Artists Share A Formal Attraction

Jennifer Davies’s Silent Translation series is, on one level, a study in texture and layers, an engagement of the artist with materials they love. But — especially taken together as a series — they’re more than a technical exercise. They invite the eye to see the depths in the layers Davies creates, depths that have their analogies to the natural world: a row of hills spreading off into the distance with clouds behind them, the canopy of a forest. It doesn’t have to have an explicit meaning to be meaningful.

The Silent Translation series is part of ​“Amicizia: The Long Arc,” a duo show of work by Davies and fellow artist Liz Hawkes deNiord, running now through June 30 at City Gallery on Upper State Street; the run will close with an artist talk on June 30 from 2 to 3 p.m. Amicizia, as the gallery states, means ​“friendship in Italian”; the ​“long arc of friendship and art-making” between Davies and deNiord ​“has spanned more than 50 years.” In the pairing, it’s possible to see why the artists have remained so close for so long. In their art, the viewer can see a shared sensibility, a love of form and texture, and an ability to use those formal proclivities to create an emotional response.

“All forms of fiber attract me, but especially paper,” Davies writes in an accompanying statement. ​“Creating with paper feels like dancing as I follow the lead of the material through a series of steps. I start with an idea, but give myself over to a process that’s intuitive and playful. Japanese fiber traditions, with their emphasis on natural color and strong materiality, led me to make my own paper out of cooked and pounded mulberry branches. The resulting paper I often print on or paint with Sumi ink. In addition to sheet forming with the pulp, I make use of the cooked stalks before pounding them. Gently pulled apart, they make a lace-like material that I sew together in shapes or onto sheets of handmade paper. Although I would characterize my imagery as abstract, its genesis derives from patterns of nature, overlapping bark, bubbly foam on waves, or tidal lines. I am interested in suggesting natural form, often using overlapping translucent papers, and irregular surfaces.”

“Collage is a technique that I use to build up layers of paper on which I have printed or dyed with indigo or kakishibu, both traditional Japanese dyes. I treat my work as a textile, so use stitching and other techniques to combine them. I feel my work bridges the two categories of fine art and craft, satisfying the principles of color, line, and shape for the first, while offering the warmth of extensive hand work for the second.”

Davies’s treatment of her materials, it turns out, is not unlike deNiord’s approach, even though they work in different media. DeNiord’s “ ​‘excavated’ paintings are heavily textured, thickly layered and scraped with palette knife to reveal dazzling pentimentos infused with saturated, iridescent light,” an accompanying note reads. ​“The vertical alignment of her colorful abstract paintings resonates as a physical presence.”

“The paintings evolve through layers, through rotation of the canvas and through a suspended trust in the outcome to pay attention consciously and unconsciously,” deNiord is quoted as saying.

DeNiord’s work shares with Davies’s work the ability to translate formal exercise into emotion. Where the muted colors in Davies’s work project a kind of earned, engaged calm — descended from the Japanese art from which she takes inspiration — deNiord’s vivid colors suggest a more intense range of emotion. The way her colors interact with each other doesn’t translate in a photograph (much like Mark Rothko paintings; the ubiquitous posters of his paintings don’t prepare you for how intense those canvases can be in person), but her pieces have a way of stirring the heart and evoking memories. Being in the room with both artists’ work at the same time might be a little like being with the artists themselves. The room is alive with ideas and emotions, built on a camaraderie strong enough that even the viewer is allowed in.

​“Amicizia: The Long Arc” runs now through June 30 at City Gallery, 994 State Street, with an artist talk on June 30 from 2 to 3 p.m. Visit the gallery’s website for hours and more information.