HONORING THE UNSEEN
An exploration of Spiritual Themes by
Alexis Thynne. Melissa O’Grady. Leslie Organ
SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio—Notre Dame College’s Clara Fritzsche Library will host “Honoring the Unseen,” an exhibit of works exploring spiritual themes, featuring hand-rubbed collographs by Alexis Thynne, cloth spirit dolls by Melissa O’Grady and fiber art incorporating found objects by Leslie Organ. While the three artists use different media for artistic expression, they possess a shared reverence of nature and a quest to find the sacred in everyday life, often drawing their inspiration from the shapes, images and objects found in nature.
The three artists also posses a commonality in that they all reached this point in their artistic journies through diverse and unconventional paths. Thynne earned a BA in biology from Lake Forest College with concentrations in visual and liberal arts. Her interest in different cultures inspired her to travel extensively throughout the U.S. and beyond. Thynne served three years as Peace Corps Volunteer in Central African Republic and Cameroon, where she taught secondary-school biology and elementary-level environmental education. She found murals to be a bright and exciting teaching aid for environmental education and discovered the creative process to be a profound way for students to better understand themselves. Since returning to the United States Thynne has become a teaching artist with Young Audiences of Greater Cleveland. She explores a variety of media both in her own art and in the work that she does with students of all ages. Thynne spends most of her time teaching and creating nature-inspired hand rubbed collographs, created by rubbing a matrix of white drawing paper with oil pastel, chalk, charcoal and powdered pigment, then manipulating the texture to get the desired effect. She exhibits locally and has had two solo shows of her work.
Melissa O’Grady earned a BA in English from Capital University and has extensive teaching experience with both adults and children, including English as a Second Language and American Sign Language. She has been interpreting theater since 1982 and has signed at Dobama, Great Lakes Theatre Festival, Willoughby Fine Arts, the Cleveland Play House and Cain Park. Since the age of seven O’Grady has been interested in needlework, first beginning with embroidery and then moving on to using a sewing machine to make clothing. She began making dolls in 1996, inspired by a fully developed idea that came to her while walking in the woods. These dolls are not toys, but spirit dolls, each imbued with a special meaning of its own. Today O’Grady owns her own doll company and exhibits extensively in juried art shows and galleries in the Cleveland area. Recently she became fascinated by the manipulation of fabric and began creating spirit shrines, mysterious, oddly-shaped boxes, some life-sized, comprised of brightly-colored cloth, beads and other materials containing door and windows leading to unexpected surprises.
Leslie Organ emerged as an artist late in life. Since childhood she had loved art and been considered “artistic.” She took art classes throughout school and college, but never really found her niche, with the obligations of being a graduate student, social worker, wife, mother, homemaker and learning disabilities tutor allowing time for only the occasional art class. At 40 Organ became an interior designer and began to develop her artistic eye. She began collecting items of little or no value (shells, old lace, old or rusty metal pieces, beads, fabrics) which simply pleased her. Upon retiring at 60 she began assembling these trinkets and found objects into collages and assemblages. Today Organ is a working artist, and exhibits in local galleries, sometimes with O’Grady. She is also a member of the Textile Art Alliance.
The exhibit is free and open to the public and will run from April 5 through May 18, 2007. An opening reception will be held on Thursday, April 5th from 6 to 8 p.m. The show may be viewed during library hours: Monday-Thursday 8 a.m.-10 p.m.; Friday 8 a.m.-5 p.m.; Saturday 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday 1-10 p.m. through May 11 (CLOSED April 6-8); Monday May 14-Friday May 18 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
For more information, contact Karen Zoller at 216-373-5267. |
