Artists explore new perspectives of landscape tradition in Center for the Arts' newest exhibitions

10 Jan 2014

Blacksburg artist Joni Pienkowski’s work “Text and Translations," 2013, (32 in. x 80 in.) will be one of the pieces included in the new exhibition, “Landscape: Another Dimension.”

The synthesis of tradition and innovation in the visual arts continues as the Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech opens its second set of visual arts exhibitions with “Landscape: Another Dimension.”

The center will hold an opening reception on Friday, Jan. 17, from 6-8 p.m. in the Moss Arts Center’s grand lobby. The four one-person exhibitions feature artists from the Netherlands, Japan, and the United States who re-envision the landscape tradition across a variety of media.

In "City Glow, 2005,” Japanese artist Chiho Aoshima traces the cycles of nature in a mesmerizing five-channel video installation full of fantasy and wonder. A surreal, vibrantly colored landscape in which the pastoral and the urban, the past and future, and the organic and inorganic merge will be on view in the Cube Jan. 17-26 and the weekends of Jan. 31, and Feb. 7, 14, and 21.

With consummate skill and a wildly inventive approach to the landscape tradition, Adam Cvijanovic transforms the Miles C. Horton Jr. Gallery into an ambitious 3-D site-specific installation. Responding to the New River Valley, this acclaimed painter creates an uplands Appalachian forest scene in late fall.

Known for his large-scale mural paintings on Tyvek™, the insulation material used in the building industry, Cvijanovic will line an open maze of wood and mirrored structures with paintings in what becomes an encompassing, almost fluid environment. Images of branches, trees, and remnants of fall foliage are reflected and move and recombine in what the artist describes as a “fractal space.” The exhibition runs from Jan. 17-March 2. Cvijanovic will present an artist talk on Friday, Jan. 17, at 7 p.m. in the gallery as part of the opening activities.

Dutch artist Jacco Olivier’s inventive fusion of painting and filmmaking will be featured in the Sherwood Payne Quillen ’71 Reception Gallery. Olivier’s animations are intimate vignettes — amorphous landscapes that move in and out of abstraction. Three signature works reveal the evolution of the artist’s painting practice in a process that begins with painting, but ends in film. The exhibition runs from Jan. 17-March 2.

The work of Blacksburg artist Joni Pienkowski will be featured in the Ruth C. Horton Gallery. Rendered in oil on birch panel with acrylic, charcoal, graphite, and Prismacolor pencil, Pienkowski’s abstract paintings elicit the poetic power and life force of nature. A rich palette of earth tones combines with a sense of movement, alluding to processes of gestation, growth, and transformation in field and woodland ecosystems.

In a highly unusual approach to painting, Pienkowski creates her works so that they can be viewed from any angle. Midway through the exhibition’s run, these multidirectional pieces will literally be flipped and rearranged in the gallery, providing patrons with a completely new exhibition experience. The exhibition runs from Jan. 17-March 8. Pienkowski will deliver an artist talk on Friday, Jan. 17, at 6:30 p.m. as part of the opening activities.

The center’s galleries regular hours are Wednesday-Saturday, noon-6 p.m., and Sunday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. The galleries are free and open to the public. The center’s gallery exhibitions are curated by Margo Crutchfield, the Center for the Arts’ curator at large.

My Take Talks

Complementing each of the center’s exhibitions is a special series of lectures. “My Take Talks” provide community members with the opportunity to share their perspective on the art featured in the galleries. Designed to encourage idea exchange in a relaxed, social atmosphere, these 15-minute talks provide an inviting space to experience art through the lens of diverse disciplines.

All events and exhibitions take place at the Moss Arts Center at 190 Alumni Mall.

Parking is available in the North End Parking Garage on Turner Street. Virginia Tech faculty and staff possessing a valid Virginia Tech parking permit can enter and exit the garage free of charge. Event parking for visitors is $5. Event passes may be purchased in advance through the Center for the Arts box office or when entering the garage on event evenings. Limited street parking is also available. Parking on Alumni Mall is free on weekdays after 5 p.m. and on weekends.