asheville and well worth the short trip! While you’re there, be sure to visit Penland Gallery’s Summer of Glass exhibition, Alchemy: Contemporary Studio Glass. Join us at the 33rd annual auction weekend: http://penland.org/support-penland/annual-auction/

 Alysia Fischer (AF) interviews Jennifer Halvorson (JH) and shares that with our collectors:

AF: Thank you for taking time to speak with me to today. Did you always know you were going to be an artist?

JH: Not always. I can’t say that when I was a child I thought I would be an artist, but I was always involved in art and making things. Part of that came from my family making sure I was exposed to different crafts or taking me to visit really nice craft shows, museums, and exhibits. That interest continued through school. I definitely didn’t always think ‘I’ll be an artist,' but you just follow different interests and what drives you. There’s that whole saying of ‘I don’t want to feel like I’m working.’ When you love what you’re doing, you’re not working, really.

AF: You’re trained in both glass and metals. Do you consider yourself a glass artist, a metals artist, or a mixed media artist?

JH: I’d say mixed media. My BFA is in both glass and metal. In that program, we were taught to understand technique and craftsmanship, but we were also encouraged to experiment with other materials, so bringing glass and metal together was really great. I received an MFA in glass specifically, though I’ve always kept my hand in the metals studio.

AF: Some of your work has incorporated the notion of repair while other work seems to alter forms in ways that subvert their original use. I’m curious about what draws you to these themes of repair and transformation or intervention?

JH: A lot of times the objects I’m using are found. The objects are very specific, so there are rubber molds being made and then manipulation from that. With this kind of plain object, my goal is to evoke a certain emotion or convey some metaphor or symbolism through the object, so they need to change or transform in connection to the idea. In the beginning, I’ll have a specific concept I’m trying to include. Then the pendulum swings and I’ll want to put in more of a feeling. This is how I hope to connect to a wider audience. I’m taking this object, maybe a very nostalgic or common object or material and then trying to imbue an emotion or storyline that’ll connect with the viewer.

There is another body of work that’s about mending and repairing. I see two sides to that. Sometimes the objects are being stitched up or wrapped up and it might have more of a distressing look. Other times it’s about form where it’s meant to hold light and have some breadth to it. I’m thinking particularly about the knitwork. In terms of the transformation of the jelly jars, it’s more narrative because I intend the objects to represent people without any imagery of a person. That’s to make the work more accessible and open it up to the audience to insert their own father figure, or mother, or uncle, or sister…whoever is in the realm of the narrative. Also, with the jelly jars, a lot of people have associations with canning and preserves, whether it be with family or at the farmer’s market and they connect to that experience. By pushing the jars with cutlery, it activates the objects with a presence of that remembered person or activity. 

AF: A lot of your work references memory. How do objects relate to memory?

JH: They become symbols to us. Objects remind us of a past time, or a past person, or a past experience. I’ve been researching memory for a long time. I’m really intrigued by the idea that you’re not going to remember exactly how something was, or the exact truth, and everyone’s perspective of the same situation is going to be slightly different. But the things that bring you to that memory are these objects that we surround ourselves with, and they kind-of piece together who we are. You collect objects because you want to remember this person or visiting that place. ‘I will have this object and it will be the symbol of this time and of this feeling’. It can be happy or sad, or often bittersweet.

When I first began exploring the concept of memory it was connected to the idea of people starting to lose theirs, and how memory is your identity. And that was really the start of how my work has evolved, because in undergrad I was using medical diagnostic imagery in my work. In grad school it became a totally different focus and slowly evolved from there. At first it was very specific and how memory works and how a culture and a community come together because of all these joint memories that we have that we can connect to. The work tried to get less specific, more about shared human experience, experiences I remember, lessons, and emotions that other people go through as well. A bit of poetic therapy, I guess.

AF: Your art practice includes researching the objects you’ve found or object types you’re reproducing and manipulating. Can you tell me more about that process?

JH: I think it’s important to know the history of things you’re working with. Why they were produced, what was their function, and how did that connect to people? I think it’s really important to know. As far as how I collect things, it comes from growing up. My family is really interested in antiques. Going to look at objects in different antique stores, you look for the unusual and figure out what it does and its storyline. There’s a fair amount of objects I find I’m drawn to because of their history or the way they evoke a time past. My family has a lot of items from a few generations ago, so you get those stories. You’re looking at an object and being told a story of a great grandmother. And so, this object represents a person, and how do you take that object and relate that story or that connection that you have to that person? Usually I’m not using objects that are within my family, but rather items where I come up with stories. 

For example, I have a series of work titled Thirst, which is these glass teacups with bronze chairs inside them, set upon an ornamental bronze saucer. That idea came about from childhood peekaboo cups. Parents used these with children first learning to drink from a cup. There’d be a little picture at the bottom or a little figure. ‘If you drink all your cup you’re going to get to see Pooh Bear’. I just really loved the design and the function of that object and what it was meant to do as far as encouraging that child. At one point I decided I wanted to make that sort of connection with the adult. What would the adult peekaboo cup be? So, I started thinking about gathering up some different adult teacups and what you would want to see. What would adults desire to see? What would encourage you to get to the bottom of this cup? And then I was researching chairs and the history of chairs and the idea of how at first they were showing ‘authority’. Not everyone was able to have a chair. Having a chair at the table. The idea of a comfortable chair. The stability of the chair. The idea that you have a favorite chair. It all comes back to stability, home, and comfort. So, I was looking at the different designs of the different chairs and trying to imagine their designs with the teacups. It can be a roundabout way of seeing how everything comes together, sparks of concepts or stories or ideas from having looked at objects constantly.

AF: Your website includes a quote by a French philosopher Gaston Bachelard. Are there particular writers who have been influential to thinking about artmaking?

JH: There were quite a few during grad school, when you’re positioned to be reading through a lot of different works. I enjoy Gaston Bachelard’s writings—which can be thick, but you can pull so much meaning from every word—his thoughts about how memories are connected to home. Truth is, a lot of my work is about connection to the home, because even if they’re about experiences, it has that underlying it. A few other authors are Rebecca Rupp, who has written the book ‘Committed to Memory: How We Remember and Why We Forget’ that I recall being really engaging. Sherry Turkle wrote a book about ‘Evocative Objects’—also about that connection, about that need, and why we have these objects around us. I also read a few kind of oddity books. Last year I read the ‘Antiques Magpie’, it’s just a collection of stories and facts from the world of antiques. And then there’s this really good book I read called ‘Art and the Home: Comfort, Alienation and the Every Day’ by Imogen Racz.

AF: What inspires you?

