John Skau’s Wood: A Point of Departure
In October 2007, our community lost a highly respected artist named John Skau. John was internationally known and respected for his exquisite sculptural plaited weavings. He was also deeply loved by many people throughout the Piedmont Triad. John was a big gentle soul with a generous spirit and a great smile; he is still missed.
When John died, he left behind a large inventory of wooden forms and veneer strips he would have used in his artwork. John’s wife, Judy West, donated much of the wood to Bricolage. Bricolage then joined with StudioB, a Greensboro special events center, and the Piedmont Land Conservancy, an organization John and Judy long supported, and developed “John Skau’s Wood: A Point of Departure” to further integrate John’s wood into the community. The project invited area artists to create new works using John’s remaining wood, with the works being shown together in a group exhibition. In art-making, the “point of departure” is the starting point, when the artist turns from the world at large as the source of inspiration, to the art work at hand, and begins. For this project, then, John’s point of departure was to be the artist’s point of departure.
Participants included photographers who photographed John’s wood to document the remaining materials and depict the beauty that he saw within his materials as well as artists working in other mediums who chose pieces of his wood to create new 2D and 3D works. These artists are James Burns and Dave Gregory of Winston Salem NC; Karen Tury Cecil, Marc Derro, Diane Ellis, Anni Frolich, Hollis Gabriel, Danielle Hatfield, Jim Hoyle, Stacy Nofsinger, Christian Parsons, Rob Rachlin, Joy Schreiber, Brittany Sondberg Matthew Spencer, Mark Wagner, Anne Willson and Lisa Woods of Greensboro NC; Ginger Williamson of Oak Ridge NC; Alix Hitchcock of Mocksville NC; Peter Driscoll of Bermuda Run NC; Teresa Wiles of Kernersville NC; Lynn Pownell of Haw River NC; Kurt Gabriel of Charlotte NC; and Tony Bible of Warsaw, Ohio.
Works by all the artists will be on display at the opening reception on March 5, 2010, 6 – 9 pm, at StudioB, located at 528 South Elm Street in downtown Greensboro. After March 6, the 2D works will remain at StudioB and the 3D works will be on display at Bricolage and several Greensboro Public Libraries through the end of April 2010. Works will be offered for sale at the discretion of each artist.
A second reception and musical celebration of John featuring the Nutbush Ramblers will be held Friday, April 2, 6 – 9 pm, also at StudioB.
Please join us in remembering John and his work, and the new works that come from what he left behind.
More on John:
http://www.piedmontcraftsmen.org/indv-artist.php?aid=171
http://www.americanartco.com/page.aspx?cid=207&id=354
Cosponsors
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