Richardson & Marilyn Avery Turner: Recent Work
April 1-30, 2022
Richardson & Marilyn Avery Turner: Recent Work
Opening reception: Friday, April 1, 5:00-9:00 PM
Gallery hours: Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM, Saturday, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM. Please note, the Emporium will be closed on Saturday, April 9 (but open on Sunday, April 10, 10 AM – 1 PM) and closed on Friday, April 15.
Richardson Turner presents an autobiographical series of prints using images he has created over the last three years. They represent memories of the pursuit of a certain muse during a ten-year period from 1964 through 1974. The works are made starting with a black lithograph key drawing followed by screen printed color layers.
I look for visual images that express an initial intuitive understanding and recognition of an idea or thought. I wrote text to accompany this work, which was an integral part of creating the compositions and remembering dream-like details.
Originally from New York City, Marilyn Avery Turner received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1966. Her mediums were painting and collage, but in the past 30 years, she has concentrated on printmaking (monoprinting and screen printing). She taught art for over 20 years in a variety of settings and has been involved, since its inception in 1982, in the Art Market Gallery in Knoxville. She exhibits in solo and group shows and participates in juried exhibitions throughout the U.S. In the last ten years, she has exhibited work in over one-third of the states in the U.S. and has received awards in national exhibitions in Alabama, California, Colorado, Kansas, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Tennessee.
The long, horizontal shape, which I think of as a mini-mural, has been one of my preferred formats for over fifty years. It is only in recent years that I have been using it to explore monochromatic, non-representational images. In these works, I start at one end and continue until I get to the other end. It is the forward movement that interests me; the progression of one piece leading to another. It feels like walking in color and at the end looking back to see if there are any missteps, which I can then go back and alter. In a sense, these works are metaphors for time and its forward thrust. My other preferred shape is the square. These works use figurative imagery in an abstract format. The figurative elements draw mainly from childhood influences, which were shaped by my early years of living in Mexico and California. The designs and images from Pre-Colombian cultures have been an important source of inspiration for me, as have the Western motifs. My interest is in archetypal ideas, as described by C.G. Jung, and images from both these sources feel like fitting representations of these ideas. All of the pictorial elements are derived from monotypes, a form of printmaking wherein a painted image is run through a press to make a unique impression, which I then collage to create the monotype/chine colle works in this exhibit.