PLASTIC NATURE: ANN EKSTROM

Press: Anthony-Mariani.-Plastic-Nature-Naturally.-Fort-Worth-Weekly.-September-18-2013

Artspace111 announces Plastic Nature, a solo show featuring the paintings of Ann Ekstrom. The exhibition will open at FWADA Fall Gallery Night Saturday, September 7, 2013 from 12 - 9 p.m. and will run through October 12, 2013. Enjoy beer and wine by Ben E Keith, food by Taco Heads, live music by Fort Worth National Band. Fall Gallery Night is free and open to the public.

Ann Ekstrom’s large-scale oil and watercolor paintings explore the beauty of vintage jewelry from decades past. These sentimental items are amassed by the artist who gives the often overlook trinkets a striking presence. She has reverence for both the techniques used to create these objects in the 20s, 30s, and 40s and for the women in her family who collected and wore the pins, buttons, and broaches. Her mother, the late painter and printmaker Beth Lea Clardy, has been inspirational to Ekstrom throughout her life and career. Ekstrom's paintings vary in size and shape from individual items painted on circular canvases to still-life collections reminiscent of a jumbled arrangement in a drawer painted on large rectangular canvases.

A native of Fort Worth, Ekstrom received her BFA in 1980 from University of Texas at Austin and studied at The School of the Fort Worth Art Center Museum, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and Texas Christian University. Ekstrom was trained in a traditional Renaissance painting method; she begins with a transparent under-painting then paints in grays, working up the “dead color” of the painting, then adds color and glazes to finish the painting. This laborious technique she utilizes can produce up to 15 layers of paint on one canvas, which creates a monumental depth of color and of light.

Within the two studio spaces of the gallery and the gardens are new works by Artspace 111 artists Alice Bateman, Daniel Blagg, Dennis Blagg, Michael art@artspace111.com www.artspace111.com 817.692.3228 Bane, Michelle Brandley, Danville Chadbourne, Matt Clark, David Conn, Barbara Dybala, Pat Gabriel, Sarah Green, John Hartley, Kelli Holmes, Cindi Holt, Carol Ivey, Jill Johnson, Nancy Lamb, Leslie Lanzotti, Jim Malone, Jesus Moroles, Jo–Ann Mulroy, J.C. Pace III, Jo LeMay Rutledge, and Fred Spaulding.