BECCA MARTIN-BROWN
bmartin@nwaonline.com
If you know the Eureka Springs art scene, there are names you certainly know — Zeek Taylor, Mary Springer, Larry Mansker, John Rankine. One of Rankine’s continuing commitments to the artists in the community is showcasing their work in group exhibitions at Brews, the coffee and craft beer cafe he owns.
In “Seasoned,” now open, he’s mixed the “long established artists with talented elder artists who have not received the recognition they deserve.”
“This is one of the largest shows I’ve curated, with more than 60 local artists involved, and the only criteria for participating was that artists were aged 65 and older,” he explained. “It’s a huge collection of different mediums, from traditional painting to mixed media collage, ceramics and more.”
“Interestingly, I am gaining a sense of power in my creative process as I grow older,” said exhibitor and assemblage artist Maureen Dailey. “No doubt my work has always been reflective of the particular phase I was living through, but [now] it feels a little less about my emotional journey as a woman and hopefully more reflective of a connection to humanity as a whole.
“I am braver now and less introspective,” she mused. “Kind of like the self awareness has solidified, and I am not searching as much.”
Dailey has two pieces in the show, “Aluk” and “The Thunderbird,” both mixed media. Also showing is “The Wizened One,” an assemblage by Phyllis Moraga.
“This is a rendition of a very wrinkled woman’s face, created using only sticks, driftwood, grasses and moss,” said Moraga, who is well known in Eureka Springs as an actress and proprietor of Wonderland Antiques. “I love the way she turned out — but I will never make another one! It was not a lot of fun to make, as it was very difficult. In my mind, art should not be difficult, it should flow out of you.”
Moraga said she has worked in many mediums.
“Silly as it may sound, when I was about 9, I decided I wanted Darrin Stephens’ ‘Bewitched’ job as a commercial artist,” she remembered. “I went to art school in the late ’80s and worked as a graphic designer for many years. I couldn’t, wouldn’t, keep up with computer generated artwork, and left that behind to become an ‘artiste.’
“I have worked as an illustrator, muralist and painter,” she elaborated. “I like working with fabrics, making headpieces, reworking jewelry and creating unique costumes.
“Currently, I am in love with assemblage,” Moraga went on. “I have a tendency to get bored working in just one medium and have found that assemblage is such a vast idea, one always finds something new to try. Sometimes, I think of an interesting project, and mull about how to make it work, collecting the materials I will need over a period of time. Once I set to work on it, I find out if it is something that I find captivating enough to do it more than once.”
Moraga is currently “creating dioramas inside old boxes, using odds and ends that I have gathered in my lifetime as an antiques dealer. The dioramas usually start with a single piece that leads me to create a themed box around it. Some are thought provoking, while others are simply there to make you smile.
“I take my artwork seriously, but I make art meant to make people think and smile.”
Dailey said she has always worked in mixed mediums, with glass and clay having a special place in her creations.
“Nothing really is off limits, though, as long as it’s visually unique or speaks to my vision,” she added. “Once I allowed myself to step into the art world, I just began working — seeing objects not as they were designed to be but what potential they could become. I have never stopped creating. It is my blissful place and a venue for my voice.”
Paraphrasing Picasso, she added that she hopes visitors to the show at Brews “will come away with such a visceral response that for at least a moment the dust of everyday life is blown away.”
__
FAQ
‘Seasoned’
WHEN — Through February
WHERE — Brews, 2 Pine St. in Eureka Springs
COST — Free
INFO — facebook.com/BrewsEureka
