WAX: Medium Meets Message
moreanartscenter.org
Morean Arts Center, 719 Central Avenue, St. Petersburg, Florida 33701 727-822-7872
March 16 – May 28, 2012 Opening Reception: March 16, 2012, from 5 to 7 pm.
All are welcome. Free, open to the public. Artists' talk: 5 pm.

Local artist and activist Leslie Neumann gathered a roster of stellar artists who work in diverse methods, but share the common bond of using encaustic, a wax based paint with luminous qualities.

Hailing from divergent places such as Portland, OR, Santa Fe, NM, Maine and the New York City area, each artist brings a unique and exciting perspective to this ancient medium. Viewers will be astounded by the floating installations of Lorrie Fredette, the kinetic sculptures of former dancer Kim Bernard, and the political bite of Russell Thurston. Wax gets nostalgic with the photo-based paintings of Marybeth Rothman, and brilliantly abstract in the hands of Lisa Pressman.

Leslie Neumann and Elise Wagner draw our attention upward with paintings that explore the cosmos. Artists who present a more down-to-earth perspective are the seed-studded altars of Ann Taylor Gibson, and the geological sculptures of Laura Moriarty.

This exhibition not only will feature the diversity of wax in art, but will also provide our community with a fun, educational component featuring the history of wax and all its other versatile uses.

NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Date: February 10, 2012	Hillsborough Community College Ybor Campus Art Gallery Carolyn Kossar 813.253.7674 ckossar@hccfl.edu
Visions and Journeys Leslie Neumann, Oil and Encaustic Paintings Judith Salmon, Drawing and Mixed Media Installations

Tampa, Fl.--Hillsborough Community College’s Ybor School of Visual and Performing Arts Gallery will present an exhibition by two Central Florida artists celebrating Women’s History Month in March. Leslie Neumann and Judith Salmon share the gallery in the Visions and Journeys exhibit March 1-29. An Opening Reception with the Artists will take place Thursday, March 1, 5:30 to 8:00pm with a Gallery Talk beginning at 6:30. The gallery is located on the first floor of the Performing Arts Building, Palm Ave and 15th Street and is free and open to the public.

The two artists complement each other with overlapping themes expressed throughout their work. They explore emotional and metaphysical states and share with us a visual involvement with time, energy, memory messages and spiritual journeys. They explore the fleeting nature of things that produce a mystical experience, be it cosmic or terrestrial, contemporary or ancient.

Leslie Neumann received her BFA in painting at the California College of Arts and Crafts and her MA in painting at New York University. She moved from New York City, population 8 million, to Aripeka, a small fishing village of 500 people on the Gulf of Mexico in 1991. Her home and studio are surrounded by 14,000 acres of coastal wilderness. There she began to explore the technique of encaustic (hot wax) painting. Her work expresses the wild side of the wetlands--dark nights, moonlight reflections and the feeling that ancient spirits are present. In her Cosmos Series, she paints cosmic landscapes that allow each of us to travel deeper into the universe. “I’m interested in the possibility that many forces, both visible and invisible, seem to converge to produce a mystical experience,” says Neumann. “The wax is applied while still hot, and as it congeals, I scrape through it to reveal other layers of color or to write words and make marks. I create an innovative textured surface with a jewel-like glow.”

Judith Salmon was born in Kingston, Jamaica. She studied painting and printmaking at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. As a printmaker, Judith was awarded a Director’s Fellowship to study with the Bob Blackburn Printmaking Workshop in New York City in the late 1980s. Her relief print, “Unmasking the Goddess,” was selected in 1995 for exhibition in Beijing, China by the National Museum of Women in the Arts. Judith migrated to the US in 2000 and gained her MFA from Johnson State College in Vermont. Under the agency of Very Special Arts, Florida, Judith teaches art to adults and children with disabilities throughout the state. “I’m drawn to exploring a variety of materials and processes, so that elements like wax, collage, fiber, found-objects are embraced for their potential to conceptualize new ideas and meaning. My works share an involvement with time,” says Salmon. “I explore transience, accumulations of experience, loss and renewal. Objects become places for memory.”

Gallery hours are Mon and Weds-Fri 10am to 4pm and Tuesdays noon to 7pm. For further details please contact Carolyn Kossar, 813.253.7674, ckossar@hccfl.edu.