The expression of love is the theme of the Athens Institute for Contemporary Art’s (ATHICA) spring exhibit, "Crafting Romance," curated by Flagpole contributor Rebecca Ray Brantley and Nathanael Roesch, with assistance from Amy Chicola. As the premiere of ATHICA’s "Nurture" series, "Crafting Romance" appropriately focuses on romance's associations with both domestic and decorative arts. 

No Vacancy: Featured artist Vadis Turner’s work seems to struggle to fill the emptiness that creates longing. "Tampon Chandelier" and "Three-Tiered Wedding Cake," both primarily constructed of tampons, serve as temporary placeholders. Turner’s "Birth-Control Pill Eggs" uses pills to create the ultimate symbol of fertility. Instead of preventing conception, dots of pills intricately decorate two egg forms à la Fabergé. The creations act as symbols of the continued possibility of procreation, perhaps against the wishes of a lover, medical advice or societal conventions. These eggs are placed among other objects in the larger work "Vanity Installation (My Beautiful Education)," which bely the joyful state that attempts at conception usually attain. 

Littered with false eyelashes (actually fabricated from the artist's original BFA and MFA diplomas), a messy arrangement of chocolates (fabricated from various beauty products such as panty hose, curlers and cotton balls), dildos decorated with lacy designs, and what appear to be chains hung over the edge of the mirror along with necklaces, the "Vanity Installation" creates an environment of excess. To add to the confusion, the viewer is reflected in the mirror and placed in a participatory role as owner, lover, voyeur or possible crime-scene investigator. 

Role Reversal: Sarah Laurentius’ "Untitled (Up Skirt)" is a photograph of a woman with a mirror taped to her shoe, so that she can see up her own skirt, a strange twist on the school boy trick. Here, the woman has taken control of her own exposure, offering a view that is traditionally kept guarded. The artist refers to a juvenile notion of romance, but her sense of design is fully developed. On a dull floral print carpet stand two feminine feet clad in blue-green open-toed shoes, with one big toe covered by an open compact mirror. In the reflection, a sliver of polka-dot panties can be seen between the woman’s legs. 

Susannah Strader's "Bound to Love"

Heart and Soul: In "Bound to Love" Susannah Strader perfectly transforms vintage romance novels into a magical wall of red hearts. The immediate image is mesmerizing and sweet, though the accumulation refers to, as the curators write in the catalogue, “an addiction to the euphoric effects of the romance of romance itself, of being subsumed by the fantasy of the novel to remain in a perpetual state of longing.” Heart shapes also comprise the images in Cindy Hinant’s "Lost Love 1" and "Lost Love 2." Using pen and ink on Bristol board, Hinant varies the size and shape of her simply drawn hearts, as well as their distance from each other, to create the values that refer vaguely to the landscape of a body, with subtle valleys and crevices. By mapping out spaces of flesh, Hinant focuses on the body as the true object of loss. 

Communication in Absence: Hinant’s three clusters of painted telephones, titled "PhonoErotica, *69" and "Three-Way Calling," can claim Salvador Dali’s work "Aphrodisiac Telephone" as a predecessor. Mary Pearse’s "Love Lines," is a necklace made from map paper which “measures the distances between lovers in country roads and interstate highways.” Pearse, a UGA Lamar Dodd School of Art (LDSOA) faculty member, has made the miles of separation both tangible and decorative. Jewelry is also represented by Ashley Buchanan, Erin Rose Gardner, Maria Lewis, Stephanie Voegele and Jen Wall. 

Together at Last: Coupling is demonstrated in "Bundt and Angel" by Nora Rabins, which presents cake molds as male and female parts poised for union, suggesting a primarily sexual relationship, while true romance is found in the work of Canadians Christian Barre and Catherine Plaisance. In a series of three photographs, the artists are publicly displaying affection, oblivious to their environment, interested only in each other: in an office (with an office worker on the other side of a desk), a landfill and a grocery store. "Baiser 1: The Kisses of Resistance" does not exist solely for shock value, but instead as a residue of innocent mutual fascination, a kiss that dissolves the world. Here, at least, we have found a romance that promises to thrive. Robert Clements, LDSOA professor emeritus, takes a step back from the “game” of falling in love with "Jumping Through Hoops," a ceramic relief of a group of women, shackled at the ankle, holding hula hoops through which men perform summersaults.

Excellent works by Alexandra Carter, Jordan Gushwa and Sarah Lauck, Wes Kline, Pam Rogers and Emily Sullivan are also included in "Crafting Romance," which is on display through May 31. An insightful catalogue, thoughtfully written by co-curators Brantley and Roesch, accompanies the exhibit. Don’t miss this weekend’s affiliated event, "Wine, Women and Song," on May 23, at 8 p.m. The performance will feature Charlotte Lee, Jana Michelson, Mandy Jane and the Jaws of Life and to-be-announced guests. 

Beth Sale