Small Business Spotlight: Kolman & Pryor Gallery
Friday, January 15, 2021 at 4:03PMArticle by Becky Fillinger
When was the last time you visited an art gallery? Get ready to experience “Orange” at the Kolman & Pryor Gallery. An antidote to winter’s grays, blues and whites – check out the vibrant artwork included in this show. Anita Kolman and Patrick Pryor tell us all about the inspiration for the show and when you may personally view the art, explore the unique meanings to you and interact with the artists.
Kolman & Pryor Gallery is located in Studio 395, Northrop King Building, 1500 Jackson Street NE
Q: Tell us about the exhibition “Orange,” the fourth show in your ongoing Color Series.
Anita KolmanA: Begun in 2018, The Color Series explores the artist’s color palette. The gallery’s artists have long been interested in exploring their relationship to color, as artists, and as viewers, and as collectors. The first exhibition’s emphasis was on the color White, in the second in 2019, Red was the focus, and the third exhibit in 2020 showcased artwork emphasizing the color Yellow. For 2021, we challenged our gallery artists to incorporate the color Orange into their artwork.
Looking specifically at this year’s show, Betsy Ruth Byers incorporated a bright orange into the sky of her work with great success. Cameron Zebrun continues his prolific exploration into painted wood sculptural forms. Kate Casanova has expanded her masterful use of materials and colors with four new table top sized sculptures. Jodi Reeb created a 36 inch rosette wall sculpture made of aluminum and tinged tangerine with enamel paint. Jil Evans pushes and pulls at the space within the canvas in new color combinations that feel fresh and new, yet firmly anchored in her current practice. The work of Kelly Jean Ohl and Julie Snidle radiate warmth on the two orange walls of the gallery painted for this show.
Q: What feelings do you get from the art in this show?
Patrick PryorA: There is an orange glow in the gallery right now, and it feels like a warm comfort when you walk through the doors. We painted two walls orange, each exhibiting artist incorporated the color orange into their work, and there are orange lines on the wood floors of the gallery, a remnant of the building’s history as the Northrup-King Seed Company, that tie the entire show together. We are impressed with the successful outcome of our artists who took up the challenge of using orange in their work. We hope our visitors will enjoy it as much as we do!
Q: Does the choice of “Orange” communicate a central idea for the show?
A: Orange is the unifying theme of this year’s Color Show, similar to the themes in previous shows with the colors White, Red and Yellow. The chosen color is the unifying theme for each of our shows in the series as well as the challenge to our artists to interpret that theme in ways that seem most relevant to them.
Color in general is rich with meaning, and our current Orange Show, like our other color shows in years past, invites multiple interpretations. Orange is a powerful color which has often been used historically. Ancient Egyptians used a yellow-red hue made from the mineral realgar in tomb paintings. In the 18th century, artists used yellow-red tones to depict the robes of Pomona, the goddess of fruitful abundance. After the fruit became more common in northern Europe, and the first synthetic orange pigment was produced in the 1800s, Pre-Raphaelite painters and Impressionists used the color to heighten the effects of natural light.
For us personally, as curator and gallerist, we appreciate the warm comforting glow of reflected orange light coming from the artworks (and the lines on the floor) that communicate a sense of hope and safety. Orange is also the color of highway warning signs, construction barriers, and over-done spray tans. Orange is a fruit, an everyday object. Nothing rhymes with orange. It is alone and unique. We like the tensions of opposing meanings and appreciate the opportunity to present them to our audiences.
All of these properties of orange provided significant opportunities for our gallery artists to connect to Orange as a central theme. We invite our gallery visitors to develop connections between this theme and their personal contexts, too.
"Watershed" by Betsy Ruth Byers
"15 Piece Hand Carved White Specimen" (hand carved clay) by Kelly Jean Ohl
Q: Will the gallery be open for visitors to see the exhibit in person? If yes, what COVID-19 precautions will be in place?
A: The gallery is open to the public on Saturdays from noon to 4:00 pm and on the first Thursday of each month from 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm We always look forward to welcoming visitors at other times by appointment.
The entire Northrup King Building, including our gallery, will be open from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm on Saturday, February 13. That evening some of the artists in the show will welcome gallery visitors at a special reception from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm.
We require masks when visiting the gallery, we ask visitors to social distance when in the gallery, and we provide hand sanitizer to anyone who requests it. These COVID-19 precautions are followed throughout the Northrup King Building.
Q: How may we follow your news?
A: Our website, kolmanpryorgallery.com, always has the latest information about our artists and our shows. You can also find our news about Kolman & Pryor Gallery on social media, specifically on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
