SYNTHESIZE: SHAPE, SURFACE, AND SATURATION
An Exhibition of Work by, Jan Burleson, Carl Gombert, Carrie Pendergrass, & Kelly Spell
February 21 — April 8, 2024
Willson Exhibit Room and Hallway Gallery
OPENING RECEPTION Saturday February 24 at 5:30 PM
ABOUT THE EXHIBIT
This collection of complex, abstract works by four artists is a celebration of color and shape. The various media—printmaking with unique process applications, quilting with modern design, oil painting with a relation to collage, and mixed media—combine in a spontaneous union of pattern and repetition that generates vibrant visual energy. With subtle and direct references to pop culture and world events, each artist constructs layers of meaning and representation in their work and creates a sense of place. Taken as a whole, the exhibition seeks balance and order in a broader chaos while also honoring tradition and history.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Jan Burleson
Jan Burleson holds a 2016 BFA in Painting and Drawing from The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. This follows a 1975 BSSW from East Tennessee State University and a 1980 MSSW from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, and more than thirty-five years as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. She was a 2018 - 2019 Ann and Steve Bailey Opportunity Grant recipient and a 2015 Chattanooga AVA FRESH Young and Emerging Artist. She received the 2013 Lillian B. Feinstein Scholarship at UTC, along with a 2013 Juried Student Exhibition Curator’s Award and a 2012 Award of Excellence. Her work has been shown regionally with the Knoxville’s Arts and Culture Alliance and Dogwood Arts exhibitions, in Chattanooga’s Association for Visual Arts exhibitions and ChaArtSpace, in East Tennessee State University Slocumb Gallery’s Positive-Negative national exhibitions, and at The Arts Center in Athens. She received a Juror’s Citation in the 2020 National Juried Exhibition, Knoxville Arts and Culture Alliance, and a Juror’s Award in the 2022 Members Juried Exhibit, Chattanooga Association for Visual Arts. In 2023 her work was included in GRITS/Feminism in the South at The Bells Gallery in Dothan, AL.You can find her as @jan_burleson_ on Instagram and via her website: janburleson.com
Carl Gombert
Carl Gombert was born in Brimfield, Ohio in 1959. He started taking painting lessons at the age of 14 with money he earned delivering newspapers. He completed a BFA in Drawing from the University of Akron and an MFA in Painting from Kent State University. He worked as a stagehand before earning a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Fine Arts at Texas Tech University. He has exhibited in more than 300 exhibitions across the US and abroad and his work is in numerous museum and university collections. Since 1993 he has taught painting, drawing, and art history at Maryville College in Tennessee. You can find Carl at carlgombert.com and @carlgombert on Instagram.
Carl’s Artist Statement: I love pattern, I love decoration, and I love sparkle. These works begin with a surface built up with a variety of painting techniques. The surface is then decorated with rubber- stamped patterns and both two- and three-dimensional collaged objects. They rely on radial structure to explore complexity arising from the application of simple rules. They explore repetition and rotation as formal strategies and the patterns that emerge from the process. Taking the forms of mandalas and quilts, they attempt to balance opposites, relying equally on dark and light and on positive and negative shapes. Although they appear highly planned, these works result from a largely improvisational approach. Combinations of images are not generally selected beforehand; rather the images begin in the center and evolve as they grow larger. The process is both intentional and intuitive, and the interaction of smaller pop culture icons and images allows for endless free association and for exploring multiple chains of connection between the parts, while at the same time coalescing into larger complex patterns. In this little world there is symmetry and balance and order, but neither rhyme nor reason.
Carrie Pendergrass
Over the past 25 years, Carrie Pendergrass has been a visual artist, art educator and art advocate/facilitator. She holds a BFA degree in Studio Art with a concentration in Painting, from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and a MEd degree from the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga. She has worked in both the non-profit/public and private/commercial sector as a visual arts teacher, freelance artist and small business owner, gallery director & curator. She exhibits her work locally and regionally, and continues to teach. She has received recognition for her printmaking work since her debut show at 4 Bridges Arts Festival in 2017, when she was chosen as the Poster Design Winner & awarded a Juror’s Choice award & more recently, consecutive Honorable Mentions at the 4 Bridges Arts Festival in 2021 & 2022. She was the recipient of an Arts Build Artists Work Grant for her curatorial art project, CHA ART SPACE, an exhibition space at the Chattanooga Regional Airport, which debuted in 2021. You can find her as @sewntothesea & @cha_art_space on Instagram and through her website, sewntothesea.com.
Kelly Spell
Kelly Spell’s award-winning quilts have been featured in numerous publications, shows, and museums around the world. The abstract designs feature dynamic color combinations that emphasize contrast in value and hue. Kelly works primarily with solid fabrics, and she enjoys using Procion MX Fiber Reactive Dyes to create her own hand-dyed palettes. Curves are a frequent motif in her work, and in 2020, she began exploring circles and swirls exclusively. Kelly’s artistic practice involves a variety of techniques—some are cutting edge and others are rooted in the time-honored tradition of American quiltmaking. You can see more of Kelly’s work and read her writing on her website: kellyspell.com. Find her on Instagram @kellyspell.