Abstract ceramic sculptures by Jason Briggs will be part of the D*SIGNS Galley exhibit opening Saturday.
By Ann McCreary
A contemporary art exhibit featuring industrial painter Steve Ward, sculptor Jason Briggs and installation artist Squeak Meisel will open with a reception at D*SIGNS Gallery in Twisp on Saturday (Sept. 26) from 6 – 8 p.m.
Meisel, a nationally recognized installation artist and Washington State University sculpture professor, has created a painted piece that will fill the Spartan Art Project travel trailer, which will be parked in front of the D*SIGNS gallery on Glover Street. Meisel will give a talk about installations and public art during the reception at 7 p.m.
The opening reception will offer wine tasting by Glover Street Market and food catered by Suekii Cornwall.
Exhibit curator Matt Armbrust said he was interested in bringing together artists known locally, regionally and nationally.
Methow Valley artist and firefighter Steve Ward has been on the fire lines all summer. Ward works with carbon steel, which he coaxes into art by cutting, welding and bending. He is self-taught and untraditional, and said he is most comfortable trying new things. Creating each piece of art is taking a chance, he said.
“If I had some formal training, I’d be horrified with what I do and not do. I would feel my work is wrong,” Ward said.
Donna Keyser, D*SIGNS owner, said Ward has created new work for the exhibit, and she has invited owners of his art to loan pieces for the exhibit so that it will provide a retrospective on his work as well.
Briggs creates ceramic sculpture that could be described as abstract, surreal and erotic.
“Though my objects contain strong visual references, I am more interested in the implied tactile ones; the things that stir in me a compulsion to touch,” Briggs said in an artist statement.
“Beyond other external inspiration lies this basic, primal impulse. I recognize — and act upon — a profound desire to push, poke, squeeze, stroke, caress, and pinch.”
Meisel’s work includes permanent public art installations across the Northwest, as well as temporary installations and performance art.
“The artworks I make grow out of an improvisational dialogue between materials and space. Working predominately as an installation artist or sculptor, I adopt commonplace objects or signifiers and give them new life as a mark within the format of a space,” Meisel said in his artist statement.
“In recent years many of my installations have been accompanied by sound. Within these installations, sounds function as an influential element in the development of the physical work and usually play as part of the work throughout its display,” Meisel said.
The exhibit continues through Oct. 31. After the opening, the Spartan Art trailer with Meisel’s installation will return to its home base at TwispWorks, while art by Briggs and Ward will be on display at D*SIGNS through Oct. 31. Gallery hours are Wednesday – Saturday 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
