Buster Levi Gallery is pleased to present a series of focused group exhibitions. The fifth of these exhibits, titled, Altars and Altering, will feature ceramic sculptures by Ada Pilar Cruz and paintings by Gretchen Kane. The exhibit will run from June 30 through July 30, 2023. The opening for the show will be on Saturday July 1, 2023 from 5-8pm.
Cruz and Kane work in different mediums, yet both share an interest and attachment to nature as an integral part of their art.
Ada Pilar Cruz
Ada Pilar Cruz makes clay figurative shrines that she places on altars or a lifted mound creating a sense of ‘sanctuary’, a special place for contemplation. Cruz has placed her sculptures in wood areas – along trails, or rocky wall crevices or niches. Ideally they are hidden to be discovered by a hiker, walker, wanderer. Cruz has stated that; “I am looking at those figures that evoke a deliberate spirituality in that they are made for shrines - (of audience or viewer interpretation or choosing). Many of the figures are made with parts found in nature to create either context or texture”. In addition, Cruz’s use of glaze fired in a wood kiln make them appear as if they are part of the natural world. The colors flow and have multiple ‘accidents’ that happen during the firing. They feel worn, as if they have been exposed to the elements for years. Their surfaces are complex, never repetitive and always engaging. These sculptures evoke contemplation through their placement, their construction and their experimental connection to nature.
Gretchen Kane has drawn and painted in woods, streams and near mountains much of her creative life. She is interested in her perceptions of nature, the elements and their movements of opposites. Kane’s paintings are an exploration of these energies through the use of form, color, and texture. Her practice is a pathway towards a personal expression of the beauty and scale we live within. Kane’s paintings do not mimic the natural world. However, it is clear they derive their structure, movement and space through perceptive observation of the relationships between elements in nature. Her paintings are active in the way various trees, bushes, grasses interact with their individual colors, textures and the spaces that exist between them. Kane’s paintings also contain various textures, paint applications, gestural lines, broad areas of color that establish complex relationships moving both spatially and across their surface, There is a definite sense of looking, searching and willingness to discover and accept unanticipated possibilities much as one walking through a woods might chance on the extraordinary.
Buster Levi Gallery is open Friday 3:30-6:30, Saturday and Sunday from 12-6 pm.
Gretchen Kane, acrylic on canvas, 36x40” 2023