The Lyndon House Arts Center has started hosting its 2024 “Summer Series” that features three solo exhibitions, a thematic curated show and a collaborative installation.
Kathyrn Réfi, the art exhibition program specialist at the Lyndon House Art Center, said that the exhibits opened on the same day to make it more accessible for patrons and generate interest in the arts center over the summer
Each exhibit operates independently of each other. Réfi stated that the Lyndon House looked for diversity in the various exhibits so the viewers can respond to whichever exhibit they are drawn to.
“Pathways,” one of the solo exhibitions, is a collection of amorphous woven wall works by Kristy Bishop on view in the Atrium glass cases. The exhibit is a feature of Bishop’s body of work, “Metaweaves,” and employs centuries-old techniques to create dynamic, vivid and contemporary designs. The artist pays homage to the rich history of inkle, rigid heddle and tablet weaving, which are various weaving methods she uses throughout her works.
“Traditions Highway,” a solo photography exhibit by Irina Rozovsky, is on display in the South Atrium and features 16 photographs and a large wall-based text piece.
The presentations of photographs were taken along Georgia State Route 15, a road that runs the entire length of the state. The photographs are accompanied by vernacular paintings Rozovsky collected from small shops along the highway. The text-based piece is composed of verbiage from roadside signs.
Over at the Western Gallery, “Entropy Plan for the Western Fam,” a multimedia exhibit by Steven L. Anderson, features video, painting, and paper works. Anderson’s artwork is about the “power of nature and the nature of power," according to his artist statement posted at the gallery. Anderson said that he looks towards trees and plants as an infinite source of metaphors for how humans experience the world.
“Celestial Bodies” is a group exhibition curated in-house by Réfi and is on view in the Upper Atrium galleries. The heavens and earth-centered exhibit hosts a variety of projects from photography and woodcut to paintings and digitally rendered illustrations. Réfi said that the exhibit is a passion project for her.
“I’ll confess that my baby is the Celestial Bodies exhibit because that’s the show that I’ve been working on putting together for the past year,” Réfi said. “It says nothing to lessen the quality and the richness of all the other shows, but that's just one that I've been deeply involved in.”
Also on display is “Cupola: a Collaboration,” a collaborative class assignment initiated in 2023 by UGA professor Martijn van Wagtendonk at the Lamar Dodd School of Art. “Cupola” was inspired by Renaissance architect Filippo Brunelleschi and integrates engineering, science, language, music, philosophy and kinetic sculpture into a fantastical interactive sculpture.
“Cupola” was a creative endeavor, engaging over 45 UGA students and faculty from diverse disciplines. The project consists of a 15 foot diameter drum standing seventeen feet tall, fashioned using mortise and tenon joints to connect the wooden pieces together.
There are no screws involved with the mortise and tenon joints. Réfi stated that the students assisting with the project hammered pins into the wood to keep the structure together, learning basic blacksmithing techniques.
Each of the drum’s 16 sides hosts kinetic and imaginative creations made from a variety of materials, such as cloth, stained glass, yarn and more. These creations resemble a variety of animals and botany, such as butterflies, a cat, a mushroom and more.
“They’re all spectacular,” Ashley Malec, a parent whose child attended the Lyndon House Arts Camp, said. “This little mushroom, I thought it was especially cute and whimsical.”
Additionally, musical renditions can be played on a 25-bell carillon, with a A machine accepting quarters to start the music.
This installation and others in the summer series are available for viewing in the Lyndon House Arts Center during regular gallery hours on Tuesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free.