An outside view of the installation in progress. Photo by Natalie Lanese

PANORAMA, an installation by Natalie Lanese, combines collage and pop patterns to set up narratives that address, oftentimes humorously, the more serious realities of American culture. Lanese’s massive scale patterns transform into a geometric landscape in which the collaged elements create conceptual spaces and confront ideas of image vs. reality, depth, and depthlessness.

On Friday night, August 23, from 6-8 p.m., join us for the opening of “PANORAMA,” an eye-popping installation of pulsating stripes and pastries. Meet the artist, Natalie Lanese, and experience the CVA Gallery as you’ve never seen it before.

Natalie was kind enough to tell us a bit about her art, her work process, and her inspirations.

For folks who haven’t had the benefit of watching this installation unfold over the past few weeks, what is your process for developing and creating an installation like this? How long does it take to create? Do you have help?

I usually have a general idea of the shape of the piece before I begin, but I do all of the decision-making in the gallery. Since these installations are site-specific, I have to respond to the space and design the work in the gallery. The dark gray walls in the CVA Gallery required that I paint the area white before adding color. Then I draw the pattern on the wall and start painting. For this piece, painting took almost 2 full weeks. I had the help of some very generous students in the second week. The final few days are spent working on the collage: printing, cutting out the shapes, and adhering them to the wall.

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This image by Barry Whittaker will be on display at Transcending Text, the multimedia exhibition at Walter Terhune Gallery

Join us for the exhibition Transcending Text, which brings together four artists who explore the disconnection between text, language and meaning. The exhibition will be shown at Walter E. Terhune Gallery at Owens Community College. Our closing reception will be held on Friday, August 30 from 5-7 p.m. The Terhune Gallery is located on the campus of Owens Community College, at 30335 Oregon Road, Perrysburg, OH 43551.

Exhibitors Include:

Barbara WF Miner

Barbara WF Miner’s encaustic paintings use shape and repetition to reference abstract symbols: letters, characters, cuneiforms and hieroglyphs.  When a letter or a pictograph is separated from the rest of the communication system, it becomes unintelligible and is cast adrift from concrete meaning like a discarded implement.  It is then critical for the viewer to create content and investigate the actual painting surfaces and structure for deeper resonance and substance.

Barbara Miner currently holds the position of Associate Professor and Associate Chair in the Department of Art, at the University of Toledo, in Toledo, OH.  Her mixed media and installation works have been exhibited nationally and internationally in over 50 exhibitions.  She has participated in numerous national and international artist’s residencies.  She has received both internal and external grants in support of her research and art practice.

Barry Whittaker

Barry Whittaker’s work explores the challenge in communication, especially when there is technology involved. He says, “It’s the equivalent of deconstructing all one’s thoughts in a food processor and handing the pieces to one person who will deliver them to another person, who will reassemble them for the intended recipient of the message. The hope is that he will get the idea of what is being said, but it is likely that important parts will be missing.”

Barry Whittaker is a multi-media artist who explores myth, language, and miscommunication through a variety of technology and collaboration-based projects. A native Texan, he received a BFA from the University of Texas at Austin and an MFA from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Whittaker has taught in the U.S., France, and Japan and continues to exhibit artwork internationally. He is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Toledo.

Holly Hey

Holly Hey’s “MOM MOM” are two moving image loops (16mm and digital video) that contemplate the construction of the word “mother.”

Holly Hey is an “undependent” filmmaker and an experimental weaver of media who strives to undermine conventional methods for telling stories via the moving image. She is currently an associate professor of film and video production within the Department of Theatre and Film at The University of Toledo. She holds a MFA in filmmaking from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BFA in photography from Ohio University. Her films and videos have shown at the Autumn Lights Festival -Los Angeles, the Mix Festival -New York, the Onion City Film Festival -Chicago, the Denver International Film Festival, the Athens International Film and Video Festival, the Vancouver Queer Film and Video Festival, among other venues.

Lee Fearnside

Lee Fearnside’s installation examines censorship by using books from the American Library Association’s challenged book list that the artist has read. Her use of media examines systems that underlie our culture including issues of gentrification, the politics of history, and the body.

She earned her Masters of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design and is now an Assistant Professor of Art at Tiffin University. She has exhibited in national and regional juried shows, and her videos have screened at Film Festivals in Boston, San Francisco, Portland, Oregon and Toronto, and on Rhode Island PBS.

For additional information about Transcending Text, email Lee Fearnside.

An installation by Natalie Lanese, whose “PANORAMA” will be on display in the CVA Gallery through September 28.

PANORAMA, an installation by Natalie Lanese, combines collage and pop patterns to set up narratives that address, oftentimes humorously, the more serious realities of American culture.  Lanese’s massive scale patterns transform into a geometric landscape in which the collaged elements create conceptual spaces and confront ideas of image vs. reality, depth, and depthlessness.

PANORAMA will be on display at the Center for Visual Arts Gallery. The opening reception will be held on Friday, August 23 from 6-8 p.m. at the Center for Visual Arts Gallery. The installation will remain on display through September.

Natalie Lanese has recently exhibited at Jack the Pelican Presents in Brooklyn, the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, MA, Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, MA, and Scope International Art Fair in Basel, Switzerland.  Lanese is Assistant Professor of Art and Gallery Director at Siena Heights University in Adrian, MI and resides in Toledo, Ohio.

The Center for Visual Arts is located at 620 Grove Place in Toledo, adjacent to the Toledo Museum of Art. For more information, contact CVA Gallery Director Ben Pond.