‘Contemporary Mix’ at In-Town Gallery opens Friday

Five mixed- media artists will be featured in the new exhibit, “Contemporary Mix,” that will open with a reception on Friday, Aug. 3, at In-Town Gallery, 26-A Frazier Ave. The reception will be held from 5 to 8 p.m.

“Contemporary Mix” includes work by Sandra Washburn, Lee Glascock, Linda Kerlin, Janice Kindred and Linda Wicksell. The five have created wall art and 3D artwork combining paint, paper, beads, glass, fabric, found objects and other materials.

Washburn, an artist and art teacher in Chattanooga, has taught and collaborated with each of the other artists. Though a painter with many shows to her credit, she does not limit herself to the canvas.

The dramatic wall art of Glascock takes a different direction as she combines acrylic paint with a free manipulation of the surface. Glascock uses various acrylic media and substrates, which she textures with such things as sand or even garnet dust to build a complex surface on which she paints, adding torn hand-colored papers to achieve t he complex effects.

Kerlin is a painter who has increasingly turned her attention to working with constructions made with found objects. She particularly likes using antique items she finds, r e purposing t hem in unexpected ways.

Emotion plays a central role in the creations of Kindred. Her piece “Sedimentary Range” is a good example.

“Inspiration for this piece c a me when I matched atlas pieces with a curved board, which suggested the earth globes that intrigued me as a child. Expanding and deepening this idea, I used similar colors and textured papers to finish my composition,” says Kindred.

Wicksell, who began as a representational painter, turned to mixed media shortly before coming to Chattanooga. She began working wit h mixed media in earnest when she met Washburn.

Wicksell’s mixed- media pieces develop intuitively, she says, usually starting with an image upon which she enlarges.

All f ive artists view themselves as beginning with a basic idea or concept that intrigues them and building on that core concept as they weave subtle and ambiguous narratives. As Washburn says, “I think of us as ‘Layerists’, because we build our work layer by layer. That’s what I teach in my mixed-media classes.”

“Con temporary Mix” will r emain on view through the end of August. In-Town Gallery hours are 11 a. m.- 6 p. m. Monday-Saturday, 1-5 p.m. Sunday.

For more information: 423-267-9214.

I MAGE CONTRIBUTED BY I N- TOWN GALLERY Janice Kindred’s “Sedimentary Range” can be hung on a wall or set on a flat surface. It is a collage composed of fabrics, textured papers, Japanese papers and map pieces mounted on a curved wooden board.