Photo: Lisa / Mainstream
“My work is a constant outpouring of singular impressions…I give fleeting thoughts as much consideration as monumental ideas”
Heather Goodwin
The free UCC Art Gallery, located in Whipple, is hosting the exhibit, “Permanent Record” through October 24 featuring Heather Goodwind, a Portland based artist.
Susan Rochester, art associate professor, sent out a call for entries to show at the gallery this year. “This is a national announcement that we will have exhibit openings, and artists apply with concepts. We then try to select and schedule exhibits that will relate to and resonate with what is being taught in our classes during a specific term.”
Goodwind developed a documentary style of art over a 10 year period, recording her thoughts in bound books, then loose paper and eventually on canvas.
What may first strike a person when they walk into the exhibit is the size of the paintings; they are monumental. The painting, “The Broom That Sweeps All Before It”, Series 26, No. 13, is bigger than life, covering two large canvases, with a height of approximately nine feet. Vibrant pink pops from the painting and it is easy to imagine everything from life’s worries to mundane tasks being swept away.
In contrast to this overstatement are the little cards Goodwind used to record thoughts and responses to everyday life. They’re easy to miss, but worth looking for. An especially interesting work is the black and white drawing with the words “sinking of you” written across it. The card evokes raw, natural emotion. In an Artist statement the gallery has posted, Goodwind states, “My work is a constant outpouring of singular impressions . . . I give fleeting thoughts as much consideration as monumental ideas: nothing is more important than anything else and every small thing has its place”.
While Sue Albright, a ceramics student likes all the pieces, she really enjoys “The Monument”, Series 26, No.11: “It looks like it is coming out of the painting, the movement of it, and it has nice clean lines. It also looks like a poor bumble bee that hit a wall”. Albright, who has been studying ceramics in the Whipple Fine Art Center for three years, has enjoyed many of the exhibits.
Goodwind uses a “first thought best thought” approach, trusting that a first bold mark or splash of ink is the most authentic, true way of recording a moment,” according to Laura Hughes, part-time faculty and interim gallery director. “Heather Goodwind’s exhibition “Permanent Record” asks viewers to consider a passing moment, or sudden tiny shift in mood as equally deserving of attention as other seemingly larger concerns”.
The show is open Monday thru Friday 9 a.m. – 4 p.m., there will be a closing reception on Thursday Oct. 24 from 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. The closing reception will feature a lecture from the artist.
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