An International Exhibit of Works Made Using Graphite
Drawing Room and Parallel Space
Opening Friday, January 27, 6-9p.m. Exhibit continues: January 28 - February 24, 2012
According to Wikipedia: The mineral graphite /ˈɡræfaɪt/ is one of the allotropes of carbon. It was named by Abraham Gottlob Werner in 1789 from the Ancient Greek γράφω (graphō), "to draw/write",[4] for its use in pencils, where it is commonly called lead (not to be confused with the metallic element lead). Unlike diamond (another carbon allotrope), graphite is an electrical conductor, a semimetal. It is, consequently, useful in such applications as arc lamp electrodes. Graphite is the most stable form of carbon under standard conditions. Therefore, it is used in thermochemistry as the standard state for defining the heat of formation of carbon compounds. Graphite may be considered the highest grade of coal, just above anthracite and alternatively called meta-anthracite, although it is not normally used as fuel because it is difficult to ignite.
This definition reveals the true nature of the substance so many of us have drawn and written with since childhood. This seemingly commonplace substance, ubiquitous in schools, studios, and businesses, is the core of what is in fact a real equivalent to a modern day magic wand. Akin to diamonds and earth, and difficult to ignite, it nevertheless manages to turn 'lead' to gold in the grip of intense and purposeful artists' hands. With a flick of a wrist it converts mere flexible planes of pressed and dried wood or cotton pulp into beguiling, energy filled artifacts.
Manifest continues its eighth season with a project featuring works made from graphite. We of course expected to see a good many straight forward graphite 'drawings,' but we also realize that graphite is used as a primary media in many other art forms as well. So through its rigorous jury process Manifest was eager to see just how artists make work, including sculpture, mixed media, and non-traditional art, using graphite as a primary (but not necessarily exclusive) media.
For this exhibit 224 artists from 37 states and 20 countries submitted 473 works for consideration. Eighteen works by the following 16 artists from Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Germany and Mexico were selected for presentation in the gallery and catalog.
Linda Anderson Bloomington, Indiana
Olga Chorro Mexico City, Mexico
Marshall Harris Ft. Worth, Texas
Nathan Heuer Victoria, Texas
Lauren Lake Gainesville, Florida
Marc Leone Cincinnati, Ohio
Michelle-Marie Letelier Berlin, Germany
Paul Lorenz Paducah, Kentucky
Armin Mersmann Midland, Michigan
Felicity Papp Paderborn, Germany
Anthony Pessler Phoenix, Arizona
Suzanne Proulx Erie, Pennsylvania
Seana Reilly Atlanta, Georgia
Ryder Richards Princeton, Texas
Lena Schmid Leverett, Massachusetts
Robin Smith Littleton, Colorado
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Manifest Gallery Presents
The Love Boat (abandoned) & other new sculptures by Travis Townsend
Main gallery
Opening Friday, January 27, 6-9p.m. Exhibit continues: January 28 - February 24, 2012
For this third in Manifest's series of season 8 solo exhibits we are proud to present the work of regional professor and artist, Travis Townsend. His large scale toy-like sculptural assemblages promise to transform Manifest's Main Gallery into a mysterious and engaging archaeological playground for discovery. Townsend skillfully walks a thin line between low-craft and high design, whimsy and irony, and he does so in such a way as to create truly unique objects which, ultimately, survive their polar distractions and take on an implied life of their own. With a wry and direct honesty, like a child's drawings, they humbly represent an absolute joy for shared creativity.
Of his work Townsend states:
My idiosyncratic sculptures play off the forms and function of tools, toys, boats, and, perhaps, military equipment. These process-oriented works take a winding path to completion, evolving from continuously redrawn sketches and traveling through many transformations before being cut apart, reassembled, and reworked. Parts are often transplanted, left behind, or recycled. Through this method of construction and reconstruction, I am able to intuitively build and then, at a later time, make necessary changes.
Embracing the unplanned, these oddly familiar, nearly useful-looking sculptures are imbued with human characteristics and gestures. Curious inspection and patient observation reveal previously unseen drawings and room-like interiors, many with small chairs and ladders “left over” from previous inhabitants. These things have handles, openings, drawn symbols, and moveable parts, but like the mystery of a ritual object from a broken-down culture, the physical or metaphorical functions are left to the imagination. In an increasingly commercialized, displaced society, I’m attempting to build slow, somewhat clumsy, objects that reveal a layered history.
Bio: Travis Townsend studied at Kutztown University (BS 1996) and Virginia Commonwealth University (MFA 2000), has recently presented solo exhibitions at Doppler PDX (Portland), Bloomsburg University (PA), the Southwest School of Art and Craft (San Antonio), Weston Gallery (Cincinnati), Georgetown College (KY), and the New Arts Program (PA), and been included in group exhibitions at the University of Hawaii, Cedarhurst Center for the Arts (IL), Kendall College (MI); Spaces Gallery (Cleveland); Lehigh University (PA); and Zone: Chelsea (New York). Images of his artwork have been published in The Penland Book of Woodworking, New American Paintings, and the Manifest National Drawing Annual.
His awards include an Emerging Artist Grant from the American Craft Council, a Fellowship from the Kentucky Arts Council, three grants from the Virginia A. Groot Foundation, and a National Young Sculptors Award from Miami University. Townsend has participated in residencies at Oregon College of Art and Craft, Penland School of Crafts, Vermont Studio Center, and the Emma Lake Collaboration. He lives in Lexington, KY, teaches drawing, design, and concepts at Eastern Kentucky University, and has taught workshops at Penland (NC), Peters Valley Craft Center (NJ), Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts (TN), and Oregon College of Art and Craft. Townsend recently curated an exhibition titled Generously Odd for the Lexington Art League. Ongoing projects include a series of drawing-based installations wit
