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The art of before and after
[Images courtesy Florida Craftsmen Gallery]
Jacquie Fort’s Empty Nest Her, 2001, reflected her sense of aimlessness and loss as her children grew up and away. It is a basket of randomly woven cocoa plumosa fibers tied with bits of floss and beads, like things found on the floor of a newly emptied closet. |
By LENNIE BENNETT
© St. Petersburg Times
published October 3, 2002
Time shapes the artist and the art in a show at the Florida Craftsmen Gallery.
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What a difference a decade -- or two or three -- makes in the work of an artist. "Past Perfect/Present Tense" at Florida Craftsmen Gallery displays award-winning art from a past Florida Craftsmen Show alongside current work by 16 artists.
Viewers can see how Ray Azcuy's sweet mixed-media constructions have gained intellectual depth in 20 years, and that Christine Federighi, having proved she could craft pretty things three decades ago, now makes them provocative, too. There is only a slight then-now divide in work by more recent winners, but the pots by Georgina Holt, as elegant and minimalist as Armani couture, are a pleasure, as are Eleanor McCain's wall hangings, which are Byzantine in their richness.
A year later, Fort seems to have reconnected to her center, as seen in Barcelona, 2002, a serene vessel of palm bark and decoupaged canvas laden with mementos of a journey that is as spiritual as it is literal.
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More than forms have changed. A patron at the opening party turned Raymond Ferguson's wooden bowl upside down and saw a price tag for $85. "I'll take it," she said, then learned that it was the price tag from the 1971 show. Today, Ferguson can charge at least $400 for one.
Florida Craftsmen Gallery, 501 Central Ave., St. Petersburg, is open 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Free admission. (727) 821-7391. or www.floridacraftsmen.net.
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