A local printmaker who was named the Jamestown Arts Center’s inaugural Distinguished Artist of the Year is opening an exhibition across the bridge in Newport.
Jamestown resident Peter Marcus and ceramist Chris Gustin, of South Dartmouth, Mass., will collaborate on their eponymous exhibition at Overlap. An opening reception for the exhibition, which will be displayed through Nov. 2, is from 4-6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28. A talk with the artists is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 9.
The exhibit will explore how the artists’ works, though distinct, share intriguing commonalities. The men have spent decades honing their craft, achieving a profound mastery of their respective mediums. This deep expertise has enabled them to push the boundaries of their art by exploring uncharted territory.
Marcus has designed some of the biggest etching presses in the country, one of which is in his basement, and Gustin built one of the largest wood-fired kilns in his studio. Their common experience as professors also informs their artistic practice. On an aesthetic level, they share an interest in abstraction with an importance of form and composition.
Marcus’ career is rooted in material exploration within the medium of printmaking, which has culminated in a distinctive composite collagraph process. This innovative technique blurs the boundaries between painting, printmaking, collage and sculpture.
Marcus begins by crafting highly contrasted fields of topographical marks, with lines and shapes produced by inking and pressing a rigid, multitextured collagraph plate constructed. With the addition of sliced and curled colorful paper, repurposed from previous experiments, Marcus creates dense, vibrant compositions.
Gustin, with a career spanning a half century, is recognized as one of the most esteemed ceramic artists of our time. Renowned for his skillfully made voluminous forms and luscious surfaces, his work spans a remarkable range of scales, from handheld vessels to abstract sculptures. His unparalleled mastery of glazing techniques is evident in his signature surfaces, achieved through secret combinations of glaze, ash and metal oxides, and fired in an anagama.
At Overlap, Gustin will showcase a selection of sculptures from his “Spirit Series.” These cloud-like vaguely figurative pieces delve into “pure form as a means of expressing the emotional essence of our individual life experiences.”
