JEFFREY WHITTLE
Jeffrey Whittle is a figurative painter living in Athens, Georgia. His mediums include oil on panel/canvas and mixed media. Whittle’s recent paintings explore beauty, love, and an expansive sense of time, By juxtaposing the ephemeral (flowering plants) with the infinite (star-scapes) my desire is to represent of both day time and night time simultaneously as well as the eternal/fleeting temporal experience.
He received his MFA in Painting from Cornell University and his work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. He has been the recipient of numerous artist’s grants, residencies, and awards. Jeffrey Whittle teaches studio art courses at the University of Georgia and has a long association with Italy and coastal Maine.
INtroducing JILL CARNES
Jill Carnes is an Elephant 6-related musician and artist. She performs as Thimble Circus with Eric Harris, and self-released one album under that name, Lullaby for Worriers, in 2003. The album features appearances by Elephant 6 artists and associates Peter Erchick, Chris Jolly, Heather McIntosh, Scott Spillane, and Jeff Mangum.
MICHAEL ROSS
Pictured: Michael Ross, Magnolia Forest, Oil on canvas, 44x60
Michael Ross grew up in Norway and Finland, moved to Maryland as an adolescent, and graduated with a B.A. in anthropology from the University of Maryland in 2000. Before moving to Athens, Georgia, where he finished his MFA in painting at the University of Georgia in 2016, Ross attended artist residencies in Norway, Iceland, and West Africa, and lived for several years in San Francisco. He has shown his work in galleries around the country, and is featured in the permanent collections of the University of Georgia, the Washington, DC Department of Transportation, and in numerous private collections in the United States and in Europe. In his work, Ross explores the interplay of the human, natural, and mythical worlds in a manner that emphasizes emotional and sensory experience. Ross continues to work out of his studios in Athens, Georgia, and Bethesda, Maryland.
THE LANDSCAPE AT CURRENT MIDTOWN
FEATURING BRIAN FREER AND MICHAEL ROSS WITH OTHER MATNEY GALLERY ARTISTS. NEW WORKS BY JILL CARNES AND JEFFREY WHITTLE
CONTACT LEE MATNEY TO INQUIRE ABOUT ACQUIRING WORKS FROM THE EXHIBITION
Curated by Lee Matney
OPENING RECEPTION THURSDAY, JULY 11, 2024, 6-8 PM
A GALLERY TALK MODERATED BY JOHN LEE MATNEY IS SLATED FOR 3 PM IN THE CURRENT MIDTOWN THEATER
LOCATION:
CURRENT MIDTOWN APARTMENTS
221 Monticello Ave, Williamsburg VA 23185
KRISTIN SKEES
Kristin Skees was raised in Birmingham, Alabama. She has a BFA from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, an MFA from the University of Arizona, and an MLIS from the University of Alabama. She works in a variety of media, including photography, experimental fibers, digital video, and installation. Her photographs are found in various private and public collections, including the Cohen Family Collection, the Candela Collection, the Huntsville Museum of Art and the Mobile Museum of Art. Kristin was a recent recipient of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Professional Artist Fellowship. She teaches in the Department of Fine Art and Art History at Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia.
Brian Kreydatus
Brian Kreydatus is a professor at William & Mary where he has taught printmaking and life drawing since 2001. He received his BFA from Syracuse University and MFA from the University of Pennsylvania. He has had solo exhibitions in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Chicago. Kreydatus has also participated in group shows in New York, Philadelphia, Ireland, France, Serbia, Canada, China, and Japan.
BRIAN FREER
See Brian Freer’s Reverse Perception in Barely South Review. LEARN MORE
Brian Freer was born on September 16, 1973, in Chicagoland, where he was introduced to art and photography at an early age, thanks to his grandparents’ enthusiasm for the medium. His academic journey took him to Virginia Commonwealth University, where he pursued studies in literature and biology. Although not officially enrolled in the photography department, Brian utilized the university’s lab, embodying the spirit of a “presumptive student.”
Before venturing into publishing and creative agencies, Brian worked as a programmer and graphic arts software integrator in the newspaper industry. In 2005, he founded “Health Journal,” a regional monthly print magazine. In 2010, Brian established Tusk Creative Agency, serving as its creative director.
ELIZABETH MEAD
Mead’s sculpture and drawings have been exhibited across the U.S. as well as in Iceland, Italy, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Portugal, Australia, and England. She has designed more than two-dozen theatrical productions including work with the internationally acclaimed, Tony award winning Theatre de la Jeune Lune. She has had over two-dozen solo exhibitions and her sculpture and drawing have been included in more than fifty group exhibitions.
A recipient of the Japan/US NEA Creative Artist Fellowship (2002-03), Mead spent six months living and working in Japan. Mead has received recognition for her work in theater by the Dallas Theater League (1998) and the Theater Communication Group/NEA Designer Fellowship (1997, 1998). Mead attended the Ecole Internationale de Jacques Lecoq in Paris, France (1995). She was awarded a work-stay residency at Sculpture Space in Utica, New York (1992). Mead was awarded a Nes Artist Residency (2009) in Skagaströnd, Iceland, where she examined experiential aspects of landscape and the ways environmental cues connect us to the world.
LUTHER GERLACH
Photographer Luther Gerlach works in a variety of historical photographic processes, highlighting the role of constraints in creative production and the hand-made, tactile connection between the artist and his work. Known for nude portraits and urban scenes of downtown LA in his early career, more recently Gerlach has pioneered the re-emergence of plein air wet plate collodion landscapes. His work distills detailed images of the natural world, particularly the trees, seaweeds, and grasses of Southern California, to emphasize pure light and line, endowing his images with a subtly abstract quality.
Luther Gerlach was born in Blayne, Minnesota in 1960. He apprenticed with Brett Weston in Carmel and Hawaii in the 1980’s, before learning the wet plate process which he still works in today. Gerlach has led lectures and demonstrations at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles since 2001. He has exhibited at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the Ventura Museum of Art, the Schaknow Museum of Fine Art, Miami, the Denver Art Museum, and The Palace of the Governors, Santa Fe. Selected permanent collections include the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The J. Paul Getty Museum, and the Michael G. Wilson Centre for Photography, among other
LEE MATNEY
Pictured: Lee Matney, Robert and Shani, 2007
Lee Matney, a native of Richmond, VA, has over 25 years of experience in the art world in Virginia, Georgia, Texas, and elsewhere. His gallery specializes in developing thematic group shows and collaborative art projects with international and American artists. The gallery also offers consulting for investment art; with a focus on quality and service, Linda Matney Gallery provides an excellent resource for contemporary art lovers everywhere. Specialties include Southern art, Art Rosenbaum, Southern photography, Virginia colleges, and Texas art.