Virginia Derryberry: Private Domain and Lisa Kurtz: Earth and Fire
May 3-31, 2024
Virginia Derryberry: Private Domain and Lisa Kurtz: Earth and Fire
Opening reception: Friday, May 3, 5:00-9:00 PM
Gallery hours: Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM and Saturday (May 4 & 11), 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM. Additional gallery hours from 5:00-7:00 PM for a Gallery 1010 opening on Fri May 10.
Virginia Derryberry | Artist Statement
Large scale figure narrative paintings in my most recent series of paintings, Private Domain, blend elements from mythology and alchemy, the forerunner of modern science. There are a number of Greek and Roman myths, along with Renaissance themes, that inspire me, including The Seven Virtues, Naiads and Mercury As Messenger. In all of my “re-enactments”, I place the characters in contemporary clothing and scenarios. The intent is to suggest multiple interpretations rather than create straightforward illustration of a specific narrative, a fitting choice in that alchemy and mythology by nature are about the process of transformation. At first glance, it seems that a real space is being defined, but in fact, the images are constructed from multiple viewpoints and lighting systems. Passages of volumetric rendering set next to more abstract, painterly areas, result in the creation of a virtual, shifting world where nothing is quite what it seems.
Over the past few years, these paintings have become more complex and have begun to incorporate multiple canvases as well as fabric, embroidery and found objects as a way to expand the idea of traditional narrative. Suggesting Renaissance altarpiece panels or graphic novels, these images imply a conversation between fact and illusion and pull the viewer in to ask questions about what is being revealed and what is being concealed.
Additional information regarding media: All of the work in this exhibition was created over the past 3 years and consists of oil on canvas paintings, many of them consisting of multiple panel pieces. Each piece is designed so that separate canvases can work as being part of an entire composition or can stand alone.
Bio, 2024
My work is shown regularly in solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States and has been written about in an extensive list of publications including exhibition catalogs, the New American Paintings magazine and the Oxford American magazine. Solo exhibitions, such as Private Domain and Truth To Tell, have traveled during the past 5 years to venues in Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Florida and Georgia. Since 2020, three of these solo exhibitions have been held in museums: the Museum of Contemporary Art in Jacksonville, FL, the Piedmont Museum, in Martinsville, VA and in fall 2023, the Marietta Cobb Museum of Art in Atlanta, GA. In terms of recently curated group exhibitions, my hybrid painting constructions will be included in Collective Concerns, beginning in Fall, 2024, which focuses on the use of collage and remnants and also in FABRICation, which focused on artists who incorporate fabric/textiles with painting. This 7 person exhibition was shown in museums and galleries across the U.S. from 2014-2018.
Awards received during the past 10 years include: a North Carolina Artist Support Grant, the Outstanding Artistic Achievement Award from the Southeastern College Art Association; Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome (2010 and 2016); the Distinguished Teacher of the Year Award from UNC-Asheville and the Annual Artist Fellowship from the Southeastern College Art Association. In 2017, I was the recipient of the College Art Association’s Distinguished Teaching of Art award and in 2020, I was interviewed at the College Art Association’s session on Amazing Women Artists. In 2023, I was named as a finalist for the annual grand prize at Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati. My drawings and paintings are in numerous private and public collections, including the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, the Asheville Art Museum, the Tennessee State Museum, the State of West Virginia permanent collection, and the Morris Museum of Art. Two public art installations include 16 paintings at the Hartsfield-Atlanta International Airport and a 10 piece multi-panel painting at the Knoxville Convention Center.
Lisa Kurtz | Artist Statement/Bio
As a clay artist and a maker of pottery, I strive for the human connection between my work and the user of my pieces. The fact that people can use and enjoy my work in their everyday lives has been especially important to me as a potter. If I make a handle on one of my pieces that beckons you to pick it up and then fits so comfortably in your hands that you want to use it every morning or at every meal or a bowl that you want to serve food in at every family celebration, then I feel successful. My work has evolved slowly over many years – I have been making pots since my first college class in 1977 – but I still enjoy fine-tuning the little details in my work that make it user friendly. Even my sculptural forms and wall pouches are designed to hold water and flowers.
