Katie Wood's watercolor and inkpen figure drawings I spent Sunday afternoon before Thanksgiving warm in my car, surprised because I could barely park at the biggest local mall. I got together with my friends. They were late. We couldn't find each other in the parking megalopolis. We were on our cell phones, out, kicking our heels in the parking lot, hoping the other would find us. And finally, we got organized in my van, waited for the last kid to come back from the bathroom, and got on the road an hour late for our appointment at the appointments-only art gallery in Charlottesville, an hour's drive from our starting point. I caught Katie Wood's and Nina Thomas' wonderful show of prints and drawings that filled the Radio IQ gallery for the month of November. Katie's art is available now via her website, and also through her printmaker studio in Richmond, VA. If it's the atmosphere you're after, the weather is still windy and chilly, so make the drive, maybe in the mid-afternoon like me, spend some time examining the art at one of Charlottesville's galleries, and then venture a block over to the pedestrian downtown mall as the darkness closes in, and warm up over a bowl of soup, a hot beverage, or a giant pizza with new friends and a squirmy toddler. Katie Wood offered a collection of pristine, small figure drawings in ink, which were typical of the professional work she currently produces. Many of her subjects are feminine, often in pairs or trios, and they call back the ideals of Renaissance realism in their figures, their attitude, and occupation. Katie's art portrays a healthy model of the female figure, and stages a raw demonstration of inter-female confidence and pathos in a private world. Color unified Katie's show. Beautiful shades of purple complemented by yellow could be found in many of her pieces. She says she applies bold washes of color first, allowing them to determine a space for her sparse, accurate drawings. This iPhoto of an atypical media -- a Starbucks-turned-paint cup -- with a typical subject -- a woman offering comfort, drawing strength -- was admired by gallery-goers as a raw, purple gem. In this case, Katie noticed an inspiring, circumstantial application of paint, and rolled with it. Like a gem growing in a crevice of rock, her sketches precipitate from the whimsical washes of color inside the cup.
I have learned that purple and white, worn on the right occasion, represent the strength of women in political America. A male media anchor covering the recent presidential election wore white shirts and purple ties. He wished to honor Suffragettes, who wore white shirts and purple scarves. I had the presidential election and the rise of women in politcs in mind while looking at her art, and also Classical Mythology. After graduating, Katie participated in a residency in Venice, Italy, where part of her assignments included trips to the museums to sketch Classical masterpieces. She has taken in the languid poses of the female idols as the center of deep, perspective compositions. Her women are full figured and even seem pale, since they are empty line drawn figures executed with precision, so they appear crisp on the white paper. Katie also has strong roots to her home. She conveys an interest in the oldest cabin homes in her hometown outside of Charlottesville. Her women figures are basking beauties, in several instances, reclining in front of a desolate log cabin in the shade of blooming mountain laurels, or something like that. Katie thanked her family for their support, even when they accompanied her on sketching expeditions at these remote, local settings. These cool cabins are hyperbolized and gangly in a very-Katie way. They hover in white space behind the ladies, and you don't need Katie's background story to know that these nude women-of-the-Earth aren't connected with them in any real-life sense. My favorite compositions are a collage of looming, dark houses, basking, furrow-browed women, and stylized branches and leaves all overlapping a swirling pool of color. The women seem to be on a kind of retreat, and just rest. They bask and recline, or confer with the intimacy of whispers. Their figures reflect Renaissance ideals of beauty -- full figured, and pale-seeming, since they are just white-filled shapes, and even their hair, often cropped and curly, sweeps up suggesting a corded up-do, though, in fact, the styles are modern. Also, the women's expressions reflect the drama of Renaissance realism. Some are distraught, and others peeved. Some are sensual. Then, others seem careworn and tired, which I think is distinctly modern. The worried women, with looming, dark homes behind them, elicit my sympathy. They all seemed strong in some way. I'm proud of Katie's work, her dedication, and look forward to more work she will produce.
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No Subject Kid knows how to gather a crowd — literally. The first of four acts at Friday’s Music Productions Club of GMU’s Spooky Soiree, Alex Schreiber (No Subject Kid) asked the audience to get closer to the stage. . The crowd, dressed in their best Halloween getup, approached the red-and-black plaided Schreiber, dressed as a punk bat, referencing Thomas Nagel's essay ("What is Like a Bat?") on compassion.
He began his act by saying he didn't know what to call it, but to let him know after the show if we thought of an appropriate term. On my dark, breezy walk back to Lot K, I thought of "sungken," since it is both sung + spoken word + really sinks in... enjoy! |
AuthorWe are Kieran and Michelle, two 32-year-old William & Mary grads living in Virginia. Archives
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