RED Invitational Show to Open at the Darrin-McHone Arts Gallery Tomorrow Night

Artists Come Together to Explore the Color RED

Some of the Harrisonburg area’s finest artists join forces to bathe the walls in red at the Darrin-McHone Arts Gallery, home of the Arts Council of the Valley, for the month of December. Color will be the binding agent for this diverse pool of talent in a showcase at the Smith House, 311 South Main Street, in downtown Harrisonburg, Va.

In human color psychology, red carries the strongest reaction of all the colors, and has long been associated with heat, energy and emotions. It has been used throughout history and nature to express anger, love, passion, and sacrifice and to imply danger, warning or to attract extra attention.

Participating artists are Karen Lee, Scott Murray, Barbara Gautcher, Greg Ballou, Keith Mills, Robert Bersson, Ashley McCoy, Elaine Hurst, Ken Szmagaj, Cindy Greene, Denise Kanter, Cyndi Gusler, Richard Faut, Kevin Postupack and Judith Ligon. Of importance is that these artists vary in style, medium and come from different parts of the artistic community: some are educators, some are professionals, and all are artists in varying stages of their careers.

It will be a thrill to see how the color red has been employed by these individuals on their own, as well as how the collection of works will respond to one another in this new context. A real adventure for artists and viewers alike.

The show opens on Friday, December 5 from 5-7pm, and will hang through the month of December. Gallery hours are 9am-5pm, Monday through Friday.

**Check back for pictures from the exhibiton.**

Photography by Peter Funch

Communicating Community by Peter Funch

Photographer Peter Funch, 38, was born in Denmark and currently resides in New York, according to his website, www.PeterFunch.com. Funch seems to install a tripod for his camera in a select location, shoot as many pictures as possible, and then Photoshop them together to create a sort of collage of images.

View From Above, from the series "Deja Vu," by Peter Funch

From the series “Deja Vu,” Funch created a collage of many planes that passed this stretch of beach. Funch has several series of collage-style photographs, but he also features on his website portraits in a series titled “He Shes” and a series titled “NYC September 2001.”

To see more examples of Funch’s work, visit his website. (Some images are graphic in nature.)

Book Autopsies: Brian Dettmer

Formerly based in Chicago, Il. and currently residing in Atlanta, Ga., artist Brian Dettmer manipulates discarded books and maps, and carves into them, revealing the illustrations and text inside through creative, three-dimentsional sculptures. Dettmer carves away the books and maps, revealing specific pages and overlaying them to create a cohesive point of view. Check out more of Dettmer’s work here, here, and here.

(Above, The Connoisseur’s Complete Guide, 2008.)

According to this LA Times article, published on October 31, 2008, these books are generally old editions of reference books. Dettmer works with old, antiquated materials, including cassette tapes, and uses his unique insight and vision to create something completely new.

(Left, Gray’s Anatomy, 2002.)
(Image copyright courtesy of the Artist and Kinz, Tillou + Feigen, NY)