Thursday, Feb. 5, 1998

Artistic `Dance of Color'

Oil paintings in renovated Weil Gallery give impression of wall-mounted sculpture

By DEBORAH MARTIN
Staff Writer

   It's hard to imagine artist Laurie Weller's most recent work constrained by frames.
    The whimsical, abstract pieces on display at the Weil Gallery seem to float across the walls - vibrant bursts of color hung with no frames and no visible means of suspension.
   It's an unusual installation, since oil paintings aren't often displayed outside some sort of framing. They also aren't generally hung several feet above eye level.
   The works at the Weil are hung that way in response to two challenges: One to Weller, and one to the exhibition space itself.
   Both responded gracefully, said gallery Director Jim Edwards.

    Artistic challenge
   The gauntlet he threw down before Weller was for her to come up with an exhibition of new works inspired by the semester she spent teaching at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi last spring.
   She started working on the project while she was teaching and continued when she went home to Denton, Texas. Some of the works were so new that the paint was wet when she carried them into the gallery a few weeks ago.
   The pieces along one wall are enlarged, somewhat dreamy renderings of seashells, one of which was given to her by a student at the university. More shell-shapes, painted in bright greens, take up the center of the facing wall; the shape of palm fronds plays a part in some of the other works.
   ``I started doing palm fronds when I was sick one day (while teaching in Corpus Christi),'' Weller explained. ``I just couldn't get out of bed, but I didn't want to give up a studio day. So I sat and looked out the window and sketched the palm trees.''
   The problem with sketching fronds that are still attached to a palm tree is that they tend to sway, making them difficult subjects. To solve that problem, Weller bought a digital camera, photographed the trees and worked from those still images.
   Some of the pieces in the show incorporate both fronds and shells.
   Edwards is pleased with the show as a whole.
   ``Visually, it's interesting and engaging,'' he said.
   He found it so engaging that, when he spent a few minutes alone in the gallery, ``I had this weird feeling, like I was in an aquarium. There's this feeling of having all these shaped forms floating around in space around me.''

   Spatial challenge
   Hanging the show that way - with works climbing the walls, some several feet above eye level, some nearly grazing the ceiling - gave Edwards a way to show off the newly refurbished gallery.
   It also fulfilled Weller's wish for a show that included something for people passing upstairs. The gallery is on the first floor, but the ceiling reaches to the second. Upstairs, windows overlook the gallery. Usually, people looking through them see nothing but bare walls unless they look down.
   With this show, Edwards said, ``We could give two points of view and take advantage of the mezzanine.''
   Weller worked with gallery assistant Bruce Gambill to hang the show.
   ``The resulting installation is an environment of color and movement, an exuberant dance of color that totally alters the gallery space,'' she said.
   That wouldn't have been possible before recent renovations, Edwards said. Before, the walls were covered with oatmeal-colored fabric, the floors were carpeted and large pillars broke up the space.
   The fabric and carpeting are gone, and the pillars are a thing of the past. The space is lighter and cleaner, Edwards said, and looks more like an art gallery.
   The Weller exhibit, he said, ``accentuates the idea of the room itself. It's an odd-shaped space, anyway.''
   Weller's recent works lend themselves to less-traditional displays. Those at the Weil are ``shaped'' oil paintings - works that are cut out from whatever material is being painted. They are hung more like wall-mounted sculpture than paintings.
   Working that way solved a dilemma for Weller.
   ``I had these shapes, and I couldn't figure out what color to paint the background (around them),'' Weller said. ``Then I decided that I didn't have to.''
   Making that decision was the easy part. The execution was tougher.
   ``It was the hardest thing to do, to cut out the watercolor paper,'' she said. Once it was done, though, ``I found it rather freeing. I realized I had choices I hadn't even considered before.''
   At that time, she was working with watercolor paper, which proved too fragile to be hung without some sort of frame. The solution was signboard, which is sturdier. When she's done with a piece, she attaches a brace so that it is lifted off of the wall.
   The shaped pieces are just the latest turn in Weller's career. She's been involved with art all her life, beginning with the craft projects her mother gave her when she was a child.
   Weller earned her bachelor of fine arts degree from the University of Illinois in 1976 and her master's from the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia in 1980. She taught at Southwest Texas State University for seven years, and currently teaches painting at Texas Women's University.
   She's been working with abstraction for 25 years.
   ``Realism was never a problem - I could sit and render and have it work - but it didn't interest me as much as taking what I was looking at and making something different out of it,'' she said.
   Weller isn't looking to make a grand statement with the Weil show.
   ``I don't want to be didactic about it,'' she said. ``It's fun and playful and celebratory. I hope the spirits (of those who see it) will be uplifted. There is a lot of wonderful, dark, moody art out there. But I'm not drawn personally to doing that.''

   What: Paintings by Laurie Weller.
   Where: Weller's most recent work can be seen at the Weil Gallery at the Center for the Arts at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi through Feb. 25. Some of her earlier work will be on display on the first floor of the South Texas Institute for the Arts, 1902 N. Shoreline, through Feb. 22.
   Hours: The Weil Gallery is open 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. daily. The museum is open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Wednesday and Friday-Saturday; 10 a.m.- 9 p.m. Thursday; ; and 1 p.m.- 5 p.m. Sunday.
   How much: Gallery admission: Free. Museum admission: $3 general admission; $2 for students and military personnel; $1 for children.
   Information: 980-5523 for the gallery; 980-3500 for the museum.