JH: Making. I need to be making something. For example, my daughter is now 7 months old and my art practice has been a bit on hold. And you start to do a little head twist after a while, because you just need to be making. Working through objects and materials, you’re going to come across challenges like ‘How am I going to make this?’ and you become a student again. The material is always humbling. And you have to get more technical with making a mold. And you’re going to have to make three attempts to get what you want and so you have to just continually be making. Because I find, you get rusty too. If I’m in a teaching mode and I have to jump back into a technical mold, I’ll feel a little rusty. I’m inspired to be making and experiment with the material. And some of the pieces with the glass and metals are bringing me into different studios. Some of those processes, the repetition of the hand, it’s great, I’m really drawn to it. It can be really tedious and exhausting but it’s also relaxing and rewarding.

AF: What inspired the pieces in the upcoming Momentum show, Reflections?

JH: Jordan Ahlers talked to me about Reflections in connection to Biltmore Estate and the Chihuly exhibit that was going to be on display this summer. It was perfect timing because I was visiting Asheville when this discussion was happening and already had plans to tour the Biltmore. After having that tour and thinking about my work, I was interested in proposing to him two different series. One that was more connected to the idea of the upstairs and one that was more connected to the downstairs. Because they’re totally different settings and story lines that are connected in this one building. Two of the pieces are elaborate door plates that have a blown glass doorknob that is covered with tatted lace and dangling down from the doorknob is a bit more lace and some cast glass keys. The two pieces have different compositions but they’re both highly elaborate, they have the architectural feeling of the “upstairs” of Biltmore. And when I made the pieces they were the idea of someone’s memories and looking into the past and someone’s memories are highly embellished. People remember them differently from one another. They’re also forgotten. These different door plates and door knob compositions represent different pasts or experiences that have occurred and the padlock key is how we remember it. But in the sculpture, there’s no keyhole, symbolizing that can’t get back to that time to know the precise truth that is behind it. It kind of has a maze feeling, which I felt walking around Biltmore Estate had to it. The other series are some canning jars that aren’t found objects. They’re jars I’ve made, blown or casted out of glass, or bronze, or iron. And those compositions are portraits of people and have different narratives. They have a connection to the downstairs of the Biltmore. When I started collecting jars, I was researching them and the different companies and different branding, the idea of the Perfect jar, the Genuine jar, the Supreme jar, all these words and so I went through the rubber mold process to take away some words and leave adjectives to help give more of the narrative to the piece. So the words were originally used by the company for marketing, and now I’m using them to provide more information about the narrative behind each one.

I'd like to add - I am so excited to have representation in an Asheville art gallery and to be showing my work with Momentum Gallery is a real privilege!

AF: What are you excited about right now?

JH: There are a lot of transitions for me right now. Part of that is our new baby, and my husband and I just bought our first house. My colleague (at Ball State) and I are looking to teach a glass industry course which will survey from the mid-19th century to today. So we’re going to actually incorporate the press machine into a special topics seminar and also work with a community partner about how current glass engineers and designers work with production, because Indiana has a lot of glass history and still has an operating glass factory. I’m excited to continue to promote my work. I’m really happy to be connected with Momentum Gallery and the show. I’m excited to see how everything works. I think there are a lot of great plans at Momentum. This spring I’ll be going down to the Southwest to talk to two Glass Alliances. Next summer I’m going to be teaching an intensive workshop for Bullseye Glass. It’s just another way to reach out to a bigger community and a different teaching environment. Intensive workshops can just be so different than a semester class.

AF: Thank you so much for talking with me today. I really like your pieces installed in the show!

JH: Thank you for speaking with me. It’s really nice to talk about the art world.

Of special note: Jennifer Halvorson recently appeared in This is Colossal! Here is a link to her interview: http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2018/06/vintage-canning-jars-jennifer-halvorson/

Additionally, Jennifer was also featured in This Week in American Craft, published by the American Craft Coucil: https://craftcouncil.org/post/week-craft-june-13-2018

Alysia Fischer is an author, artist and anthropologist who lives in Weaverville, NC.  She received her PhD in Anthropology from the University of Arizona and her MFA from Miami University (Ohio).  Her research on crafts includes the books Hot Pursuit: Integrating Anthropology in Search of Ancient Glassblowers and Myaamia Ribbonwork (co-authored with Andrew Strack and Karen Baldwin).  Alysia is also an accomplished maker, as both a glassblower and metals artist. 

AF: Hi, Jennifer & Thor. I am intrigued by your work and partnership. What drew each of you to glass?

Jennifer: I was in college at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), majoring in Industrial Design because I wanted to do special effects for movies. When I was coming along it was about model making and all the fun stuff like puppetry. I’ve always been fascinated with otherworldliness and fantasy. After the first semester in Industrial Design I realized that it was not my bag. We were doing engineering drawings of milk cartons and having critiques for four hours about it. That was the major if you wanted to do special effects, but I was coming along in the 90s when everything was shifting to computers. I realized I wouldn’t actually be making stuff and I wanted to be the maker. I didn’t want to do a drawing and send it out for someone else to make the thing, so I switched to majors. There was an Industrial Design class that did a lighting semester. I saw that exhibit and thought ‘This glass is really beautiful’. It had that same otherworldly feel, that light through the glass. It was just so alien and magical looking to me. Then I wandered into the glass studio, and that’s how I ended up working in glass.

Thor: That’s easy. It was more fun that surfing. What kept me in glass is that it’s still more fun than surfing. There’s a whole stock answer about the spontaneous moment of clarity, the meditation. All that stuff is true. It’s difficult for me to focus on one thing. I get that clarity and that calm from glassblowing. It involves every part of me simultaneously, physically as well as mentally. I started blowing glass in 1979. My instructors at the junior college were all potters so they were really good potters and they knew how to build a glass studio because of pottery. As far as blowing glass was concerned, they didn’t have a clue. So, my instruction was, ‘Lips on this end, glass on the other, and figure it out.’ That’s how it was for me for the first seven years. I started in ’79 and then I went to Pilchuck in ‘86 for the first time and then pretty much relearned everything the Venetian way.

AF: Can you tell me about the dynamics of your artistic partnership?

Jennifer: Thor is really high energy. He’s one of those people who doesn’t slow down, doesn’t stop. So, glass really suits him that way. Thor is just like ‘Do it.’ It’s great because he has that momentum, always moving forward. If he didn’t have me he’d be all over the place, and if I didn’t have him I’d just be staring at my navel and not moving. Glass is a funny thing. That’s one of the challenges I’ve had, the struggle like jumping off a high dive. You’ve got to commit. You’ve got to be in that moment, which is wonderful, but my nature is more that I like to sit and look and change. So, with our Bueno Glass stuff, that’s how it really works. He’s out cranking in the hot shop. The nice thing is that these forms are so fitted to Thor’s personality. There are glassblowers who are goblet makers and make a lot of components and hot sculpt them together with torches and they spend hours on one piece, and that’s not Thor. He’s all ‘Get it hot and spin it, and let it go, and do it again, and do it again…’ We’ve really seemed to find a way of working that matches our personalities. I’m in a different studio doing drawings for proposals, and I’ve got all the pieces organized into color sets. For all of our wall pieces, we do templates. So, I’m doing templates and I’ll go down to the hot studio and say we need a range of this color. Thor says that he makes the brushstrokes and I make the painting. We do blow glass together for R&D, like if we need to find a new color. We’ll talk and get ideas and troubleshoot stuff and, in that case, we work together in the hot shop. We both enjoy doing that kind of thing and it works.

