Artist Talk
Saturday, February 15, 2:00p
The Roxbury Arts Group invites the public to the Artist Talk of “Do You Read Me?”, an exhibit curated by Beth Caspar of work that came about in response to a question that many artists who work non-representationally have asked. Viewers have a tendency to shy away from work that has no imagery that they can immediately put words to or objects they can recognize and name or describe. This Artist Talk, taking place at the Roxbury Arts Center on Saturday, February 15 at 2:00p, will allow community members to explore this idea and interact with the artists in the intimate setting of the Walt Meade Gallery. The Artist Talk is free and open to the public.
Artists whose work is included in the upcoming Do You Read Me? exhibit include Beth Caspar, John Huddleston, Tamiko Kawata, Hedi Kyle, Judy Linn and Wanda Siedlecka.
Beth Caspar describes John Huddleston’s work as “powerful” and “identifiable in the natural world” and was surprised to find that he himself had pondered this question and “started to think the idea applied not only to nonobjective art”. Judy Lin’s work, consisting of a collection of photography taken of books was both “surprising and ironic” to Caspar. Hedi Kyle “was an obvious choice,” creating “clever, playful” and “beautifully engineered books” as well as folded paper objects made of printed matter. Tamiko Kawate is an artist “whose work just bowls me over,” says Caspar. “It’s intelligent, witty and all about everyday materials and what surprising things can be done with them”.
Wanda Siedlecka was at first skeptical of the exhibit’s concept when Caspar approached her. “Words and narrative are very important to her and the way she works.” Ultimately, she accepted the challenge and came up with “two engrossing solutions.” Caspar talks about her own work as a “hidden narrative – words are there right before your eyes but you will never be able to read them and instead should engage with the work in terms of shape, pattern, and color.”
“My hope for Do You Read Me? is that those who come to see the show put aside the urge to interpret the work and just get lost in it, be overcome by the urge to touch it, laugh along with it, basically let their right brains take over and just experience it. There’s nothing to fear” says curator Beth Caspar.
Artists will be present at the Artist Talk on Saturday, February 15 at 2:00pm at the Roxbury Arts Center, located at 5025 Vega Mountain Road. Gallery hours are Tuesday – Saturday 10:00 a.m.– 3:00 p.m. and by appointment, through February 15. For more information about this and all Roxbury Arts Group events, please visit roxburyartsgroup.org or call 607.326.7908.
The 2020 Roxbury Arts Group gallery series is sponsored by Roxbury Wine & Spirits. All programs offered by the Roxbury Arts Group are supported by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the NYS Legislature, the A. Lindsay and Olive B. O’Connor Foundation, the Robinson Broadhurst Foundation, The Tianaderrah Foundation, The Delaware National Bank of Delhi and by the generosity of business sponsors and individual donors like you.