Greenville Technical College in Greenville, SC, is presenting an exhibition entitled, f word, featuring works by Alice Ballard, Katrina Majkut, Lynne Riding, and Katya Cohen, on view at RIVERWORKS Gallery, located along the Reedy River in Greenville, through December 16, 2017.
F word is usually a more palatable, polite, hushed version of a caustic, curse. This exhibition, f word, politely whispers an all too often misunderstood term, “feminist”– feminist as the curse of cuckolding, uppity women.
The f word defines feminist as regenerative, life-giving nature as seen in Alice Ballard’s exquisite ceramic wall pods. Ballard defines her process: “I spend countless hours contemplating a particular form in order to feel its energy. It becomes a Zen-like connection not unlike a meditation.” Ballard, a grandmother, currently teaches at the SC Governor’s School for the Arts (SGCAH) and Humanities and Christ Church Episcopal Middle School and maintains a studio here in Greenville.
Work by Katrina Majkut
The f word is intricate, petite, cross stitched samplers of contraceptive products from Katrina Majkut’s “Control” series. She states, “Such mediums contain their own patriarchal or submissive history, and modernizing them to convey how particular cultural practices are often at odds with women’s parity.” Majkut is a visual artist and writer living and working in Brooklyn, NY. She is dedicated to exploring and understanding feminine narratives and civil rights.
Lynne Riding’s “Concerning Beings” fills the floor of RIVERWORKS with strikingly fragile white paper bowls – vessels, the ancient, mythological female symbol. According to Riding, “It occurred to me that the daily practice required when making these bowls references the daily chores and some of the tedium involved with many daily domestic chores, aligned with attention to detail and the care required.” Riding is a practicing artist in Charleston and on the faculty of the College of Charleston and the Art Institute of Charleston.
Works by Lynne Riding
Katya Cohen states, “Contemporary Art cannot be addressed without tracing its roots to Duchamp’s readymades; his most (in)famous being Fountain done in 1917…” In homage to the 100th Anniversary of Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain, Cohen paints, in the manner of Rubens, details of this classic male fixture as seductive, sensuous, female curves. Cohen lives and maintains a studio practice in Clemson after gracefully retiring from teaching classes, ranging from printmaking to seminars in contemporary art theory, at UGA, Clemson, Anderson, Furman and at the SGCAH.
f word’s subtle images and palette invite contemplation and possibly a rethinking of the cultural myths of feminism. Through its quiet images, forms, and tones it politely asks for consideration of women as equals.
RIVERWORKS Gallery is operated by and for the faculty and students of the Department of Visual and Performing Arts at Greenville Technical College. The gallery is located on River Street, Suite 202, along the scenic Reedy River in downtown Greenville.
For further information call 864/271-0679, e-mail to (elizabeth.markel@gvltec.edu), or visit (www.gvltec.edu/dva) and click on RIVERWORKS.
Carolina Arts News 