Thor: Jennifer can do anything, she’s so freaking smart. She won’t brag about it, but she got two MFAs in three years. One from Bard, where it’s all about thinking, and then one from Alfred where it’s all about making things with your hands, and she kind of did both in three years. Over the last decade she’s gotten so good at making those compositions. Because there’s so many thousands of micro-decisions involved in the relationships between the pieces-the big shapes, little shapes, the patterns, the negative space, the colors, it just goes on and on. Jennifer works really hard to make it look effortless. She creates in a very contemplative way; she’s very thoughtful. She comes from the RISD mindset where you think about the thing for 45 minutes and then you take 15 minutes to do it. That’s the ratio of thought to work. It’s a good thing, but that’s not really me. I’m super frenetic and can’t go slow. That glassblowing thing fits well with me. I work superfast and really hot and I enjoy it when the piece is about to drip off my pipe; I can make something better out of it when it does that. That aspect of our partnership is really great because she does the meditative part where (as Jennifer mentioned) she creates the painting out of my brush strokes.

AF: What can you tell me about the piece, Gilded Azure, that will be in the upcoming Momentum show “Reflections”?

Jennifer: We had this problem of making big installations where you can’t really see the details of things. Many of our bigger pieces have been in awkward spaces, because that’s one of our strengths. We can do these pieces in a hospital where there’s a narrow strip or strange space, but it’s really tricky to get a good photograph. We’ve been making these new metallic pieces that are a hybrid of the silver and the stone. I was playing with the different compositions and started making circles. It was nice because you could see the form and see that each stone was different and see the colors. When we heard about the Chihuly exhibit, you always think of Chihuly glass of having such a presence. And it’s not just because they’re big but they just have this presence of being almost otherworldly. We were inspired by that and thought it would be nice to make a piece that would be big enough that you could enter. You can see it as one thing, so it’s like a meditation. You can enter it visually. 

As far as Biltmore, when I think of it I always think of the Gilded Age. Gilded seems like an appropriate word for Biltmore Estate. The blue in the piece reminds me of North Carolina, the sky and the water and the river stones. It all comes together into one atmospheric space. The vein of gold running through Is reminiscent of a river but also a blue stone with a vein of gold. I think of Biltmore as this sort of gilded thing in the middle of the wilderness. There’s this natural place but you also have this glittering object, something precious and rare, running through it.

Thor: The big concentrated dot is a bit of a departure from our usual work. A lot of the compositions we make are customized to fit very specific parameters. Typically, our work lives on the architecture and is kind-of growing there. This new direction is more like a piece of jewelry that can be anywhere. A giant brooch, like architectural jewelry, something you wear. And that becomes like a Chihuly chandelier being a giant pair of earrings for a building. And I think that’s where we are trying to go.

Thor & Jennifer Bueno, Zen Branch, Sand-etched blown glass and wood branch, 31 x 65 x 17 inches

Check out Jennifer Halvorson's work on This is Colossal! Momentum Gallery is thrilled to be showing Jennifer's work as part of our upcoming Summer of Glass Show, titled Reflections, opening July 1st, 2018. 

http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2018/06/vintage-canning-jars-jennifer-halvorson/

Momentum Gallery is pleased to participate in the First Friday Gallery Art Walk in Downtown Asheville. The first friday of every month, Momentum hosts guests from 5-8pm with beer and wine and stimulating conversation. Stroll through the gallery, meet some of our artists, and enjoy your evening with us! We are thrilled to be a part of the downtown Asheville art gallery association! 

 Therman Statom, Frankincense

In conjunction with the Summer of Glass, Momentum Gallery, in downtown Asheville, is pleased to present a collection of works by contemporary glass pioneer, Therman Statom. Featured works at Momentum Gallery include translucent shadow boxes constructed from sheet glass, screen-printed with various imagery and combined with found objects; a large-scale painting of two playing cards within a plate glass shadowbox with found objects entitled Summer Queens; a solid cast-glass house; and works on paper (vitreographs done at Harvey Littleton’s studio in Western North Carolina). Vitreography is a printmaking process, utilizing glass plates as the printing matrix, innovated by Harvey Littleton, “the Father of Studio Glass” in the early 1970s. Littleton continued to develop the process at his Western North Carolina studio after moving here, in 1976. A collection of Statom’s work will be featured in an exhibition at Momentum Gallery, opening July 1 and continuing through August 25th, 2018.

Therman Statom, Native

“I believe art can be understood both conceptually and intuitively. I think there is a need for the general public to come to an understanding that to appreciate art and creativity they must trust his or her self; that extensive education is not a prerequisite for understanding art. Much of what I do is seeded in what is more of an intuitive process; a large portion of my work is exploring these processes within people and their environments.

"The fact is, I believe that creativity is a part of all aspects of what people do; my studio and educational efforts via workshops and the support of outside programming, general educational and cultural institutions, are a reflection of this belief.

"I feel that art is a tool for empowerment and education. It’s also a viable tool to investigate positive change and engage a culture through the use of exploration." – Therman Statom

Amber Cowan, Sky Blue Summer Cluster, Flameworked American pressed glass, mixed media, 11 x 11 x 5

Momentum Gallery's curated group exhibition, Reflections (July 1 - August 25), features work by leading contemporary glass artists from NC and around the country. The overall collection alludes to the timeless traditions of opulence and grandeur at Biltmore Estate through objects that explore the intricate detailing and ornamentation indicative of the Gilded Age, a period during the late 19th Century when Biltmore Estate was conceived and constructed by railway tycoon George Vanderbilt. Additional works in Reflections examine concepts of memory and history, referencing the "downstairs," where staff lived and served the aristocratic family behind the scenes at the palatial mansion. Momentum Gallery is pleased to participate in the Summer of Glass, a Western North Carolina celebration of glass art in conjunction with Dale Chihuly's magnificent installations at Biltmore Estate, through October. 

