Framing the Future at the UCO Melton Gallery
Grayson Boutin
On Jan. 29, The Melton Gallery partnered with Edmond Fine Arts to put on a professional development workshop, called Framing the Future, with support from Allied Arts.
This is a free event that is for students and the public. Keri Smith, the curator of galleries and collections for the UCO College of Fine Arts and Design, was the speaker at the event.
At the workshop, members of the Melton Gallery welcomed people in by serving refreshments like coffee and hot chocolate, and encouraged participants to look at the current exhibit, “Fractured/Mend”, as they waited.
The “Fracture/Mend” Exhibit is a collaboration between three artists: Cortney McConnell, Rae Clarke Hendel, and Andrea Shonna Simon. It’s on view until Feb. 20. It focuses on “memory, place and personal transformation,” says the Melton Gallery’s website.
The workshop went over the fundamentals of art exhibition, like the different types of hanging hardware, how to light two-dimensional objects and three-dimensional objects, with a focus on three-dimensional, with Smith saying, “3D art is underserved in exhibits.”
This month’s workshop went along with the gallery’s current exhibit. With the many 3D art pieces on display.
Cortney McConnell’s works focus on the home, like her work, “Contemplating Weight/Wait.” A 20×26 inch pillow that is screen printed with a rock on the right side of the pillow. The series this work is in, “investigates the living archive of a multigenerational family home and what is embedded…” says Cortney McConnell’s website.
Rae Clarke Hendel’s art has a motif of blues and oceans through their pieces. In the painting “Wave – it was just for a minute. An ocean was painted on a canvas from part of a sail that is stretched and pinned onto the wall. Their ceiling-high piece is made by combining three individual pieces, stones, sculptures of feet, and canvas from sails, into one visual.
Andrea Shonna Simon’s art uses unconventional mediums like duct tape and spray foam to create a piece like “Anger as Him”; however, they also use typical mediums like paper and graphite, and flip it on its head with the power of video. In the piece “Erasure,” Simon uses a continuous video of a person scribbling with a pencil underneath drawing paper that coincides with audio from speakers, with the noise of scribbling.
Smith used her own 15 years of experience in exhibition to show how she dealt with irregular pieces of art and the safety precautions that had to be taken.
During the event, Smith had her workbench in front of everyone to show tools like D-rings and museum wax.
When the workshop was over, audience member Jaquelin Lopez said, “I do think it’s helpful, even if it’s stuff you already know, it’s good to have a refresher.”
The collaboration between Melton Gallery and Edmond Fine Arts started because both are non-profits for the Edmond community. This collaboration gives the speakers that Edmond Fine Arts pays for a space that Melton Gallery provides, with students and the public being able to attend.
The Framing the Future event “provides free professional development over a wide range of topics for both emerging and established artists. Each workshop will be led by artists and arts professionals living and working in Oklahoma,” says the Edmond Fine Arts website. With a workshop once a month.
The next Framing the Future event is New Artist in the Art Festival Circuit + New Tricks for the Old Dogs, on Feb 19.