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September 26th through October 25th,
2008
Retreat
new works by Donna
Stephenson and
Jill Hadley Hooper
Opening Reception:
Friday September 26th, 6 -10 pm
(We'll be watching the presidential debate in the Blue Door
Media Room)
Open First Friday:
Friday October 3rd, 7 -10 pm
Ironton Studios is
open
Monday through Friday from 10 to 4, and
Saturdays from 12 to 4.
Retreat is an installation of two artists’ work, one
presenting large-scale monochromatic prints of rustic, decaying
buildings, and the other offering expressively painted deep
forest scenes. The result is an investigation into impermanence
using one place, a forest, through two perspectives.
Hooper’s dwellings, in various states of disrepair,
offer the opportunity to recognize change and natures steady
hierarchy. In one painting fragments of Carl Sandburg’s
poem, "Grass", are woven into the mortar and stones
of the edifice:
“I am grass I cover all.
I am grass, let me work.”
The forest paintings by Stephenson represent idealized nature.
In contrast to the buildings, they are lush and colorful.
The forest offers the possibility of both discovery and loss.
They are alive and dark and are where all the good stories
start. And, in the end, the woods will reclaim the efforts
at constructing in their midst.
The Artists:
Donna Stephenson (formerly Donna Van Horn) is an accomplished
oil painter with a direct and spontaneous style.
Jill Hadley Hooper is a painter and illustrator.
Donna and Jill met in 1982 at the Kansas City Art Institute.
Donna was old enough to buy beer, Jill had a car.
More information on the artists is available at donnastephenson.com and hadleyhooper.com.
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