Lobby Case
Lyndon House Arts Center is pleased to present the exhibition, Breathing Room, on view in the Lobby Case and Lukasiewicz Gallery from April 1 – June 8, 2023.
Reception for the artists is Thursday, May 18, 6:00 – 7:30 pm.
R Wood Studio has been in operation for 30 years. Rebecca Wood, owner and artist and designer, has run this entrepreneurial business in the ideal of an artist studio. Employing scores of artists over these three decades has resulted in the noticeable support of local arts economy. In this “artist employing artist” model, a number of artists have launched a multitude of creative careers that contribute to the Athens creative community. Along with paintings and ceramics by Rebecca Wood, some of these “employee artists” along with their current and original works, are featured in Breathing Room.
pictured right: Ceramics by Stephen Corall
Former employees Amanda Burk (Flat File and Double Dutch) and Kristen Bach have opened their own businesses (Treehouse Kid and Craft). Other past employees venture out to focus on their own artistic activities, such as Rinne Allen, David Barnes, Michele Dross, and Lou Kregel. Bridget Mullen, Kathryn Réfi, and Leslie Snipes have gone on to focus and refine their studio practice. Current employees Hannah Jones, Esther Mech, Josh Skinner, and Michael Wheeler along with Caden Cruze, Stephen Corall, and Nicole Martin, have found a balance between creative pursuits and the “day job” at R Wood Studio.
The title Breathing Room refers to the atmosphere of the R. Wood Studio, in that artists have found the breathing room to nurture and pursue their personal artistic vision.
Lyndon House Arts Center’s
Lobby Case Program announces
The Same, Yet Separate, artworks by J Taran Diamond
November 8, 2022 – March 4, 2023
3Thurs Artist Talk, January 19, 2023, 6:00 pm
The Lyndon House Arts Center is pleased to announce the opening of The Same, Yet Separate Artworks by J Taran Diamond on November 8, 2022 – March 4, 2023
J Taran Diamond is a metalsmith and interdisciplinary craft artist. Diamond creates intricate ornate objects inspired by historic artifacts that investigate anti-blackness within the material culture of the American south.
Works by Lucile Stephens March 26 – June 18, 2022
Born in Demorest, Georgia, to a family of artists, Lucile Stephens moved to Athens for the first time in 1955 to attend the University of Georgia in Athens (UGA), graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1959. She earned a Master of Art Education from UGA in the sixties, and taught art in Athens’ elementary schools while her husband attended law school.
After a decade of raising children in Habersham County, Lucile moved to the coast. While living on St. Simons Island and Neptune beach, she took welding classes at the community colleges in Brunswick and Jacksonville. Not one to stay in the same place for too long, Lucile eventually left the coast for Asheville before relocating to Athens again in 2016.
As an avid learner and constant maker, Lucile has explored blacksmithing, ceramics, painting, and any other medium she can find. She’s worked with papier-mâché and found objects, such as the painted sticks on view in the Lobby Case. She is drawn to bright colors and inventive subject matter. Lucile says, “If there is a rule, I can’t wait to break it.”
Be Careful What You Get Good At: Collages by Tommy Kay January 15 - March 12, 2022
A Georgia native, Tommy Kay has lived in Athens for 30 years. He began memorializing obituaries in collage and watercolor as a way of trying to remember people and some of the things they accomplished in their lives. Initial work on this obituary collage project began in the mid-1990s and in 1998, after completing a few of these artist books, he exhibited the contents from one of them at The Empire Exchange House on Clayton Street in Athens. He has shown work from other books at the Manhattan Cafe (2012 and 2019 to present), The World Famous (2013 and 2014), The Hot Corner Festival (2013, 2014, 2015) and The UGA Lamar Dodd School of Art in 2017.
Tommy Kay says “In the 1990s I was saving phrases and images that caught my eye. This began to include obituaries and I realized the best way to keep up with these things that I didn't want to lose or forget was to make something out of them. The idea of making a collage out of an obituary makes sense to me because the obituary itself is a kind of collage of a life-bits and pieces put together that tell part of a person's story. Books provide an opportunity to join lives, images and stories together in a lot of different ways.”
Chants/Chance: Tincture, Totem & Charms
Works by George Davidson 11/11/21 - 1/1/22
George Davidson is a self-taught jazz saxophonist, artist, poet, blues musicologist, author and tinkerer extraordinaire. This small exhibit is a selection of his whimsical assemblages of choice found miscellany. Davidson has illustrated a number of publications, ran print editions and painted skateboards. Working in his mid-century modern studio home, amongst a most immersive vinyl record collection, he constructs whimsical kinetic objects, a hybrid of sorts between functional toys and a dada-ist agenda each with its own story that travels through time and junk shops. With a deep love of the Memphis blues and the flexibility to embrace chance and change, Davidson loves to see how things turn out.
The Lyndon House Arts Center is pleased to announce the opening of Legacy of Loyd Florence. On view from July 24 – October 16, 2021, featured in the Gallery and Lobby cases are a selection of modernist sculptures created by Florence between the late 1950’s – mid 2007.
Lobby Case: Jourdan Joly’s Cones
Jourdan is a multi-faceted artist with a BFA from Florida State University and MFA from the University of Georgia. Jourdan is always experimenting, seeking to discover, and push his studio practice further. His sculptures vary in medium and materials but are unified by illusionary and surreal qualities. From complex assemblages to kitsch ice cream towers Joly's work is fun, playful, and will leave you wondering how it's done.