 Kit Paulson, Touch Me Not, Borosilicate glass, 6 x 15 inches

Reflections is a stylish collection featuring work by several top contemporary glass artists from WNC and around the country, including: Thor & Jennifer Bueno, Amber Cowan, Jennifer Halvorson, Alli Hoag, Joanna Manousis, Andy Paiko, Kit Paulson, Pablo Soto, and Tim Tate.  

An array of sophisticated sculptures and wall pieces incorporate a variety of glass techniques, exploiting the diverse qualities of an enchanting material. Innovative use of mirrors and lenses challenge us to question perception in the mind-bending work of Alli Hoag and Tim Tate. Kit Paulson embraces ornamentation in her meticulous lampworked creations in borosilicate glass. Amber Cowan is currently working with a process which involves flameworking, blowing, and hot-sculpting upcycled American pressed glass. Reflections kicks off with a reception that takes place Sunday, July 1 from 5-8pm. Beer, wine, and light refreshments will be provided. This event is free and open to the public. 

Joanna Manousis, Distilled Portrait III, Negative-core cast crystal, stainless steel, 10 x 6 x 6 inches 

Meet Sculptor Michael Enn Sirvet on Friday, June 8th, from 4-7pm at Momentum Gallery, 24 N Lexington Avenue, in Downtown Asheville. Michael will present an Artist Talk at 6pm. Drinks and light refreshments will be provided. This event is free and open to the public. All are welcome. This event is presented in conjunction with a three person abstract exhibition at Momentum Gallery, including artists Michael Barringer, Jeannine Marchand, and Michael Enn Sirvet.

Michael Enn Sirvet, MAPLE GALE II, Maple hardwood & clear acrylic base, 28 x 29 x 5-1/4 inches

Michael graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in structural engineering and an overflowing fascination with science, the arts, nature, and the patterns that bind them together. Employed by one of the leading engineering firms in the world, Michael worked on such structures as Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water, The Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, and the National Museum of American History.

Michael Enn Sirvet, RED SHADOW SPHERE, Powder-coated aluminum, 28 x 28 inches

For more than a decade, Michael has been producing sculptural artworks using metals,hardwoods, plastics, clay, stone, and paper. He continues to travel to the remote and fascinating places of the earth to immerse himself in the wonders of nature. Upon his return, he combines them in his studio with the science and mathematics which influences and shapes the artwork he creates. Michael Enn Sirvet is a highly accomplished sculptor whose work can be found in major collections throughout the world.

Michael Enn Sirvet, ROUSSEAU RAIN MIRROR, Aluminum, 26 x 44 x 1 inches

“I strive to capture the primitive beauty within familiar forms, to interpret their underlying architecture and their place in time and space, and construct a bridge between those simple icons and complex ideas. Inspired by the geometry inherent within the chaos of nature, and the technology and industry
which I use to mimic them, I create archetypal structures which are at once static and dynamic, organic and industrial, intricate yet tranquil.

“My hope is that the simple intricacies of my abstracted, purified forms and assemblages will invoke recognition and impart the wonder that I feel for nature. That I use industrial materials and methods to create enduring artworks that appear organic, delicate and ephemeral is an embedded irony when considering the effects of man's technological and industrial development upon nature and our environment. However, I feel that passion and the creative ability to turn the industrial and plain into beauty is a sign of the surest hope.” 
– Michael Enn Sirvet

Michael Enn Sirvet, SUNSET OBSCURA, Powder-coated aluminum, 85 x 23 inches

We'd like to thank our local Asheviile ABC news affiliate, WLOS, for taking the time to interview owner/director Jordan Ahlers, regarding our upcoming move to 52 Broadway. We are so excited about what this will mean for our artists, clients, and community. We will continue to represent the best makers in the region and having more gallery space will allow us to bring in nationally known artists to help define Asheville as an arts destination. 

Thank you so much for your support!

Jordan Ahlers is thrilled to announce the acquisition of a 21,000 square foot building in the heart of downtown Asheville, located at 52 Broadway, for the permanent home of his newest venture, Momentum Gallery. Momentum initially opened at 24 N Lexington Avenue and will remain in that location as well as on Broadway through the end of 2018. Momentum’s early success came as a direct result of the relationships he developed as a fourth generation Ashevillian and local art insider for two decades.

Momentum Gallery opened at 24 N Lexington Avenue in October 2017, Photo Credit: Laurie Johnson 

Momentum Gallery opened in October 2017 and immediately took the art world by storm. Within its first 4 months, Momentum attended three international art fairs, acquiring clients from across the United States and placing artwork worldwide. Owner/Director Jordan Ahlers has credited his excellent staff for supporting him in building a reputation for Momentum Gallery as a world class gallery in the tiny town of Asheville. Tourists and locals alike often can be overheard discussing how much Momentum Gallery has improved the local arts scene and raised the bar for galleries within the region. Karen Groce, Art Consultant at Momentum Gallery, recently commented “the most frequent compliment we hear is ‘this gallery doesn’t look anything like other Asheville galleries. The quality is more in line with New York City.’”

Shifra Ahlers, Business Manager, attributes all the praise to her husband, Jordan, who has been an often sought after opinion on the fine arts. Shifra continues, “Jordan opened Momentum with a combination of artists whose careers he had been deeply committed to for many years as well as some emerging artists that are just beginning to earn recognition and other more established artists that are new to showing in Asheville. I am so proud of who he is and what he has accomplished – but I am just thrilled for the future of our artists, our gallery, our family, and our community. Jordan has been a workhorse for the development of the fine arts community here in Asheville and I am honored to help him fulfill his vision and commitment.”

We asked one of Momentum’s clients what was different about this gallery. Susan’s response included “Jordan. Everybody loves Jordan. He helped educate me for the past ten or so years. His eye is extraordinary. He gets me. Of course, he has the best artists in the region at Momentum but I also love how he has integrated new artists from around the country. In particular, I am happy to have the exposure to artists who he thinks are worthy of showing in his space. I already bought multiple pieces from people who I had never heard of before Momentum opened. And I love them.”

Jordan and his represented artist partners, Oct 2017, Credit: Laurie Johnson

Mariella Bisson, a landscape painter that had previously never shown her work in the south, spoke enthusiastically about her relationship with Momentum Gallery, offering that she has been a professional artist for many years with a lot of success but has never sold multiple large paintings through a gallery in her first few weeks with them. “I show my work in top galleries across the country and I am thrilled to be represented now by Jordan Ahlers in Asheville. My paintings are about the force and beauty of nature. Jordan has a finely-honed sense for choosing artwork to energize interiors large and small, balancing art, architecture and the outdoor landscape. When I am planning a painting for Momentum, it has to be the best, most ambitious work I can make, because everything about this gallery is on the highest level. There is a unique bond between artist and gallerist. It must transcend business into realms of friendship. We have to share trust and mutual creative growth. The professionalism and kindness that imbues Momentum Gallery inspires my practice.”

