NEW ORLEANS, LA.- Octavia Art Gallery has opened TEXTURES, a group exhibition featuring the work of Scott Andresen, Dan Charbonnet, Karen Margolis, Raymond Saá Meghan Shimek, and Julie Silvers.

Texture is a vital part of any artwork. It adds depth, complexity, and visual interest that transforms an image and helps to define the form by creating atmosphere and depth. This exhibition brings together a diverse group of contemporary artists who are utilizing a variety of materials, including metallic thread, canvas strips, sewn paper, Merino and Targhee wool, moss, stones, and clay.

In this exhibition, Scott Andresen explores themes of repair with hand dyed silk, metallic thread, and acrylic paint on canvas. He uses textile mending techniques as each piece goes through the separate stages of construction, destruction, and reparation.

For Dan Chardonnet the construction process comprises of actions in the form of ripping, stretching, heating, stapling, fraying, and sewing the canvas, while the application involves the taping, priming, painting (hard lines, soft lines, washes, gestures), and curating color.

Karen Margolis’ series of Empty Vessels consist of destructed maps converging with fragments from dismantled sculptures. Bearing scars from their previous lives, the vessels unravel into themselves, suspended between form and formlessness. They are intended as magic talismans, in Buddhist philosophy, empty yet full and speak to the enduring beauty of imperfection (wabi-sabi) and of life's struggles, though which we find and honor the self.

Raymond Saá’s process-oriented work deconstructs and reconstructs natural elements, generating motifs that reference the artist’s Cuban roots, and connect natural forms with an architectural process by painting, sewing, and collaging paper and canvas.

Fiber artist Meghan Shimek creates woven wall hangings and sculptures. Her work is ethereal, whimsical, and delicate, but rooted in the warm, earthy materials she uses. Exploring organic movement, Shimek's weaving style allows the fibers to fall into an indeterminate pattern that reveals the beauty and vulnerability of her materials.

Julie Silvers creates ceramic totems made up of geometric shapes with textural surfaces. They embody primitive qualities with playful gestures. Her work exemplifies her love for patterns and architectural forms.

Octavia Art Gallery
TEXTURES
August 5th, 2023 - August 26th, 2023