CONVERSATIONS REFLECTIONS

Sandra Phillips Gallery

A A A Comments By Michael Paglia Thursday, Nov 16 2006

There's a charming little group show at Sandra Phillips Gallery (744 Santa Fe Drive, 303-573-5969) with the grammatically challenged title of CONVERSATIONS REFLECTIONS. (Shouldn't that be CONVERSATIONAL REFLECTIONS or CONVERSATIONS REFLECTEDor even CONVERSATIONS /REFLECTIONS?)

Details

744 Santa Fe Drive
303-573-5969

Sandra Phillips Gallery

More About

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Arts and Theater Newsletter: Weekly information keeping you in the know when it comes to the art and theater scene. Find out about upcoming performances, exhibitions, openings and special events.

Anyway, unlike the plodding gait of the title, the show itself flows beautifully, with the work of each of the three included artists simultaneously being a compliment and a contrast. What unifies the varied creations is that they all share a quiet palette dominated by earth tones. What separates them are their chosen mediums: One is a painter, one is a photographer, and the third is a ceramics artist.

The painter is Anna Kaye, who specializes in hyper-realistic depictions of things in the natural world -- in this instance, puddles. She cuts boards into puddle-like shapes and then paints the complicated visual effect of surface reflections floating over views of the water underneath. They are technically flawless, though I do wish Kaye had not used the shaped boards.

The photographer is Sandy Lane, who created an impressive mural made from 96 panels. On each is a photo-based image of figures touched up with colored pencil. The people are Lane's ancestors; she used stills from old home movies from the 1930s and '40s. They have a misty, romantic, nostalgic neo-pop sensibility in the tradition of New Mexico's Betty Hahn.

The ceramicist is Katie Caron, a top young artist in the local field. Caron uses natural forms, often seeds and pods, in her mostly small-scale sculptures. Among the tabletop and wall-hung pieces is a large floor sculpture, "Mullien" (detail pictured), in ceramic and steel. The sculpture is a rendition of the mullien plant, with the steel serving in place of foliage and the ceramics representing the blooms.

The run of CONVERSATIONS REFLECTIONS has been extended by a week and will now close on November 30, after an artist talk at 6:30 p.m.

Get the Arts and Theater Newsletter

Weekly information keeping you in the know when it comes to the art and theater scene. Find out about upcoming performances, exhibitions, openings and special events.