Visual Realia in the "unentitled" Exhibit at Marketview Arts

The "unentitled" artists discuss the exhibit setup.

Early during the summer of 2022, several members of the Collective Rogue Arts, an informal group of area creatives, artists, and entrepreneurs, began discussing an exhibit of works that were collaborations between two or more artists.

Artists typically join an exhibit with lots of specifics: location, dates, times, exhibit themes, mediums, etc., but in this case, the task was designed from the opposite direction.

Seven of us started down the path without a confirmed exhibit location and with only the concept of working on these joint works. During initial meetings, we determined the exhibit theme, randomly selected initial collaborative partners, and a common color (copper) to use on individual 12" x 12" tiles that each of us would create to work as a whole as a group piece.

Art is a powerful and valuable tool for looking at social issues, and this exhibit's artists chose to discuss challenges around entitlement via their unique mediums and techniques. The result is shared with you in the Marketview Arts gallery space,

Visitors will also see individual sample works from each contributor. We hope you join Reagan Bitler, Ophelia Chambliss, Jeannine Dabb, Kristin Kest, Nicole Osborne, Debbie Toluba, and me in considering our continuing role in issues revolving around the challenges for the unentitled.

unentitled
Marketview Arts
37 W Philadelphia St., York, PA

Opening Reception:
Saturday, August 19th, 2023
5:00 - 7:00 PM

Exhibit:
August 19th - October 21st, 2023

Andy, Teaching, and Clay Monoprints at PechaKucha Night York

Thanks to Enroot, JJ Sheffer, and the York County Economic Alliance, I had the opportunity in May (2023) to be one of five presenters in York, Pennsylvania’s PechaKucha Night York.

For those unfamiliar with the event name, there have been over 1,300 communities that have held similar events with local presenters, but the presentations have some unique twists.

The presenter selects twenty slides, primarily without text, which automatically advance every twenty seconds — regardless of the presenter’s readiness for them to do so! That twist creates the challenge, as well as the puzzle of sorts, in deciding how to tell about your craft in pictures and words in precisely six minutes and forty seconds.

Audience members at the event would see both the presentation on screen and the presenter themselves.

Thanks to JJ for her ongoing work in providing community-building events in York County and to Randy Flaum for his excellent work in capturing the event visually.

PechaKucha presentation from Andrew Smith in May of 2023. Video courtesy Randy Flaum & PechaKucha York.

YouTube Video of Visual Realia Clay Monoprints

A YouTube video discussing numerous clay monoprints by Andrew Smith of Visual Realia is now available at this link. The prints included are being exhibited throughout 2023 in various locations.

"Pigment 2023" Exhibit at The Grotto

Andrew Smith of Visual Realia, LLC will be exhibiting over two dozen clay monoprints at The Grotto, located on the second floor of the Rupp Building building at 2 W. Market Street, York, PA. The exhibit will run in February & March, 2023.

When hearing the word clay, many think of pottery and ceramics, whose applications go back thousands of years. Texture and color were both modified by adding sand or metal oxides. Pennsylvanian Mitch Lyons utilized both ceramics and printmaking techniques by using clay slips (clay with high amounts of moisture) to create the modern art form called clay monoprints.

The clay monoprint artist designs their work on a slab of stoneware clay (called the matrix) by adding and manipulating additional colored clay in various shapes & forms. When the artist is ready to print, the matrix and the material (substrate) are misted with water, and the substrate is placed on the clay slab. Next, pressure is applied to transfer the image. Finally, the completed print is carefully pulled from the clay slab, hung to air dry, and sprayed with a clear sealant.

An unusual tradition of the clay monoprint artist is to create the new design on top of the previous, allowing elements of earlier works to express themselves in prints randomly. For this reason, most clay monoprint artists create abstract images.

Interested readers can find more information regarding clay monoprints and Andrew Smith at www.visualrealia.com.

“Pigment 2023”
A clay monoprint exhibit by Andrew T. Smith
The Grotto
Second Floor
2 W. Market Street, York, PA
February & March 2023
M-TH, 9:00 - 6:00
F, 9:00 - 5:00
First Friday, 5:30 - 7:30 PM
Other Hours by Appointment with the Artist

"Finite Motion" Mixed Media Work

View fullsize

“Finite Motion” - Andrew T. Smith© 2023

"Finite Motion"
Mixed Media: Clay Monoprint and Acrylic Paint on Lutradur
5.5" x 8.5"
Andrew Smith / Visual Realia Studio

This is a small work for me; the Lutradur's loosely woven fibers add some additional texture here.

Visual Realia Artist in Annual Report

View fullsize

The Cultural Alliance of York County has a significant and powerful reach into the regional arts community, benefiting both organizations and individuals. You can read about some of the impacts from this past year in their 2022 Annual Report.

I've seen and experienced their work from two vantage points, both as the recipient of a grant toward startup costs for Culture On The Line, as well as working as an arts "Navigator," helping to connect grant applicants to successful funding for their creative goals.

The report includes several specific examples of their programming, including one looking at my experiences. You can find it on pages 14 and 15 in the report found here.