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Check Out Artwork And Sculptural Exhibits

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 7, 2009

Two exhibits will open Friday in two studios in the building that houses the West Tampa Center for the Arts.

The cooperative known as 5art will host an exhibit of about 30 artworks by Lauren Garber Lake, a Tampa native who is an assistant professor of art at the University of Florida.

Called "Fascicles," a botanical term for a small cluster of leaves, stems, fibers or roots, the exhibit opens Friday and runs through Feb. 13.

For Lake, "Fascicles" means flowers.

She uses petals in piles or arrangements as a beginning point for her works, which are brought to life using graphite on paper. Academics like to dispute whether her art is drawing, she says, because she uses the graphite in nontraditional ways. For some works, she takes the powder form and adds water and actually stains the 100 percent cotton paper with the mixture.

"I use the material properties of graphite, but in unconventional drawing," she said. "When I do printmaking, I don't use ink, I use graphite."

Do any other artists use graphite in this curious way?

"Not that I'm aware of," said Lake, who developed the technique independently after pursuing a residency in experimental printmaking in Belgium last year.

The visual result of her technique is works with a soft, subdued quality.

"They have been described by people as quiet and melancholy at times," the artist said in a telephone interview. "All of the work stems from that place and events melancholy. I think that the work both celebrates and mourns that melancholy. lt is part of every one's life; a necessary component."

The 5art show is her first solo show in Tampa. She appeared in the Tampa Museum of Art's UnderCURRENT/OverVIEW once in the past.

Meet Lake and see her works at the free opening reception from 7 to 10 p.m. Friday in Suite #210 at the West Tampa Center for the Arts, 1906 N. Armenia Ave.

To see more of Lake's works, visit www.lauren garberlake.com. To learn more about the show, visit www.five-art.com or call (813) 340-9056.

Also opening Friday in the same building, but in a different studio, is a sculptural exhibit by Bradley Arthur.

Called "Glimpsing Silence," the exhibit is hosted by three04 and is the inaugural show for the gallery in its new space.

Meet Bradley and see his works at the free opening reception from 7 to 10 p.m. Friday at the gallery, Suite 211 at the West Tampa Center for the Arts, 1906 N. Armenia Ave.

Center Hosts Varied Exhibit

Visit The Old Hyde Park Art Center at 705 Swann Ave. and see the exhibit "Landscapes, Seascapes and Cityscapes," up through the end of the month. Admission is free. Call the center at (813) 251-3780 for hours and information.

Outdoor Artist Shares Travels

Tampa acrylic artist Terry Klaaren will present a solo exhibition of studio and on-site paintings of America's national parks through March 5 at TECO Plaza Art Gallery in downtown Tampa.

Called "Have Brush - Must Travel," the exhibit shows some of the results of 12 years of conducting painting tours that included hiking, visiting and paddling to more than 50 national parks.

Klaaren, who sketches on site (en plein air) and then completes the painting in his studio, also has recreated in paintings several of Tampa's beautiful natural locales.

Meet the artist and see his works at a reception from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Feb. 13. at the gallery, 702 N. Franklin St. in downtown Tampa.

Call Debra Jo Radke at (8130 767-1600 for information.

Two Artists Share One Show

One generally expects a collaborative exhibit by two artists will yield a textural richness and content variety that cannot be achieved by one artist alone.

That expectation should hold true for the upcoming exhibit "Evidence, Not Proof" opening Thursday at the Hillsborough Community College Ybor Campus Art Gallery.

For his part of the exhibit, David Audet will present a series of photo essays from travels to Europe in the 1970s up to recent visits to Mexico.

The Tampa artist is projects manager at HCC's Ybor Campus and might be best known as director of the annual HCC Ybor Festival of the Moving Image.

Joining forces with Audet is Miami Beach artist Judith Robertson, who builds mixed media sculptures from reclaimed mass-produced materials. As society lusts after more and more acquisitions, "What is left behind forms an unfathomable stockpile of jettisoned objects," she says in a written statement, objects which she then puts to use in her artwork.

The exhibit runs through Feb. 5. A free reception with the artists will be from 7 to 9 p.m. Jan. 15, preceded at 6:15 p.m. with a photo/lecture by the artist.

The gallery is in the Visual and Performing Arts Building at Palm Avenue and 15th Street in Ybor City. Admission is free.

Call gallery director Carolyn Kossar at (813) 253-7674 for details.

Correspondent Esther Hammer can be reached at (813) 259-7662 or ehammer@tampatrib.com.

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