Kristen T. Woodward’s exhibit, Canaries in the Coal Mine, opens on Sunday, September 16 from 4-6pm at Clay on Main. The public is welcome to visit Clay on Main’s gallery, enjoy some refreshments, and meet the artist. There will be two bodies of work on display. Visitors will first find her encaustic paintings on wood panel exploring animals in metaphorical relationships, particularly the relationship of predator and prey. These paintings hope to explore dominion in the physical and spiritual sense and express ideas of stewardship, companionship, and loss.
Regarding the second body of work, Woodward explains, “My mixed media paintings on commercially printed gun targets go back in their origins fifteen years when I lived in Mount Penn, not far from Fischer’s gun store and indoor pistol range. You might remember the signs emblazened over the building predicting the end of the world. The images helped me work out ideas about gun violence in a didactic way.”
Woodward received her BFA in Printmaking from Syracuse University, and her MFA in Studio Art from Clemson University. She is currently a Professor of Art at Albright College, teaching painting, printmaking, and interdisciplinary courses on Latin American graphic art, and gender and the visual arts. Her artwork is in numerous permanent collections including the Federal Reserve Bank, Sexton Industries, The Cottonlandia Museum, Wachovia Bank, the C.N.Gorman Museum at the University of California, Davis, and the Center for the Study of Political Graphics of Los Angeles.
Clay on Main is a non-profit artists’ cooperative, located at 313 Main St in the historic village of Oley. The studio offers art instruction and gallery space for local artists, as well as live music and more. Clay on Main houses a complete clay studio, a stained and fused glass studio, a live performance venue, and a yoga room, in addition to the co-op and gallery. Clay on Main is open to the public on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 10-2, Wednesdays from 10-5, and Sundays from 1-4.