Jordan Ahlers knew from a young age he would have a career in the arts. Though he was a part of the gifted program in elementary and middle school, his creativity and talent propelled him to an art magnet high school during which time he also began working at the renowned J.B. Speed Art Museum. He continued on to the lofty Kansas City Art Institute with a scholarship, where he developed talent in multiple forms of media. He acquired an affinity for glass and began representing artists nationwide as a means of generating extra income. By the time he began working at a gallery in Florida in the mid 1990s, he was quickly promoted to gallery director within a year. He developed an eye for what was both interesting and marketable. He further honed his craft during an 18 year tenure at Blue Spiral, a large southeastern craft gallery in western North Carolina. He easily developed relationships with artists and clients who appreciated his kindness and candor. His intuitive aesthetic became so refined that he became an advisor to corporate and individual clients on a daily basis. He became invaluable in the world of art and design. Upon opening a gallery of his own, Jordan reflected, “it was always part of my plan. My former boss and I had discussed it for years. I am creating my destiny. I am fulfilling the vision that I have held for the last decade and it feels awesome to have such support from my partners, my family, my artists, my clients, my community, and the larger art world. I am grateful.”

Ann and John Campbell are partners with Jordan Ahlers in Momentum Gallery, Credit: Laurie Johnson

For additional coverage regarding Momentum's big news, check out the following:

Asheville Citizen-Times

https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2018/04/20/historic-52-broadway-longtime-asheville-nc-retail-building-sold-4-75-m/536586002/

Mountain Xpress

https://mountainx.com/blogwire/52-broadway-building-changes-hands-to-host-momentum-gallery/

Mariella Bisson, Waterfall Panorama, Oil and mixed media on linen, 34 x 74 x 2 inches

Momentum Gallery is pleased to host an Artist Reception with landscape painter, Mariella Bisson, on Friday, April 27th, from 4-7pm. This is a rare opportunity to meet Mariella and see some of her recent works, as she visits from New York. Wine and light refreshments will be served. This event is free and open to the public. 

You can learn more about Mariella Bisson here: https://momentumgallery.com/artists/34-mariella-bisson/overview/

Mariella Bisson and Jordan Ahlers, Momentum Gallery, October 2017

“My mixed media paintings read as landscape, rock and water. They dissolve into abstraction and geometry. I begin with a field painting created outdoors on site. I avoid the use of photography, preferring to base my compositions on drawing and field painting having the immediacy and power of landscape in its rocky reality.

"I move between abstraction and figuration making images of primal forces -- gravity, light and darkness, endless geological time. Collage satisfies my need to improvise, to work quickly, using accidental and impromptu marks, drawing and painting freely across a textured surface of paper fragments. Layers of paper replicate geological layers of rock under pressure. Small flickering fragments of paper communicate the effects of sunlight and moving shadows.” – Mariella Bisson

Mariella Bisson, Tress, Morning Mist, Smoky Mountains, Oil and mixed media on linen, 38 x 50 x 2 inches

Born and raised in Northern Vermont, Mariella Bisson earned a BFA in Drawing from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY in 1978. Her work has won many awards including three years of support from the Pollock Krasner Foundation (1990 and 2014-15) and a 2012 NYFA (New York Foundation for the Arts) Fellowship in Painting. She has been awarded grants from the Gottlieb Foundation, Robert Rauschenberg’s CHANGE Foundation, the Artists Fellowship, The Dutka Foundation and others. Her travels have included more than 25 residencies, such as Byrdcliffe, The Hambidge Center, The Banff Centre, The Vermont Studio Center, and The Santa Fe Art Institute. 

Her paintings can be found in corporate collections including Philip Morris, Pfizer, White & Case LLP, Wedge Capital Management, Albemarle Corporation, Talisman, Dun and Bradstreet, Standard & Poors, and many others. Her paintings are also in several hospital collections including Memorial Sloan Kettering in NYC and New Jersey, The Mayo Clinic, The North Georgia Health Service Hospital at Braselton, Ga., Fletcher Allen Hospital in Vermont, and Orange County Regional Medical Center in N.Y.

We are so excited to open a new exhibition of recent works by gallery artists, Michael Barringer and Jeannine Marchand, and to introduce the works of sculptor Michael Enn Sirvet on Sunday, May 6th, from 5-8pm. All three artists will be in attendance for the opening reception. Vibrant works by abstract painter Michael Barringer complement the sensuous, anthropomorphic sculptures by ceramicist Jeannine Marchand and architectonic works by sculptor Michael Enn Sirvet. This show opens May 6th and runs through June 23, 2018.

Michael Barringer, GB No. 7, mixed media on canvas, 48 x 48 inches

Michael Barringer's dynamic abstract paintings, draw inspiration from a multitude of sources including poetry, archaeology, astronomy, music, literature, and art history. Michael channels sensations, emotions, and ideas through his work mixing gestural, intuitive mark-making with organic forms, building layer upon layer of gesso, charcoal, pastel, acrylic paints and waxy oil pigment to make complex works that reflect the history of his process.

 Michael Barringer, Bloomstone (Burnt Norton), mixed media on canvas, 48 x 60 inches

Jeannine Marchand, Folds XCV, unglazed ceramic in steel frame, 50 x 50 x 2 inches

Sculptor Jeannine Marchand's sublime artistry makes unglazed white clay appear like draped fabric nestled within a steel frame. Marchand's freestanding and wall-mounted sculptures are minimalist and modern, yet remain visually engaging and accessible. Their allure comes through smooth, sensual folds thoughtfully arranged in cascading compositions which gently explore interplay of light and shadow.

 Jeannine Marchand, Folds LXXVIII, unglazed ceramic in steel frame, 36 x 24 x 2 inches

 Michael Enn Sirvet, Kasha-Katuwe, powder-coated aluminum, 19 x 22 x 11 inches

This exhibition marks the Asheville debut of Michael Enn Sirvet's sculpture, which can be found in major collections throughout the world. Many of his works feature organic and complex patterns formed from subtractive methods which balance negative and positive space. The artist hopes, "the simple intricacies of my abstracted, purified forms and assemblages will invoke recognition and impart the wonder I feel for nature." Michael's previous career as a structural engineer is evident in his multi-faceted architectural metal, stone, and wood sculptures.

 Michael Enn Sirvet, Rousseau Rain Mirror, aluminum, 26 x 44 x 1 inches

An artist reception for this exhibition takes place at Momentum Gallery, located at 24 North Lexington Avenue in downtown Asheville, on Sunday, May 6, from 5-8 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.