I have been working with this wonderful medium of clay for over 40 years and yet there is still so much more to explore. Living near the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee, nature has always been a major influence on my art. As a young child growing up in Kentucky, we would often vacation in the Smoky Mountains where I loved to play in the mountain streams. I also love the ocean. Because of this infatuation I have with water, early Japanese Jomon pots and Greek Minoan pottery are favorites and inspirations to me. The textures and colors in water, sand, sea birds, shells, rocks and marine creatures are loves of mine and often inform my work in clay and my glazes. I mix up all my own glazes and enjoy tweaking them to emphasize the textures and designs that I put on my pieces.
I throw and hand build and often combine the two methods to create my pottery.
By emphasizing texture and form, the malleable qualities of clay are highlighted in my work.
I welcome and encourage the happy accidents that occur while working in the medium and in the firing processes. This has led me to explore many different types of firing including soda firing, wood firing, pit firing and electric firing. The pieces in this exhibit were all chosen for the atmospheric effects that were obtained in the kiln that show through on the clay and/or glazes.
Some of the pieces have been fired many times – in many different types of kilns, until the desired effect was achieved.
Teaching clay has been a big part of my life for many years. If I can impart just a little bit of the joy I get from clay to my students, it is all worth it! I taught at community colleges in Tennessee (both Pellissippi State and Cleveland State) and at art centers in both Kentucky and Tennessee. Currently I teach functional ceramics classes at the Oak Ridge Art Center and recently taught a community clay class at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts.
With a Masters degree in Ceramics from the University of Louisville, I started my pottery business, Highland Pottery, in the eclectic Highlands neighborhood in Louisville, Ky. There were lots of artists in my family. My grandfather, Nick Guarneschelli, came over to the US to be an
artist. He painted and did sculpture, eventually teaching at the Louisville School of Art. To support his growing family in Kentucky, he also worked as a tailor, as his family back home in Italy had done for years. I have always loved the textures in fibers and material and I believe that stems from my Italian roots. I often use scraps of old fabric salvaged from my mother and grandmother’s houses to impress textures into my clay work. By doing this, I feel connected to the many generations of my family that came before me.
We moved to Knoxville, Tennessee 28 years ago and raised our children here. I have been an active member of several professional juried guilds, artist associations and boards; first in Kentucky and for the past 28 years in Tennessee; including the Kentucky Crafts Guild, the Foothills Craft Guild, The Kentucky Department of the Arts Marketing Program, The Knoxville Arts and Culture Alliance, The New Prospect Craft Center, Tennessee Craft, The Knoxville Museum of Art, The Art Market Gallery and Terra Madre: Women in Clay. I have served as the president of Terra Madre: Women in Clay since 2023. In addition to teaching, I like to be a mentor for other artists so for many years I ran a boutique fine arts and crafts show in my previous neighborhood that started out as a home holiday show. (The Whittington Creek Art Show) It quickly outgrew my home, so I moved it to the neighborhood club house and it became a popular venue for local artists to sell their work every October. I started a new holiday art show in my current neighborhood (Westwood) two years ago and always invite other local artists to participate and sell their work in it. My clay work has been exhibited and sold in galleries and shops across the U.S. and in national and regional juried fine art shows and craft fairs. In 2015 I was juried as a Master Artist for the Tennessee Arts Commission”s Master Artist Apprentice Program (MAAP) and received a grant to have an apprentice. We worked together on developing her skills to become a viable East Tn. artist. She was not my first apprentice, however. I have had several other apprentices over the years who have gone on to do graduate work and/or other clay/art residencies). Additionally, I have hired and mentored many young people to help me at various art shows and show them how the business side of the art world works. I feel very lucky to have had potter friends who were a few years ahead of me in grad school who showed me the ropes of running a ceramic business and I feel it’s really important to carry on the clay traditions and share my knowledge. I was lucky to learn from great teachers (Tom and Ginny Marsh at the University of Louisville) and had several great role models a few years ahead of me and along with me in the clay program at U of L. Through teaching, I try to pass on my knowledge and love of clay by mentoring other artists.
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