Arts Commission of Greater Toledo Announces Fontana, Stroud, Yarnell Exhibition

The Fontana, Stroud, Yarnell Exhibition will be on display March 7 thru April 22, 2011 in the Parkwood Gallery.  The public is invited to join us for a reception for the exhibition on Friday, March 11 from 6 to 8 pm.

The artists in this exhibition are united in their use of familiar materials calling into question our daily routines, realities and common assumptions.

Anthony Fontana, Learning Technologies Consultant and an Instructor of Art at Bowling Green State University,  uses a conceptual approach to create a dialogue between traditional art and the internet.  Using familiar art materials, like pencils, a sketchbook, a linoleum block and paper, he upturns our preconceived notions of what art is by interjecting supposed high art with contemporary internet experiences and ironic humor.

Another artist, Evaleigh Stroud, carefully considers the power of her materials in her current series of work.  Her mixed media sculpture explores gender roles through pairing the craft of knitting with the iconic and in some cases commonplace subject matter of guns.  The soft, glitter embedded yarn of her knitted firearms ask the viewer to question this powerful historical and contemporary symbol.  Stroud is currently working towards her BFA in Studio Fine Arts at the University of Toledo.

Last, but certainly not least, the work of Meghan Yarnell rounds out the conversation with social as well as personal commentary regarding the long-standing values of wealth, beauty and happiness.  Yarnell enjoys imparting imagery on everyday, functional ceramic vessels to encourage the viewer to reflect upon our social norms while eating breakfast or drinking the morning coffee.  Yarnell received her BFA in 3-D Studies at Bowling Green State University in 2005.

The Parkwood Gallery is open Monday thru Friday 8:30 am – 4:30pm and is located at 1838 Parkwood Avenue, Suite 120 off of Monroe Street in Downtown Toledo.

The Arts Commission of Greater Toledo is the longest standing arts commission in the state of Ohio that develops and promotes the arts in the community, serving Northwest Ohio since 1959. www.acgt.org. 419-254-ARTS

http://www.acgt.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=40&Itemid=27

My work was recently reviewed by Mark Adams of MadeWithPassion.com:

I can imagine the artist trying to come up with the most absurd piece of modern sculpture to fit the name, finally settling on just grabbing a bunch of unsharpened pencils into a bundle, letting go, and thinking, “Art, lolz.”

Finally, someone who gets me.

The work is on exhibit from Oct. 20th – Nov. 28th at The Gallery Project in Ann Arbor, MI.

Photo courtesy of Mark Adams.

http://www.madewithpassion.com/whats-so-funny-2/

The newest piece in the #artfail series I’ve been working on:

An artwork titled “#sculpturefail” by Anthony Fontana. October, 2009. 700 pencils in a pile. Each pencil says “#artfail”.

Here’s a look at some of the drawings I’ve been working on. These are all small and stay in the book. I’m thinking about doing a larger series of them.