LOBBY CASE: Flywheel by Luka Carter
On view: February 2 – April 10, 2021
Artist Talk: 3Thurs, March 18, 6 PM
Flywheel is a window display that captures snapshots of energy and objects suspended in place. Flywheel combines small works featuring a colorful mixture of different dimensions, colors, and mediums juxtaposed and layered. The artist composes sketches, studies, and found objects into a realized mood board of the different facets of his life that keep him moving and inspired.
LOBBY CASE features small objects and sculpture by Athens based artists.
Luka Carter (b. 1990, Los Angeles) is an interdisciplinary artist who lived on a boat for three years in Rockaway Beach, NY, a trailer in Bolinas, CA and plenty of places in between. The friends and community that he finds in each of these places has allowed for a strong, beautiful network of friendship and artistic collaboration, similar to what futurists might call tentacularity - “about life lived along lines, not at points, not in spheres.” With a background in construction and manual labor, Luka has a knack for making space for art in overlooked or interstitial spaces–– including an outhouse, abandoned lot, and a van. His practice spans zines, furniture, tattoos, ceramics, clothing, and installations. He is currently pursuing his MFA at the Lamar Dodd School of Art.
On view September 8 - January 2021
Installed in the Lobby Case, the Atrium and North Gallery is, Imagination Squared: Pathways to Resilience, is a project directed by artist Christina Foard consisting of up to 800 - 5 inch square works of art created by a large number of participants from students to community members. Using the theme of resiliency, these multiple small works tell individual stories and the collective story of recovery and strength.
Imagination Squared: Pathways to Resilience began in the spring of 2018 when Christina Foard partnered with UGA’s Odum School of Ecology. Investigating conversations about resiliency of ecosystems, the project receiving funding and a donation of 5 inch square wooden supports. This project grew to include participants, from UGA undergraduate and graduate students, staff and faculty, students from Clarke County School District, Oconee County School District, and private schools, as well as community members in the Athens area. Stories of personal resilience are expressed in many different forms on the 5” squares, with visual symbols of hardships, growth, hope and acceptance. Using multiple materials and media, Imagination Squared: Pathways to Resiliency, includes sculptural applications, drawing, painting as well as audio. The project can be viewed and experienced at https://imaginationsquared.org/.
On View July 1 - September 1, 2020
LOBBY CASE: Frank Jackson, like all of us, is spending a lot of time at home which is informing and transforming his charming house sculptures. We’re looking forward to showcasing his work this summer at the Arts Center! LOBBY CASE is our new program featuring small objects and sculptures by Athens based artists.
“The houses came about when one day I was working on a mug and waiting for the handle to be dry enough to attach to the cup. I had a bit of clay left over and I started playing around with the scraps and made a very simple house. The next day, while waiting for handles to dry I made another house. On the third day I skipped the mug and made a house. That was 221 houses ago.
Before Covid-19 I did most of my work at Good Dirt Clay Studio. In March I carved out a work space in a storage shed at my house. It’s very different working alone in this space compared to working with other people at Good Dirt. I miss the people and the energy that comes from working in a community studio, but I am also enjoying my new work space and very grateful that I have a place where I can continue working.
The houses have changed since Covid-19. Some of the changes come from working in a different space with different tools. For example, I don’t have a slab roller at home so I roll out all of my slabs by hand and they can only be as wide as my rolling pin. Other changes have more to do with the design of the houses which may be a reflection of our current isolation. Windows have become smaller, stairs to the front doors are higher, and some of the latest houses look more like forts or fortresses than houses.” – Frank Jackson
Frank Jackson received his BFA in painting and an MFA in printmaking. He then got a library degree (MLS) and worked as an art librarian at museums, archives and university art history departments until 2016. Frank has always loved ceramics and knew that it was something he wanted to pursue one day. Since 2016 he has worked exclusively in ceramics on a full-time basis.
Lyndon House Arts Center introduces Lobby Case, featuring small objects an sculpture by Athens based artists. The debut installation is by Eli Saragoussi and will be on view February 7 - April 30, 2020. Lobby Case exhibits will rotate quarterly.
"Dioramas have always been a source of inspiration. Visiting the taxidermy animals displayed in their painted environments in a natural history museum, has been a highlight. So, having the opportunity to build a tiny world within a contained, diorama-like space was a treat and pushed me to explore different techniques and work with new materials.Utilizing hand cut figures from a music video set I designed for my band Baby Tony and The Teenies, I constructed a whole new world for the figures to reside in. With this installation, I hope to give viewers a chance to immerse themselves in a whimsical place full of quirky characters and join me in leaving behind this reality if only for a moment.To complement the installation, my partner Max Boyd has created a soundscape called “Immaterial Gold” which can be accessed by scanning the QR code on the glass. To become fully absorbed into this little world, give it a listen!” - Eli Saragoussi
Elinor Saragoussi, from Denver, Colorado, is currently based in Athens, GA. She works with a variety of mediums, including felt, set design/installation and illustration to create fantastical, colorful works. Elinor has a biology degree from the University of Colorado, and is also a musician who sings and plays bass in her band Baby Tony and The Teenies.