Artist's Studio Tour: pleasure, in creation, in situ

Saturday May 10th:  4~7p
Featuring Five Artists' Studios
Tickets:  $10
SAAC:  324~3080
Refreshments in the Studios

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To kick off our new blog here at the Starkville Area Arts Council, we're focusing on the upcoming event:  The Artist's Studio Tour.  Featuring five artists' studios, this tour allows participants to visit Laurie Burton, Betty Jane Chatham, Briar Jones, Kathryn Ramsey, and Gerald Richardson within their own work~spaces.  In some cases, the artists may be creating pieces; whether the medium is oil, watercolor, pencil, ink, metal, wood, paper, found objects, or something completely different, please enjoy watching the process unfold.

Keep your eye on the blog as we discuss each artist over the next ten days.

Laurie Burton
with Joe & Joseph
MacGown

First up, Laurie Burton

Saturday May 3rd, 5~7p, Burton will be joined by Joe and Joseph MacGown for an opening reception of Surreal Strangeness in Starkville.  The show will continue to be displayed thru the following weekend's Studio Tour~~so attendees during Saturday May 10th will be able to not only view Burton's mixed media, but also take in the MacGowns' works as well.

"Surreal Strangeness in Starkville" A Joseph H//Joe A//L Burton combination

Joe A MacGown is everywhere online.  Don't take my word for it; visit here, and here, and here, and here, and... you get the point.  His Blog has lots of other sites referenced, too.  And then there is his circle on Google.

But I'll just let his own words speak for him here:  Joe A. MacGown is a local artist who creates chaotic assemblages of strange mutated creatures, crowded surreal landscapes, and mandala-like designs that reflect his thoughts and observations of life on this planet. Using imaginative imagery and random patterns, he produces detailed drawings and mixed media paintings by simply allowing ideas to “flow out of his head” using a method he describes as “Subconscious Meandering.” MacGown’s background in entomology and natural history, coupled with his love of science fiction and cynicism of all things human, provide ample fodder for his surreal visions, which range from dark and foreboding to light and whimsical.
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The younger Joseph H. MacGown's own creative spot says, "I draw weird stuff and write and play strange music."   And he does all that and more.  Come by on Saturday 3rd May, for just a smattering; you won't be disappointed, I promise.

In brief:  Joseph H. MacGown is an aspiring young Starkville artist with a penchant for the weird and abstract. He uses themes that especially relate to younger people in his art, writing, videography, photography, and music. Form, texture, and color are important elements of his paintings, while found objects often find their way into his mixed media collages. For the younger MacGown, writing, music, and the visual arts are inseparable, and he seeks to merge these forms together. He will be taking his talents and ideas to study art at the Savannah College of Art and Design in the fall.

Joseph H MacGown's "Jailed By Herself"

Laurie Burton's "Back Off"

Laurie Burton's Wild Rose Studio & Gallery is located in the heart of Starkville, in a renovated 1930's bungalow, at 302 South Jackson, fronted by a diamond patterned white fence that she painted on the concrete retaining wall.  Repurposing found objects and juxtaposing materials is a common theme which runs throughout the years as evidenced by the sculptures she creates like the piece seen here.  The clean smoothness of the curved feminine back is combined with the rough texture of the rusted pointed tines of a pitchfork, evoking provocative meanings that give the viewer a decidedly unorthodox experience.  Glancing down at the horizontal door that has become a table top, embedded with bits of stained glass, you might notice that the substance that holds the pieces together also is the media Burton uses in other pieces.
For the more traditional taste, acrylics and oils can be found hung on the wall.  These paintings range from landscapes and still lifes to portraits.  But Burton's quirkiness shows up there too, go see.

On Starkville Area Arts Council's FaceBook page, Burton's approach, philosophy, and creativity is explored.  Also, the artist's statement can be found on her own webpage, Laurie Burton Art.  You can contact Burton here.

So what can I offer you here that cannot be found at other locations online?

Well, put on some blues by Kosciusko~born Charlie Musselwhite to set the mood.  Get into the sliding rhythm of the harmonica and feel that flowing from your fingers as you trace the grapevine root Burton's worked into the fanciful yet functional pedestal of the low table.  And know that Burton gets her love of both music and art from her mother, whose passionate performances shaped Burton's deep appreciation and own forays into multimedia artistic expression.

Burton says, "I don't know if Mom ever had late nights working on art, and she's pushing eighty now, but her love of art and music is as strong as ever. She is independent, fearless, creative and a bit eccentric, and the older I get, the more I like to think that I am like her."

I think Burton's well on her way.