Sunday, March 11th, from 5-8pm, Momentum Gallery, in downtown Asheville, opens two new exhibitions pairing gallery artists. Local printmaker Bill Hall makes his Asheville gallery debut in a show that plays his graphic works off those of the late Maltby Sykes (1911-1992), while landscape paintings on found metal by Drew Galloway are presented with works by renowned wood sculptor, Christian Burchard. These two Duos run through April 28, 2018.

Master printer Bill Hall worked with several well-known artists including Helen Frankenthaler, Jim Dine, and Chuck Close during his 30-year career with Pace Editions in New York. Hall’s recent original prints combine aquatint with collage in graphic, minimalist compositions that play with the viewer’s perception of depth, while nuanced surfaces created from organically scratched copper plates provide visual interest to the work.

Bill Hall, Flipped, Aquatint etching with dry point, collage 14 5/8 x 24 5/8 inches

Hall’s prints complement vintage lithographs and mezzotints from the 1950s and 60s by Modernist Maltby Sykes (1911-1992). Revered by generations of students, Sykes was Professor Emeritus of Printmaking at Auburn University, where he taught for many years. Having trained with John Sloan in New York, Diego Rivera in Mexico, and André Lhote and Fernand Léger in Paris, Sykes conquered diverse printmaking techniques and sophisticated subject matter inspired by his travels, mythology, and world events during his lifetime.

Maltby Skyes (1911-1992), Caterpillar, Mezzotint, 8 x 18

Drew Galloway creates his signature painterly works on asymmetrical applied sheets of metal. This unique canvas provides patina and texture, adding depth to his masterful ability to paint reflections of light, trees and sky in pools of rippling water. A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Galloway attended the Alabama School of Fine Arts, Memphis Academy of Art and received his BFA at the Atlanta College of Art in 1987.

Drew Galloway, September Song, Oil on tin, 36 x 48 inches

Nationally recognized for his artistic achievements, Galloway has exhibited extensively throughout the Southeast, where his works are in numerous public, private and corporate collections. Complementing the natural movement in Galloway’s paintings, is the work of Christian Burchard, a master wood sculptor born in Hamburg, Germany, now living and working in Oregon. 

Christian Burchard, Baskets 18 parts, Pacific madrone burl

Burchard uses green, unpredictable wood from the Pacific Madrone burl, which naturally warps and twists, changing shape as it dries, making his final forms unique and nearly impossible to replicate. His works can be found in the permanent collections of over 30 prestigious museums across the country.

An artist reception for both Duo exhibitions (Hall/Sykes & Burchard/Galloway) takes place at Momentum Gallery on Sunday, March 11 from 5-8 p.m. In keeping with the duo theme, the refreshments at the reception will include thoughtful pairings of craft beer/wine and cheese. This event is free and open to the public.

Momentum Gallery (MG) Michael, thank you so much for taking the time out of your schedule to join us today. We appreciate it! Michael, tell us. What led you to becoming an artist?

Michael Barringer (MB)  Well, my mom is an avid reader and my dad was a true nature lover - I think those two influences definitely show up in how and why I do my work.

In fact, I come from a line of artisans; my maternal grandfather was  a quarryman who made his own tools and took a huge interest in crafting. My paternal grandfather was a blacksmith and a railway man who helped to build steam engines. He made things out of wrought iron, he painted watercolours, he made his own wine, grew vegetables.  In the midst of this creative gene pool, I seem to have inherited some of that.

Artistically, literature was my first love. I enjoyed thinking creatively and drawing and so I completed a graduate level painting and drawing program, after my undergraduate degree in English. It seems I found my calling and here I am!

MG Your pieces incorporate themes such as spirituality, history and religion. How do you incorporate those themes within your work? What form does it take usually?

MB  I think it goes back to the original poetic impulse we all have  - that drive to make things. Basic impulses haven’t actually changed that much. We’re all searching for something. If you go back through history and study behaviour, people have always had that impulse. In fact, in the Blombos Caves, off the Southern Cape coastline in South Africa, archaeologists have discovered artifacts one hundred thousand years old - seashells, beads, string and ground pigments. It’s really like an ancient paint factory.  

Bloomstone (Orchestral Palimpsest), mixed media on panel, 32 x 41 inches

 
MG You talk about your work being layered, of accumulation. What prompted that way of working?

MB If you look at TS Eliot’s work, Four Quartets, it talks of an evolving spiritual nature, where things mix together and then go back again.  I like that idea of new cultures being born, then changing to create a new layer, one after another, and snippets remain.  In the physicality of layering - form follows the function. The function is to suggest our accumulated history.   

MG  Poets are a big influence on your work. Who are you inspired by?  

MB TS Eliot again and Wallace Stevens from the early 20th century. He was a champion of the human imagination - he felt that it would replace religion in a way, that we would be generating everything from within and would live by that instinct.

Another inspiration is Walt Whitman - he tends to get back to primal urges and breaks through cultural differences. He shows that we’re all similar, that we all have these animal instincts. He encourages us to get back with nature and be part of it. It’s very interesting.

Kenneth Rexroth was part of the San Francisco Renaissance, a founding father of the Beat Generation.  He took all this knowledge, systems, arts, mixes them all together and writes poems about the subjects in a really well-informed way. His writing is really rounded with direct, stripped-down language. He’s always around somewhere for me.

MG Similarly, quilting is an inspiration. What can we learn from the original quilters throughout history?

MB Southern USA - I grew up with folks who made these real traditional-looking quilts. The designs were predictable and followed a pattern. Then I discovered the quilts made by the ladies of Gee’s Bend, a small, remote, black community in Alabama. For over 120 years, these African American ladies have been creating these  spectacular quilts which are so modern - like something from Matisse for example. None of these ladies would have ever been exposed to Modernism but these quilts are so bold and minimal. When you see them for the first time, it’s shocking. There is no explanation as to how they look so contemporary. It comes from within; a natural design sense. Their exhibition has toured the US - I had the good fortune to see them in Atlanta. Quilting pulls together old items with their own history and creates a new, current thing. That’s interesting to me.

Blombos Cave (Quilt), mixed media on paper, 30 x 22 inches

MG Your pieces range in terms of budget. Was that a conscious decision to hit different price points?

MB  My enjoyment comes from working with different sizes and different material. When I’m working on paper, it’s more like a diary in a way. They’re almost studies for the larger pieces. When you price, you’re using parameters, of course, as you need a benchmark.

MG Can you tell us about your working day? How do you balance family life with that of an artist?

MB That’s always the trick! It’s getting a little easier; my  oldest child is a senior now in high school, then come the twins who are 14. They’re a bit more self-sufficient and don’t need so much day to day care. I try to keep regular hours and not work at night - that’s family time.

You know my family are great at giving me feedback! They’re honest and direct. That opens up possibilities. My wife Mindy is a artist too, a graphic artist.  She is a good sounding board when I need it.

