For its first shows of 2020, The Center for Arts and Learning will be presenting Cat McQ: United Signs of America in our second-floor gallery, and Paintings by Jeanne Thurston on the first floor. Join us for our rescheduled opening reception on Saturday, February 15 from 4-6pm. Both exhibitions run through March.
Cat McQ: United Signs of America takes the viewer on a road trip looking backwards. Intense skies are punctuated by vintage signage, some rusted, some vibrant, each signaling a larger road culture. Each engages the viewer in a different way; for some, the sign’s story or geography is the obvious focus, but for others, the image’s composition and color come to the fore. In a country we often think of as regionally divided, these photographs portray a common aesthetic of glitzy convenience. Many of them promise the exotic, with all the comforts of home. Removed from their locales and presented against the same skies, they become like formal portraits of forgotten sitters.
Jeanne Thurston’s paintings use intensely colored, dimensional bars of color to create reliefs. As you move around the space, the optics of each piece change, revealing new colors that combine to effect remarkable movement and volume. Thurston takes inspiration from her work keeping bees. Like beehives, her pieces use stable, simple geometric forms to build a base for a dynamic, ever-changing surface. Her colors buzz and flutter, dancing to communicate.