Marjorie Gillette Wolfe
Alhambra Hedge.
Two photographs by Marjorie Gillette Wolfe hang in the front of Kehler Liddell Gallery, at 873 Whalley Ave. in Westville. They’re both of hedges, and the way Wolfe composes the image, the eye is drawn to the plant life, without worrying too much about where it is. We can see the similarities in the forms of the plants, the spacing between them. It’s only in looking at the titles that the true humor comes out, as one photograph is taken in front of a diner somewhere, and the other is taken at the Alhambra, one of the great architectural wonders of the world. Both locations are almost entirely absent from the images.
Little Pink.
A keen sense of play — married to rigorous formal accomplishment — marks both Wolfe’s show, “Hedge,” and sculptor and potter Amanda Duchen’s show, “Clay,” running concurrently at the Westville gallery through Nov. 12. The two artists’ works differ in several fundamental ways, starting with the choice of media, but they share a strong impulse to make sure that their technique is in the service of engagement, connection, and sometimes straight-up entertainment.
Twists and Hedge.
Wolfe “has always been fascinated by repetition and, oddly, perhaps, hedges. She wonders, what is the essence of a hedge, what does a hedge represent? Reveal or conceal. Enhance or diminish. Separate or join. Welcome or divide. Invite or exclude. You are encouraged to come and decide for yourself,” an accompanying note states, quoting Wolfe as saying that, “in considering photographs for this exhibit I realize I’ve been making pictures of hedges for decades.”
Through her work, Wolfe shows why the subject (one of many she’s taken on) has drawn her to it for so long. There is, first and foremost, the artist’s knack for getting people to look at things that in other contexts they’re asked to ignore. People usually cultivate hedges for one of two reasons: first, for privacy, and second, as natural fences. Hedges usually ask you not to look at them. But look Wolfe does, and in the process, gets us to turn our priorities around. She gets us to attend to the details of the hedges, their shapes and sizes. Some are geometric and whimsical. Others are old, gnarled, seeming full of history. In getting us to care, she also in some ways subverts the intention of hedges. Instead of moving on because we don’t belong there, shouldn’t be trying to see through them, we stop, look, and linger.
In Amanda Duchen’s work, the duality between her fine ceramics and her playful menagerie of creatures is on the surface. But for Duchen, they’re unified by the material she uses to create both. “The innate plasticity of clay allows me to craft my work from bulbous beasties and enchanted characters to elegant vessels. In creating my pieces I work in clay, but it’s the clay itself that takes on a unique appearance. I am always in awe when pulling a creation from the kiln — the surprise of something unexpected and different to my initial expectations is what makes clay, and the wonders of pottery, so extraordinary,” Duchen writes in an accompanying statement. “In this exhibition, I share with you a range of creations from functional items, such as bowls and vases, to happy creatures that should bring a smile and warmth wherever they find themselves.”
At the same time, exhibiting the pottery and sculptures together brings out some of the similarities between then. Duchen describes her creatures as bringing a smile where they go, but so too can the use of beautiful objects for everyday activities. Eating isn’t just about the food; soup tastes better when the bowl it’s in looks so inviting, and is a pleasure to hold.
Similarly, Duchen’s vast zoo of fanciful creatures leans hard into the kind of aesthetic one associates with cartoons, but just as with a skilled cartoonist, there’s real skill behind the creation of that initial delight. The detail Duchen gets in rendering her creatures’ gestures and facial expression could be used to create hyper-realistic sculptures. But that’s not what Duchen has to show the world. Her animals are here to spread joy, delight, even silliness, but the technique she uses to make them is as serious as can be.
“Hedge” and “Clay” run at Kehler Liddell Gallery, 873 Whalley Ave., through Nov. 12. Visit the gallery’s website for hours and more information.