University of Puget Sound’s Kittredge Gallery is currently showing work by two of its associate professors of art: Janet Marcavage and Elise Richman. Entitled “Ripple and Unfold: Recent Work by Janet Marcavage and Elise Richman,” the show consists of the work of both artists (paintings, drawings, prints and photos) shuffled together throughout the gallery. Marcavage does complex, silkscreen prints of striped fabrics that are draped and folded or piled up. Richman is a painter who, in the current series, explores ripples made by droplets on the surface of water. The result is a show that dazzles the eye with colorful stripes, circles and spirals. One might fancy, on first glance, that this is a show of "op art" or "pop art."
Both artists should be well known to Tacoma art viewers. Marcavage has been featured in Woolworth Windows and had work in “Ink This!” – the show of Northwest prints that recently came to a close at Tacoma Art Museum. Richman’s works have been exhibited around town as well. She is the 2014 winner of the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation’s Foundation of Art Award.
While distinctive, the works of the two artists reside in harmony with one another. The works have a geometric, abstract nature yet they are rooted in observed phenomena. Marcavage is fascinated in the “topography” of textile patterns as they take on the forms of objects over which they are draped: a table, a girl or a laundry heap. The simplicity of the repeated pattern of the textile is countered by the complexity of the various folds and curves of the cloth. Her multicolored silkscreen prints of these configurations of textiles are unfailingly attractive to the eye.
Richman approaches painting in the spirit of experimentation and discovery of the Renaissance. Her studio takes on the nature of a laboratory as she experiments with the ways in which various materials flow together. She explores a variety of pigments and binding media (including natural pigments). For the current series, Richman used a wave tank and shot photos of drops hitting the water. Richman’s contribution to the show includes charcoal drawings and big, textured paintings in dry pigments that are mixed with walnut oil to form rich, thick blends of moody color often with a crackle finish. There is also a charming set of small panels done with thin washes of acrylic and ink (almost pastel colors) and given a glossy finish.
Both artists have a cerebral, philosophical approach to their work, yet the results possess a punch that draws viewers in.
The show includes a batch of the pencil drawings that shows the starting point for Marcavage’s prints. There are also some of the murky and mysterious digital photos that have come out of Richman’s studio experiments with the wave tank.
“Ripple and Unfold” runs through Nov. 15. For further information visit http://www.pugetsound.edu/Kittredge or call (253) 879-3701.