Opening Reception:
Thursday, October 10, 5-7 pm
Simmons University presents Surface Tension, an exhibit of mixed media and paintings by Susan Heideman and Sand T Kalloch from October 7-November 7 at the Trustman Art Gallery, located on the fourth floor, Main College Building, 300 the Fenway in Boston. A reception from 5-7 p.m. will be held on Thursday, October 10. The exhibit and reception are free and open to the public.
When standing in front of an actual work of art, one of the first things one sees, whether consciously or not, is the surface texture. Susan Heideman and Sand T Kalloch are particularly interested in making us notice the surface of their images. We are drawn deeply into their work via their process. They employ unusual and diametrically opposing techniques to snare the viewer.
Susan Heideman deconstructs monotypes, ripping and then sewing or glueing the pieces together. She paints on top of these ragged surfaces making in essence, a low-relief topographic map. Her colors are by turns delicate or intense. The sutured images and the organic forms of her “Proteanna Series” are hybrids. The process is provisional – each accrual, obliteration or combination an artistic conversation, evolving by the impulses of the creator. The resulting works pulse with energy – their curling questing forms reach out to us, alchemizing two dimensions into three.
The carefully controlled, polished surfaces of Sand T Kalloch’s mixed media work beckon us into an amorphous space of color, lines and light. She is concerned with repetition and geometric, reductive abstraction. Tension is introduced as she plays the line between space and surface, energy and restfulness. Her sensuous colors, thick or thin lines and illusionary droplets confuse the viewers’ perspective. She likens her deliberate process to composing music, setting up resonances. The work’s dense glossy surfaces, rather than stopping us, invite close study, confusing us with the “space” that is portrayed.
Trustman Art Gallery hours are 10 AM – 4:30 PM, Monday, Tuesday, and Friday, 10 AM – 7 PM on Wednesday and Thursday. The gallery is free, open to the public and wheelchair accessible. For more information, contact Kyle Mendelsohn at (617) 521-2268 or find us on Instagram.