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Arts Alive - Dec/Jan 2017
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- by LB Kovac
Gallery Edge
Inside Century Hall 112 S. Second Street Bay St. Louis (228) 382-4457
Kerr Grabowski, coordinator of Bay St. Louis’s newest showroom, Gallery Edge, likens starting a gallery to creating a painting.
“It was a blank canvas,” says Grabowski, when she first walked in to the empty space in Century Hall. But Grabowski and the other nine artists involved - who work in a variety of mediums and ave stellar statewide reputations - had an immediate vision for that blank canvas. |
Arts Alive
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And even bigger things are on the horizon in 2018. Expect to see the unexpected at Gallery Edge.
“Since this is a not-for-profit gallery, we make experimental work that wouldn’t work in a normal gallery setting," says Grabowski.
Grabowski, herself a renowned fiber artist and originator of the “deconstructed screen printing” method, has been a fixture at area galleries and art shows for years.
“There is a freedom in having our own space,” she says.
The ten artists, whose styles are incredibly distinct, have a palette of art styles, and personalities, that blends well. Marian Knobbe, Bill Nelson and JJ Foley, all are masters of paint. But their subjects run the gamut –smooth Mississippi coastal landscapes, soft and feminine figures, bold and evocative shapes.
Stacey Johnson creates fully-realized sculptures using metal, clay and wood. Vicki Niolet, Mary Hardy and Joey Rice incorporate mixed media into their works.
Finally, Elizabeth Schafer is heavily influenced by music. Her paintings incorporate paint and musical artifacts, like CDs and cassettes, in order to demonstrate the relationship between auditory and visual arts.
Grabowski says, “The cool thing about this gallery is that it is all of us together.”
And, like any good work-in-progress, the gallery is constantly changing. “Every month, we refine it a little bit more,” Grabowski says. “It’s like that old quote… Marking art is walking the edge. Good art happens at the edge.”
Gallery Edge’s current show, which hangs until December 23, represents work from all ten artists. Check the gallery’s Facebook page for upcoming shows, special art market pop-ups and new exhibits.
Gallery Edge Artists:
(most names link to websites where you can see samples of their work)
- Kat Fitzpatrick
- JJ Foley
- Kerr Grabowski
- Mary Hardy
- Stacey Johnson
- Marian Knobbe
- Bill Nelson
- Vicki Niolet
- Joey Rice
- Liz Schafer