Albany Area Arts Council hosting ‘South of Symbolism’

ALBANY — The Albany Area Arts Council will unveil its latest monthly exhibit this Thursday with a brief opening reception at the council’s Carnegie Library headquarters in downtown Albany.

The exhibit, titled South of Symbolism, features paintings, drawings, sculpture, digital photography and video by artists K. Meredith Lear-Perkins and Lauren Adams, and will run throughout April.

According to Albany Area Arts Council Executive Director Nicole Williams, the work being presented in the exhibition was created specifically for this showcase and represents an important step for the Arts Council and the artists.

“We are really excited to have (this) exhibit here this month,” said Williams. “This work is the culmination of a year’s preparation for both artists. All of the work is original and was created specifically for this exhibition. Having them show is additionally valuable because their backgrounds in education enable them to curate the exhibition in a way that, I believe, will make it more accessible to the Arts Council’s patrons.”

Williams added that both Adams and Lear-Perkins are native Southerners and both address personal ideas on history and social issues through the work they are presenting in the exhibition.

In the case of Lear-Perkins, who is currently an assistant professor of fine arts at Albany State University, the works she is presenting in the exhibit were conceived as a series and are connected to each other by shared concepts rather than similar media.

That shared concept concerns the artist’s view of racial concerns stemming from thoughts about recently getting married and her wishes to start a family.

“When thinking about starting and raising a family in our multiracial family I considered the situations and choices our children would be faced with in the future,” said Lear-Perkins. “This body of work is based on those ideas, those questions and concerns about our society and our future.”

In the case of Adams, a contemporary Southern artist working primarily in acrylic painting who teaches at Atlanta’s Abernathy Arts Center and the Spruill Center for the Arts, her work in the exhibit is also tied together by a larger concept.

Inspired while planning her mother’s 65th birthday, Adams was struck by the thought of history as seen through photographic images, and began a series of work exploring memories through images.

“I began to think about the moments captured on film and how they relate to my memories, and I found many gaps and discrepancies,” said Adams. “If our memories define who we are and our experience, then what are the implications if memory is not accurate. My current body of work explores questions of visual memory versus images and the ways in which both aspects shape and preserve our sense of history and self.”

The thought provoking exhibit is the latest in the Arts Council’s monthly exhibition series which is open to the public free of charge and is part of the Albany Area Arts Council’s monthly exhibition series, which showcases the work of primarily local and regional artists.

Williams said the exhibits have been well received by the public and that they have also generated interest in works by area artists. She also feels that as the organization continues to present diverse work in a variety of media that interest will continue to increase.

“I really feel like we are hitting our stride with the exhibitions,” said Williams “We have a nicely rounded exhibition schedule that includes art from all media and artists from all different experience levels. Last month’s exhibit was so much fun because it really got a lot of our local photographers out into the public eye. We had around 125 people in for the opening, and we even sold seven pieces of art from the show.”

The “South of Symbolism” opening reception begins at 6 p.m. Thursday and, like the exhibit, is open to the public free of charge. The exhibit itself can be viewed Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. all month long.

To learn more about the Albany Area Arts Council and other arts council events visit www.albanyartscouncil.org or contact Williams at (229) 439-ARTS (2787).