Process
and Product: Feeding a Hunger
By
Tom Wachunas
“Instead of just looking at the finished product, I want people to have a look at the process…I selected artists where you can see the specific building blocks better.” -exhibit curator Michele Waalkes, from an article by Dan Kane for The Canton Repository
EXHIBIT: Parts
to the Whole – works by Jacques P. Jackson, Liz Maugans, Jennifer Omaitz,
and Stephen Tornero – curated by Michele Waalkes / at The Hub Art Factory, 336
Sixth Street NW, downtown Canton, THROUGH August 28, 2020 / viewing hours on
Tuesdays 7p.m. to 9p.m., or by appointment – contact email thehub@gmail.com /
(330) 451-6823
Canton Repository article:
"Hi" Split, by Jacques P. Jackson 
The Sash, by Jacques P. Jackson 
Miami Beach House, by Jennifer Omaitz 
Forced, by Jennifer Omaitz 
GLOW, by Stephen Tornero 
Fruit Punch, by Stephen Tornero 
Apathy Parade: Mediocrity, by Liz Maugans
Lately I’ve
been starving. As in greatly missing what was once a lively art gallery scene
in downtown Canton. While that scene was already experiencing a slow but sure diminishing
long before the pall of COVID19 settled on us, the pandemic has only made
matters worse in terms of regularly accessing what few art venues remain. In
any case, THANK YOU to The Hub Art Factory for continuing to provide some
aesthetic nourishment. My only regret is the lateness of this post, and for
that I sincerely apologize.
The artists in
this eclectic gathering have provided written statements regarding the conceptual
thrust and/or process involved in the making of their pieces, and in a few
instances, framed shadowboxes containing samples of their raw working materials.
Jacques Jackson makes his charming mosaics
with various sorts of glass glued to plywood substrates. He’s interested in
fashion design among other things, and often inserts bits of patterned fabric
behind the glass shapes. The contours of the mosaics are cut to suggest figures
with softly curving torsos, as if moving in an exotic dance.
The mixed-media assemblages
by Jennifer Omaitz, at once dense and airy, are examinations of stacked
architectural structures. She tells us in her statement that they’re inspired
by architects who “…address space constraints, refocusing the design of
living environment to create a sense of community and reduce the environmental
footprint.” From this theoretical
starting point, Omaitz’s constructions further explore “…questions
surrounding climate change, and post-modern architecture, modular architecture,
and psychological spaces.” Complex conditions indeed, these are intriguing
maquettes – models of buildings precariously balanced or teetering in midair,
and seemingly on the verge of tipping over.
The
hand-woven linen yarn weavings by Stephen Tornero are exquisitely crafted, shimmering
abstractions that might be transparent organisms or perhaps shifting landscapes.
“I am inspired by the colors I find in nature,” he says in his statement,
“and how they interact with artificial colors of electric light.” His mesmerizing pieces are a dynamic tour-de-force
of myriad threads that seem to breathe through undulating hues and patterns.
Liz Maugans’ “Apathy Parade” series of wood
intaglio relief prints is her response to the extreme sociopolitical
divisiveness that emerged during the 2016 elections, and which has certainly
become even more intense these days. The banner-toting “people” in her images have
been reduced to anonymous pixelated blurs – clusters of amorphous Ben-Day dots.
What exactly they’re supporting or protesting isn’t all that clear either.
Maugans explains the words on their signs this way: “…I lifted rants and
responses from social media debates where people were clearly not doing their
own research and co-opting others’ arguments that don’t stand up to credibility…”
Maugan’s
images are – pardon the pun – arresting and timely. They make me wonder about
the identity of American society. Who are we really, and where are we going? Maybe
we need to be concerned with a pandemic of another sort – the kind that has
blurred us into a viral meme culture, entrenched in the scene-and-herd
mentality of the social media masses.
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