The John C. Hutcheson Gallery, which showcases a variety of exhibits each semester by local artists, students and faculty, opened an exhibit entitled, “And Most Slow I Have Been” on Monday, featuring local artist Karen Speaker.
The exhibit was unveiled at 6 p.m. shortly after Speaker gave a brief lecture. After the presentation, she fielded Q&A for the moderately large crowd of curious students, faculty and local art-enthusiasts.
“I love the physical connection that I am able to make when creating art,” Speaker said. “I don’t want to only relate to [my work] visually. Paintings have an interesting way of calling to our senses, but because they are images by nature, they are an illusion — so it is like a virtual sensation. I want people to imagine physically engaging in my work.”
Speaker’s gallery paintings were all created in the past three years. Speaker said she has a fascination with creating “rockstacking” images, which initially presented a challenge for the new artist. She said was inspired by novelist Virginia Woolff, who committed suicide at age 59 by filling her overcoat pocket with rocks and drowning herself in a river near her home.
Speaker cited historical French artist Henri Matisse as another main influence for her work. Matisse was famous in the early 1900s for his use of color and fluidity in his paintings.
Fine Arts major and art-lover Ian Corvette expressed a great appreciation for Speaker’s artwork.
“The pieces spoke to me,” Corvette said. “The sensitivity of the figures and colors have a dramatic, almost theatrical affect.”
Speaker’s work will be featured and sold at Zeitgeist Gallery, located at 516 Hagan Street in Nashville.
The Hutcheson gallery is located in the James D. Hughes center on Lipscomb’s campus near the Belmont entrance. Hours are Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. Admission to the gallery is free to the general public.
The exhibit will continue to run until December 9, 2016.
For more information about upcoming art exhibits, or about the Lipscomb art department, visit www.lipscomb.edu/art