A Common Thread - Barb Vogel

Barb Vogel, a well-known Columbus artist, has created two pieces to be included in the Sue Cavanaugh tribute show. Of her pieces, she says:

Barbara Vogel, Artist Statement

I have never strayed far from themes of loss and memory in my portrait images of family and friends.

Sue Cavanaugh was a renowned fabric artist and a good friend. She started her artistic career after working at and retiring from the Ohio State University. We went to Halloween celebrations, gallery hops, and art exhibitions together. I visited her studios at 400 West Rich Street and Chromedge, and we Zoomed during the COVID pandemic and until her death in 2022. We were board members together and shared artistic endeavors including two shows at the Mansfield Arts Center. Sue died of pancreatic cancer before the final exhibition (but had completed her installation for it).

My “clickless” portraits of Sue were created using a hand-held wand scanner, an instrument designed to be used on books and flat materials. I used to think photography involved a “decisive moment,” in Henri Cartier-Bresson’s familiar phrase, when my photographer’s eye and brain signaled my hand to press the shutter and capture a person’s character. With the wand scans, which take over five seconds, a different intimacy developed between Sue (the scannee) and me (the scanner), as well as a different image. The portraits of Sue were made in her final year, but when she still had hair (before she began her cancer treatments). I printed them on silk, adding to the image’s ephemeral quality. The surrounding fabric alludes to her history and interests.

Each artist that is participating is taking a different approach to the work. Some are directly honoring Sue, some incorporating the fabric into their own designs and creations without direct consideration of how it speaks to Sue or her work, etc.

A Common Thread - Alice Carpenter

Alice was “on it”!! She was one of the first ones to complete the work for the shows (not that it was a race or anything), and it’s beautiful. Two small fabric pieces, described below:

Artist Statement.

“At first glance the idea of collaboration felt daunting.  Sue’s “for the wall” fabric works are big, bold, and most, with glorious color.  My works on paper are small in scale, intimate, and expressed in a neutral palette. Where was our “common thread”?    I was immediately drawn to her physical thread work, and knew I wanted threads to play a strong visual role in our collaboration.  In the beginning, I focused on Sue’s work without thought to what my work is about. It was not until I started to consider the themes I gravitate toward, that possibilities for compromise took shape.

I found inspiration in landscape to be a common thread. Of Impermanence, is a marriage of Sue’s fabric and love of color with my use of monotype and collage.

In Memento Mori, the structure, a reoccurring theme in my work, stands alone, as we each, in reality, stand alone.  The most intimate, important areas of life are lived behind closed doors.  Here, my structure and neutral palette play out on Sue’s fabrics in a monotype collage.

Each work, Memento Mori and Of Impermanence reflect on the inevitability of death and how we choose to celebrate life.”

Bio.

Alice Carpenter, printmaker and painter, has devoted her printmaking practice to the monotype since 2014.  Her monotypes have received recognition in numerous regional juried exhibitions, as well as national juried shows, including The Butler Museum of American Art 85th National Midyear Exhibition, Directors Award, 2021. Recently, she was honored to have two of her monotypes selected and published in the Fall 2023 online Decoy issue of The Harvard Advocate.

Her work often reflects the nighttime magic found, as a child, in Appalachian Ohio. After the past 50 years of “city living” in Columbus, Ohio, a recent move to Wallingford, CT, has returned her to her rural roots.

Another "take" on gallery representation (by Char Norman)

A Case for Gallery Representation

As a professional artist, a strong case can be made for the key role the gallery and gallerist play in the life and success of a visual artist. An on-going discussion of gallery representation for artists questions the need and reasonableness of the percentage of art sales retained by the gallery at the expense of the artist. This is a short-sighted view of the importance of the role the gallery plays in the career and development of the artist. I have spent time perfecting my artistic voice and techniques, while the gallerist has spent time honing business, marketing, and promotional acumen. 

My job, as a successful artist, is to maintain studio hours in which I develop concepts, perfect my technique and create the work that defines my career. Without the gallery, I would be pulled away from the studio to address the needs of my art business. These duties would include records from sales, inventory, tax records and all other accounting duties. Sales of the work would involve packing, shipping, and or delivery of the work. A major role of the gallery is publicity and marketing of the work through social media, press releases, articles and print materials. This does not even begin to address exhibitions and all that involves; from identifying spaces, transporting work, designing and installing the work, staging receptions and special viewings, and finally striking, packing and returning work to clients or to storage. If I were to do all of these things myself, I would have little time to actually create the work. 

One cannot be an expert in all things. I have no aptitude or inclination to learn, let alone, become an expert in the many duties the gallery performs for me. A good gallerist has connections and a client base, makes contacts, educates the public to the value of art and the voice of each individual artist, and teaches clients how to develop and maintain a collection.  

An eye for good art and the knowledge of the art market and its trends, serves the artist in myriad ways from placement of work, sales, constructive critiques, to the pricing of the work.  

Expenses associated with the development of artist’s career and the promotion of the work is the responsibility of the gallery. These costs include all overhead involved in maintaining a physical space, bills incurred to promote, ship, develop relationships, hold receptions, install shows, and countless other details of running the business. As an artist, I have the cost of creating the work and maintaining my studio. The percentage of sales maintained by the gallery, is in effect, the fee I pay the gallerist much as one would pay any professional who does work for you.  Without the partnership between gallery and artist, many artists would not be able to maintain and thrive in their chosen work and careers. 

Char Norman

From Caren: I’ve asked some of the artists what their thoughts are on galleries and representation, after fielding a few comments from potential collectors, so that the public may better understand an artist/gallery relationship. It’s so important that we make the case for each of us having our own, critical, valuable role to play in this business. I’m proud of what I do for the artists and for the community. I hope only to convey that my ultimate purpose is to expose and introduce great artists to this great city.

Char has shown with Muse Gallery for years. I am passionate about Char’s work; so passionate, in fact, that I own one or two myself.