May 2024 First Friday:
"The impossible just takes a little longer" featuring Bruce Fransen and Ed Gorham
Opening Reception:
Friday, May 3
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
During the month of May, Arts on Main will be exhibiting works by Bruce Fransen and Ed Gorham, artists and friends with complementary styles. In this show, they strive for the impossible by weaving their work into worlds of aquatic fantasy. Come enjoy Ed’s vibrant and fanciful paintings, and marvel at Bruce’s intricate and stunning wood sculptures.
The opening of the show will take place at Arts on Main on Friday, May 3, from 6-8pm. This event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served, and beer + wine will be available for purchase. Live music will be provided by Rob Oliver. The show will be on display at Arts on Main until Saturday, June 1st.
Thank you to our Monthly Exhibit Sponsor, Catamount Tactical!
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
BRUCE FRANSEN
Bruce Fransen of Harpers Ferry, West Virginia - award-winning sculptor, musician, and arborist. Growing up on Long Island, NY, near the seashore – he has gleaned an abundance of creative images and inspiration.
Bruce has worked with wood since the early ‘70’s as an arborist and as an artist. Over the last 20 years, creating his stunning wood sculptures has become an all-consuming passion.
His art is informed by his love of the waterways of his youth, his extensive knowledge and experience in preserving trees over a 40+ year career, and his fine arts education at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Bruce is also a professional woodwind musician, whose improvisational approach to music carries over to his unique sculpture.
Bruce loves the innate beauty, versatility, and potential for great surprises inherent when working with wood.
“I feel a profound relationship between my music, my sculpture, the sea, and trees!”
The process: Bruce’s creations are carved – a rigorous and time-consuming process. They all start with a log and a chain saw. After roughing out with chain saws the creations are refined with grinders, sanders, and fine tool hand work. Most pieces are brought to a high polish to enhance the grain. Texture and color are sometimes added as new elements for dramatic visual and tactile experiences.
ED GORHAM
I have always been fascinated with water and creatures that live under it.
In my work the process of putting paint on the canvas
mirrors the movement of the water my creatures are going to inhabit. I usually start by covering the canvas with a dark color. Then I apply several colors, each thinned to a different viscosity encouraging the colors to meet and mix in a kind of controlled chaos to creating their own lines and designs. The painted surface looks like the paint is still flowing. Next I coax the creatures out of this background with brushes and pallet knives. The multiple layers allow some of the creatures to remain more a part of the background -- dim, amorphous, illusionary, while others become clearer, and intricately detailed, realistic or fantastic. Using this style I can hide the main focal point of the painting in plain sight. The viewer can involve himself in an exploration of the work to any degree, at any distance, at any angle.
Live music will be provided by Rob Oliver.
Thank you to our Monthly Music Sponsor, Yolanda’s!