Barbara Lee Smith’s “Textile Paintings” at TCC
Published in the Weekly Volcano, Jan. 14, 2016
“Salt Edge/Fog,” mixed media by Barbara Lee Smith, courtesy Tacoma Community College |
The term “Textile Paintings” is my term, not the artists and not the
gallery’s. It’s what I see as the best possible descriptor of Barbara Lee
Smith’s art at The Gallery at Tacoma Community College. It’s neither fabric art
nor painting, and yet it combines some of the best elements of each.
TCC President Emeritus Pamela Transue states it beautifully: “One of the
great pleasures for the viewer is the evolving perspective of contemplating
Barbara’s work from different distances. …At a distance, we may see what we
first assume to be a watercolor painting. Closer up we see elements of a
tapestry, a quilt, a collage. At the closest proximity, we become aware of the
structuring of the elements that combine to make her work so complex and
unique.”
Installation shot of the gallery with reviewer taking notes. Photo by Gabi Clayton |
As a critic, I choose to see her work as painting because her works are
arrangements of shapes, colors and textures on a flat surface with the subject
matter (landscape in most but not all) secondary to the visual elements — in
other words, classical modernist painting as it should be done.
But we must take note of Smith’s use of materials, which may not be as
important as the formal elements mentioned above but which, nevertheless, give
her works a unique appearance that I find quite stunning. Smith paints
non-woven synthetic fabric, rips and cuts it into strips and chunks, mounts
them collage-like on a flat surface and stitches them. The end result is what
Transue described: work that looks like painting at a distance but like a
combination of collage and quilting up close.
Most are impressionistic landscapes that veer toward expressionistic
abstractions, while some are purely abstract with many degrees along the
realistic-abstract scale among the many works. In some, the colors are
shockingly bright, as if infused with blinding
sunlight, while others are as soft as Northwest mist and fog. All are
knockouts.
“Salt Edge/Fog” is one of the most realistic landscapes in the show. It
is a picture of the edge of a body of water seen through fog, with the sharp
images of reeds in the foreground and shrouded mountains at the horizon. It is
a restful and contemplative image in soft tones of blue, brown and gray.
“Nica Walls/Light and Shadow” is almost its exact opposite. It is a set
of six small horizontal “paintings” stacked vertically, each a collage of
rock-like shapes in earthy orange and brown with accents in blue and purple. It
is purely abstract, but with the feel of craggy rock walls or stacks of old
planks.
“Warm Welcome” and “Here and There” are both abstractions that evoke
cave openings or doors with burning light coming from within with brilliant
yellow (“Warm Welcome”) and hot chartreuse (“Here and There”). There is a
feeling of great depth, but instead of going into the dark of a cave there is a
coming-out of light.
Along the back wall is a mural-sized seascape called “Oyster Light.” It
covers almost the entire wall at an more than 15 feet wide (187½ inches by 84½
inches). Similar to “Salt Edge/Fog,” it is a scene at water’s edge in fog, but
much more amorphous. It brings to mind Monet’s late wall-size paintings of lily
pads.
Smith will soon be leaving the Pacific Northwest for the East Coast, and
this may be our last opportunity to see her work. I highly recommend that you
do.
Transitions and Reflections, noon to 5 p.m.
Monday-Friday, through Feb. 5, Tacoma Community College, Building 5A, entrance
off South 12th Street between Pearl and Mildred, Tacoma, visitor parking in Lot
G.
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