Art by Rebecca Brantley

The Wonderful Lightness of Being: The first show of the year at the Athens Institute of Contemporary Art is “Transience: The Paradox of Being” which investigates the constant state of change, and the temporary nature of life. Curators Katy Logue Thompson and Christopher MacKay have chosen artists from around the nation to contribute to this exhibit, using Young Kim’s ephemeral portraits on beds of sand and clay as the centerpiece. During the opening reception on Jan. 20, the temporary nature of Kim’s installation was accentuated by the impromptu footprint of a visitor imprinted on the sand. Rebecca Murtaugh, from Syracuse, NY, has created an installation titled “Breath” by placing bundles of thermoplastic-covered matches sporadically about the wall. The fresh randomness of “Breath” feels like ripe fruit waiting to be plucked.

Rebecca Brantley, an Athens-based artist, uses plant-derived pigment in her six untitled paintings on display. Brantley’s subject matter references biological organs and botanical designs with an abstracted simplicity. Ron Lambert, from Seattle, WA, is displaying a series of videos in vinyl boxes of a single bird struggling to fly, as if fighting against the wind, dedicated and strong yet unable to succeed.

Katie Sehr, of Buffalo, NY, offers an intricate yet simple meditation in ink. Eric Lunde, Billie Lynn, Laura Maikinen, Howard Oransky, Adrienne Raxter, Karen Simpson, Harrison Storms, Jessica Witte and Angel Di Zhang have all contributed strong work. Zamila Karimi will present an ice sculpture addressing the philosophy of Islam on Mar. 3. The show runs through Mar. 4. Check Out There! for upcoming associated events. ATHICA is located in the Chase Street Warehouses at 160 Tracy St. Unit 4. For more info, visit www.athica.org or call 706-208-1613.

Printmaking at Broad Street Gallery: “Multiple Impressions: Voices in Contemporary Printmaking” will be on view at the Lamar Dodd School of Art Broad Street Gallery through Feb. 23. The exhibit includes four UGA Printmaking Professors: Shelly DiCello, Margot Ecke, Melissa Harshman and Rick Johnson. The printmaking faculty members have invited Lisa Bulawsky, Holly Morrison, Heather O’Hara and John Risseeuw to participate in the exhibit.

Harshman uses the computer to create an image, and then brings it “out of the box” with traditional printmaking. Her image of a ring of green Jell-O, proudly held in the dainty hand of a glamorously dressed woman, strikingly illustrates the extent of change in both fashion and food over the past 50 years. Look for Harshman’s work this month in the Madison-Morgan Cultural Center show “Ladylike? Women Artists Working in the South.”

Johnson has selected to display two books: “Un Suona al di la” uses etchings to illustrate poems by Mike Nicholson. “Una Giornata” views a day in the life of a fanciful photographer in Cortona, Italy. New faculty in the UGA printmaking department, Ecke and DiCello, demonstrate a strong base in traditional printmaking techniques and a contemporary exploratory nature. Ecke uses copic stitch with decorative spine strips to create a book that crawls like a caterpillar along the wall. This sculptural book is part of her “Story Structure Series,” in which the pages have been left blank with only the structure indicating the book's intended meaning. DiCello is displaying a traditional intaglio print and an installation which cascades from the wall onto the floor like a camellia bush losing its blossoms. She has used blue and white ink on the wall to draw lace-like lines.

O’Hara, from Plunger Press (www.plungerpress.com), is displaying two woodcuts depicting decapitated political figures, as part of her "Home Preservation Series." Bulawsky’s “Flashbulb Memories” are personal/ cultural constructs of history. She shows “memories of the circumstances in which one first learned of a very surprising and consequential event.” “Flashbulb Memory 1973, Vietnam War” is a mixed-media monotype using lithography, woodcut, digital collage and watercolor. The scene is a station wagon on the grass with two soldiers on the ground where one would expect to see a picnic, with splattered red symbolizing blood and two faint heads floating in the sky. Risseeuw has a distinct message concerning landmines, landmine victims and communities affected by landmines. “Total Fucking Idiots” is a book of 13 portraits of politicians with their faces blacked-out. Morrison’s contribution reinforces the exhibit’s abundance of book art. Broad Street Gallery is located at 257 W. Broad St. If printmaking is your thing, check out the UGA Annual Juried Printmaking Show up through Feb. 14 at the Lamar Dodd School of Art on Jackson Street. See www.art.uga.edu for more info.

Nina Bovasso at Lamar Dodd: Nina Bovasso has work up in the Lamar Dodd School of Art Main Gallery, in the Visual Arts Building on Jackson Street, until Mar. 9. Bovasso’s exhibit is titled “The Cartographer’s Podiatrist’s Underestimation of a Melancholic Toe (Contemporaneous Mappings of the Spirit, Body and Mind).” With six large-scale paintings on paper, Bovasso provides cohesive insight into her world, where rainbows and flowers glitter amongst bubbles and balls. Using acrylic paint, watercolor, and ink, Bovasso creates washes of circles, evoking thoughts of moons or knobby rubber balls. Fluid areas of brilliant color combine with accents of tiny meticulous detail to provide push and pull, mapping a journey across the painting.

“Pink Bubbles with Green Purge” provides the most spatial depth, with amorphous shapes melting and bubbling throughout the painting. “Dream Lovers (AKA Psychedelic Bison)” is the most densely packed of all the images, with dots, flowers, flames, clouds, rainbows and trees (with little green puffs representing leaves at the top). The imagery she uses is like doodles on a middle-school notebook. The only thing missing is the “I love Johnny” scrawled on a manila background. These are fun to view, particularly because they look like fun to create. Bovasso is based in New York, and is visiting Athens as the Lamar Dodd Chair for the academic year. In addition to her current exhibit at Broad Street Gallery, she will have work up at the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center from Mar. 22 to May 12. See www.art.uga.edu for more info.

Mental Health Benefit Auction: It's time once again for the annual Mental Health Benefit, which includes an art show, live art auction and more to raise awareness in the community about mental health issues. The exhibit of donated artworks continues at Frameworks/ Clayton St. Gallery through Feb. 9. The art auction takes place on the Mezzanine at the Michaels Brothers Building (320 Clayton St.) on Sunday, Feb. 10 at 6 p.m. For more info, see www.fightthestigma.com.

Beth Sale

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