After reading and writing about huge monuments and the animosity they may engender (Temporary Monuments, ArtBlog, April 24 ), it is a pleasure to write about the work of Christine Stoughton and Anne Marble at Rosemont College, Patricia M. Nugent Gallery (recently closed).
On view was an intimate, serene, introspective world where ephemera is presented in all it simply-complex splendor.
On Saturday, May 25, Christine and Anne talked about their show Paper, Wood, and Holes, Conversations in Synchronicity.
Christine and Anne have studios in the Norristown Arts Building and while working independently they recognized they were on parallel aesthetic journeys. Their show at Rosemont seamlessly intermingled their paintings and constructions with plants, textiles, and furniture to present an environment that rewarded slowing down, looking closely and taking time with the work.
During their talk Christine and Anne spoke about first sharing their stories, about finding and experiencing art in the real world (not the white cube), about the materiality of ephemera, about the collaboration of the tactile and the visual, and how objects change as they are manipulated through play.
“What IF” becomes an aesthetic experience. Art and beauty is all around us if we look and pay attention.
Christine, in “String Theory,” attaches vertical rows of string with ink stained paper in tonalities from deep blacks to silvery grays, on canvas, resulting in what looks like a like a desiccated field in winter waiting for rejuvenation. Gray push pins anchor the upper and lower edges, casting shadows that become broken tree trunks.
Anne, in “Vestige,” knits gauze like fabric (flax roving) tinted in warm browns and tans, with thin branches and stitching like a feathery, soft loam.
“Cabinet of Curiosities” is a shared experience. It houses a collaborative collection of objects – found and fabricated – that become informative relics and/or fetishes, rather than precious keepsakes.
Christine and Anne both mentioned how visual artists, for the most parts, work in isolation in their studios. In group shows, artists may share gallery space but still present separate bodies of work. In Paper, Wood and Holes, their work was a fluidly interwoven environment, just as each individual piece is made by an interwoven variety of materials.
Synchronicity becomes synergy.
PAPER, WOOD, AND HOLES: Conversations in Synchronicity, May 8 – June 3, 2024. Patricia M. Nugent Gallery. Rosemont College
Read more articles by Ruth Wolf on Artlog.