MG Has there been a stand-out moment for you, so far, in your career? What have you been most proud of?

MB  I enjoy submitting work to the large survey shows. Responding to a call for artists, and being judged blind by different curators, then being accepted is a really good feeling.

MG What inspires you?

MB  I tend to have the feeling that any finished piece isn’t quite what I wanted. I’m always coming back at it. I think artists always try to improve upon what came before, so that it’s more in line with your imagination. If you lose that, perhaps it’s time to rethink being a maker of things. That’s the drive of an artist. To become a little prouder each time.

MG Do you have any advice you'd like to share for budding artists?

MB It’s hard work! You have to work through some rough patches to get to the good bits. Be regular and consistent with the work and level of output. Some days I’ll come to the studio, clean up - that kind of activity is just as important as the days when i’m getting work done. Oh and stick with it. Good things will come.

MG As a gallery, we are thrilled to have you join our opening roster at such an exciting time for Momentum and the Asheville art scene as a whole, today. What's exciting you the most right now?

MB  I’ve known Jordan for many years, 17/18 years I think. He’s always been a real champion of my work. When he started his own gallery - I felt I should move with him. I’m excited about the number of artists too - it’s smaller which means it can be more focused. Jordan understands and appreciate the process, the making of a piece and what went into the finished result. From an artist’s point of view, it matters that it’s understood.

Asheville is such a vibrant city, with the university being here especially. It’s always been a place for fine craft in the region which is exciting. It’s getting a lot of national and international attention. It’s a beautiful place too and the people are honest, accessible, open. It’s pretty progressive.

Bloomstone (Curio Cabinet), mixed media on panel, 42 x 48 inches

MG Michael, as ever, thank you for being part of the Momentum Gallery family. We look forward to a wonderful year ahead together.

Michael will be one of the artists represented in Momentum Gallery's booth at Art Wynwood, February 15-19. His work can also be viewed at the gallery or by visiting https://momentumgallery.com/artists/35-michael-barringer/works/

Today, we’re speaking with Steven Goldstein, architect, art consultant, and Asheville local. Steven will be sharing with us his professional insights on buying art for a home, what makes a great piece and how to put a collection together (and how not to!).

Momentum Gallery (MG): Steven, thanks for spending some time with us today. Please tell us, how did your career as an arts consultant come to be?

Steven Goldstein (SG): That’s no problem, pleasure to be talking with you today. So, to answer your question, I used to run an architectural practice, specializing in private homes and high-end residential properties.

After successfully completing these projects, my clients started to ask me to work on other types of buildings, such as their offices, medical buildings, hotels etc.

Since 1969, I’d started to build my own art collection, and so when my clients came to visit my home office, they saw this for themselves, and understood how it related to the space which housed it. If they were new to collecting art, or their own collections perhaps were not so well thought-out, they would, from time to time, ask me to assist in putting together a collection for them. I’d worked with some of these clients for more than 20 years, so we already had a good working relationship and understanding.

MG: That’s fantastic; an interesting career switch to make. So in terms of helping your clients to choose a piece, as we all know, art is so subjective... from a collector’s point of view, should you simply buy the art you love or are there any ‘rules’ to follow?

SG: It really depends on whether or not you are new to the game. If you are experienced, then buying what you love and only what you love is probably the right advice. If you are inexperienced, buying what you love could land you with a whole lot of stuff you think is ordinary or weak later on.

When I start working with a client, I recommend they visit lots of different galleries to experience the differences. Some galleries are only interested in what sells; they’re more commercial and the work can be overpriced. When you dig deeper, you realize it's actually quite ordinary. Once the client has seen these variations, they should be starting to get an understanding of what are they drawn to. Non-representational work being a good example - if a client really doesn’t like that genre, there is no point in sending them to a gallery that specializes in that type of art. Then we move on to exploring what is good in the genres they like.

When we get to the point where there is an artist whose work stands out to them, I then like to teach the client to delve into the artist’s background. Knowing where they were trained for example, will help them understand and see the characteristics of that particular school coming through the work. We look at what this artist has done across their whole career, which with a mid-career artist would be a 10-15 year period. Only at that point will you understand who that artist truly is, and the nature of their work, and then you are equipped to pick the best piece for you.

Steven Goldstein speaking with artist Jeannine Marchand in front of her work 

MG: Thank you. So in terms of the purchase, should collectors have a space in mind or a predetermined idea of where it will live?

SG: It’s fine to have a spot for which you are looking. Sooner or later, though, most collectors end up buying pieces they don't want to live without and find a place to put them.

MG: Time to buy a bigger house, I guess! Steven, in your opinion, is it better to buy a bigger piece by a lesser-known artist or go for a smaller piece by a tried and tested ‘name?’

SG: Budget is important, although the second part of this question has little to do with the first. I advise people to know how much they are comfortable spending at any given time. The balance between bigger unknowns and smaller knowns makes no sense to me at all. If the process required for an unknown artist to produce a small piece is complex or costly, it may cost more than a large one by another unknown or even someone known.

And you know, this is where a gallery owner becomes a really important part of your life. They will help you not to buy purely on a visceral response ,but help you find what’s going to be magic in your life from an aesthetic point of view.

Clients get a sense and feeling about whether the owner is just pushing to sell a piece. When I work with Jordan for example, I know he’s not pushing. He shares lots of information, clients can ask his opinion, learn more about the process - how a piece was made, and what went into it.

Above all, I think art should not be looked at as purely an investment. Instead, see it as a joy - that’s the motivating factor. Of course, if you’re one of the very few people in the world who are spending a minimum of six figures on a piece, then you probably shouldn’t be doing that unassisted. A good art consultant will be adept in knowing what’s happening in the market and current values.

MG: How does one know if the art ‘goes’ in the room - should the piece blend, or stand out?

SG: I never recommend trying to tailor art selections to the decor of a room. Most of my collectors end up with eclectic collections. The important thing is that pieces be displayed in a manner where they aren't competing. For example, I discourage loading a space with very colorful pieces. It is good to flank something with lots of color with muted or monochromatic pieces. Contrast is critical to even noticing the art.

Hoss Haley, Large Tessellation (Cyan), steel, automotive paint, 48 x 43-1/2 x 5-1/2 inches

One other thing that’s important to try to do is don’t leave pieces hanging in the same spot forever. That just breeds familiarity! You get so accustomed to seeing a piece you don’t actually ‘see’ it any more. Small and medium pieces can be rotated and moved so that visually, they look fresh again.

MG: Great tip! Similarly, in terms of the colour palette of the room - match or contrast?

SG: Contrast as a rule, but there are no rules.

MG: Proportion is everything in interior design. What advice can you give in terms of sizing/hanging?

