The Local Line is the next exhibit to open at the Gallery of Contemporary Art at Sacred Heart University. The show features the work of four established contemporary artists, all of whom live within 25 miles of the campus. That the work of each individually explores the expressive and artistic value of the ‘line' completes the exhibit's title.

Eva Lee, Dorothy Powers, Suzan Shutan, and Eve Stockton will exhibit their works at the gallery from April 30th through June 1st. A reception with live jazz, courtesy of the Carol Sudhalter Duo, will open the exhibition on Sunday afternoon, the 30th, from 1:00 to 3:30. There will be an Artists' Talk by three of the artists (Powers, Shutan, and Stockton) in the Gallery Wednesday evening, May 3rd, at seven o'clock.

Gallery Director Sophia Gevas offers some insight into the selection of the four for the exhibition. “It's not that these artists eschew form, or that they use ‘line' to the exclusion of other artistic tools such as color or value.  However, their utilization of ‘line' is primary to their work. Each artist has a unique ‘line' that is used to achieve very different aesthetics and artistic goals.

“Be it in the majestic landscapes of Eve Stockton, Suzan Shutan's microscopic viruses, the balls of string that fascinate Dorothy Powers, or the natural evolution of dots and lines that seem to grow into complex shapes in the work of Eve Lee - all are related by their differing use of organic lines.”

Gevas points to the multiple definitions of the word itself to highlight the value of choice in the artists' works. “The word ‘line' has many meanings, from a short written note to a string with a hook on it, to a selection of designer clothing. The same is true in the visual arts.  A line is the most basic element that indicates a division of space or delineates the outer edges of a form. An artist's line is very personal, showing much about the way it was drawn — from large and expansive gestures to tightly controlled movements. Even the materials chosen to depict the line influence its expression.”

Eva Lee chooses to use the simple to express the immense: white ink on black paper, the drawings hint first at gazing into the depths of space before developing into shapes that bend as if avoiding something in the darkness that we cannot see. In the artist's own words, she is “inspired by nature's scale, from the mind-boggling smallness of subatomic particles to the inconceivable immensity of an expanding universe.”

Dorothy Powers' work studies the form itself. Without being the least bit introspective, her exquisite drawings of balls of string become a sort of play within a play – lines of lines within the lines – finally depicted on a scale where the lines themselves take on a distinct and separate character of their own.

Suzan Shutan's work draws upon lines to express the sublime dichotomy between the visually beautiful shapes of microscopic viruses, such as AIDS or smallpox, and the devastation they cause.

The woodblocks Eve Stockton creates enable her to translate natural woodland scenes into complex lines that allow us to fill in the missing details from the memories of landscapes we have seen.  Evoking our collective consciousness of dusk in a forest, these works seem to provide the minimal information we need to remember what it feels like to be surrounded by overlapping tree branches and the gentle sounds of the natural world.

Using the most basic artistic element, Stockton, Shutan, Powers, and Lee create evocative and engaging works that stretch the definition of the ‘line'. The compilation of their work at the Gallery provides an intriguing view into how artists move from the same starting point to arrive at dramatically different destinations.

Back to April 2006