SG: Hanging art on a wall requires analysis of a couple of qualities. The critical one is the amount of detail in the piece and the distance from which it must be seen to be appreciated. This is tougher with smaller highly-rendered/detailed pieces. You need to be close to really appreciate them so they may be in hallways, small rooms where you are circulating around the perimeter, and in bathrooms. If so, I advise finding the central focus of the piece and placing that center at eye level for the average adult viewer. Since people's heights vary a lot, this usually means around 5'3- 5'6 above floor level. If you have clients who are really tall or really short, you have to vary that so they can enjoy the works since they are the ones who will be viewing them every day. I find the biggest mistakes are in mounting height.

MG: What lighting considerations should be made?

SG: This is hard. Most homes are ill-suited to art display in terms of lighting. Most art is best seen with very pointed specific light coming from over the shoulder of the viewer, but certainly out of his/her viewline. Large pieces may require more than one light source and/or accenting certain areas of the piece. Employ outside interior design talent to help you with this.

MG: Finally, any tips for housekeeping (how to protect your art)?

SG: Invest in feather dusters and compressed air containers that don't spray any oil or liquid with the air. Be sure that any piece that is under Museum Glass is cleaned only with products that won't streak or harm the surface. Usually cleaners made for fragile computer screens will work on Museum Glass. Oddly enough, oil paints and acrylics are the most forgiving, but they still should be treated with some delicacy.

I also urge everyone who collects fine art to insure it. Collectors do not buy work to have it sitting in a vault. We like to see it and let our friends experience it as well. A good art policy, in addition to your homeowners insurance makes it easy to live with one’s art and not worry every time you serve someone a glass of red wine.

MG: Steven, thank you very much for your expert advice and insights! As you know, Jordan, Momentum Gallery’s owner has enjoyed spending time with you over the years as a client, art consultant, and friend.

Should you wish any additional information about Steven Goldstein and the services he provides, please feel free to contact him through Momentum Gallery at email@momentumgallery.com  or 828-505-8550. 

We are so proud to be returning to south Florida for Art Wynwood, Presidents Day Weekend, February 15 - 19, 2018. This is our third art fair in the four months since we opened; we're not called Momentum for nothing! Building upon the relationships we have been establishing, we can't wait to showcase even more of our artists and their work in Miami's dynamic and cosmopolitan art market.

Thor & Jennifer Bueno, Terra Firma, blown glass, 48 x 48 inches

If you'd like to join us at the fair, please contact the gallery for complimentary tickets! Momentum Gallery is located at Booth #AW222.

Jeannine Marchand, Folds LXXXIII, Clay, wood, steel, 36 x 12 x 5 inches

We are thrilled that Hoss Haley's Low Shoulder Erratics were selected to be presented in Wynwood's Art in Public Spaces! Additionally, Michael Barringer's Bloomstone (Newgrange IX) was selected as the cover feature image for Artsy's Art Wynwood microsite! Congratulations to both of these incredible artists for getting such well-deserved recognition!

Hoss Haley, Low Shoulder Erratics

From artwynwood.com:

Since its inception in 2012, Art Wynwood has become the premier winter destination contemporary and modern art fair in South Florida, and offers the most diverse, affluent and culturally savvy international audience in the United States. Produced by Art Miami, the Art Wynwood fair will debut its seventh edition during Presidents Day Weekend, February 15 - 19, 2018, at the former Miami Herald site, which also is the new home of Art Miami and CONTEXT Art Miami, and welcomed 80,000 visitors during Miami Art Week 2017...

Art Wynwood will continue to showcase a dynamic array of works, featuring emerging talent from the contemporary market, mid-career artists, blue chip contemporary, post-war and modern masters.

Nestled between the Venetian Causeway and MacArthur Causeway, and just east of Biscayne Boulevard, Art Wynwood will offer an unprecedented level of convenience to and from Miami Beach while being located in the heart of the cultural epicenter of Miami. The new location will offer a renewed connectivity to the 29th annual Miami International Boat Show where the "World's Most Expensive Yachts are on display for acquisition", with complimentary shuttle service between the two daily.

Original works by the following artists will be featured in Momentum Gallery's booth:

Michael Barringer

Thor & Jennifer Bueno

Christian Burchard

David Ellsworth

Drew Galloway

Amy Gross

Hoss Haley

Ron Isaacs

Anne Lemanski

Jeannine Marchand

Maltby Sykes (1911-1992)

David Ellsworth, Line Ascending #10, Black ash burl, 37 x 8-1/2 x 8-1/2 inches

Sunday, February 11th, at 2pm, Momentum Gallery hosts an artist talk and demonstration with beloved local printmaker, Andy Farkas. Andy will discuss his creative process followed by the specific process of woodcut printmaking in the Japanese style of moku hanga, beginning with his carving technique and followed by his printing technique. He will demonstrate each (carving, then printing) and then participants may try printing under his guidance! 

Letting all questions fall away revealed the beauty of the moment-and his bliss, moku hanga

A 2017 documentary on Andy will also be shown. This opportunity to meet the artist and learn more about his work takes place at Momentum Gallery, 24 N Lexington Avenue, Sunday, February 11th, from 2-4pm. This event is free and open to all ages and abilities.

It came to her. She didn't ask for it, but neither did she push it away, wood engraving

Continuing through February 24th, an exhibition of Andy Farkas’ magical work occupies Momentum’s Feature Gallery. His wood engravings and moku hanga (Japanese watercolor woodcut) prints consistently delight young and old with their narrative depictions of personified animals combined with poignant original sayings in handset letterpress type. Come see a selection of Andy’s recent works, including the newest print, “Where I Go.”

 Seeing, they were bound to it-to follow it, what would they become, moku hanga

Happy holidays from Momentum Gallery! We hope this season brings you the gifts of contentment, joy, peace, and love. We are grateful to our staff, artists, clients, and friends for the immense support and look forward to seeing you in the coming weeks. 

Our holiday hours are:

Sunday,    December 24         12pm - 4pm

Monday,   December 25         CLOSED, MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Sunday,    December 31          12pm - 8pm, New Year's Eve Opening 5pm-8pm

Monday.   January 1                 12pm - 6pm, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Today, we are joined by one of Momentum Gallery's treasured artists: Asheville resident Andy Farkas. Andy shares his journey with us, discussing what concepts inspire his work and his thoughts on the thriving North Carolina art scene.

"Momentum Gallery has something for everyone. We carry unique works that are museum quality pieces for the discerning collector and we are also passionate about cultivating new art enthusiasts. People often ask me what art to buy as the best investment. I always say: 'buy the work you love.'"

The past two months has seen Momentum venture outside of North Carolina, exhibiting at two of the most exciting fairs in the art world: SOFA Chicago and newcomer on the block, FORM Miami during Art Basel.