Metro Parks’ Centennial Art Center Gallery presents: Patricia Green – Paintings, Roberta Winnett Harrison – Paintings and Mixed Media and Timothy Weber – Clayworks in Stoneware, Raku and Mixed Media May 31, 2009

Metro Parks’ Centennial Art Center Gallery presents: Patricia Green – Paintings, Roberta Winnett Harrison – Paintings and Mixed Media and Timothy Weber – Clayworks in Stoneware, Raku and Mixed Media

June 5 – July 31, Opening Reception, Friday, June 5, 5 P.M. to 7 P.M.

Nashville TN–– Paintings by Patricia Green and mixed media works and paintings by Roberta Winnett Harrison will share Centennial Art Center’s gallery with Timothy Weber’s clayworks during an exhibit running June 5 through July 31. The Art Center’s Gallery Manager, Lena Arice Lucas, says, “These three artists were selected to exhibit jointly because their art possesses spontaneity, vibrant energy, a dynamic sense of motion and dramatic spatial dimension. Their powerful works are complementary, yet highly individualistic.”

Painter Patricia Green’s journey toward painting abstractly followed early influences from her mother – a gifted porcelain painter – and classical training in painting. After receiving a BA in Studio Art from UT Knoxville, studies with abstract expressionist painters Carl Sublett and Walter Stevens encouraged her growing enthusiasm for abstraction. For many years, her life detoured into the corporate world and away from art. She found little time or energy remained to pursue painting. Today, reflecting back, she says, “I kept telling myself that I would paint all the time when I retired. Then, a life changing accident at midlife helped me realize that I might not make it to retirement… If I wanted to paint, I had to just do it.” Leaving the corporate world behind, Green took a less demanding job and is now fully committed to her art. Of her paintings, she shares, “Unchartered territory has always captured my imagination. Abstract painting provides me with an avenue for venturing into the blank canvas free of constraints, directions, instructions, or rules… (and it) …can be exhilarating and very freeing. My approach to painting could be compared to the stream of consciousness associated with writing. I call it ‘stream painting.’ I start with a color palette that conveys the emotional state that I am feeling … and start applying the paint without a preconceived notion of content. The content simply evolves spontaneously and intuitively. One brush stroke calls for the next… Themes flow out of my personal experience and my abiding interests in nature, philosophy, psychology, spirituality, music and literature..." Green elaborates further, “Opposing forces and energies have always fascinated me, and they, too, find their way into my paintings – the forces of light and dark, good and evil … smooth and rough …” She reveals that her Centennial Art Center exhibit series’ title, “The Light Beam Rider,” was inspired by Albert Einstein, who, as a child, imagined himself “…riding next to a light beam.” Also inspired by her fascination with the great “space pioneers,” Green says her series is “…dedicated to their spirit and quest for knowing the unknown…” and that the paintings “…pertain to an aspect of science and their titles are in reference to scientific terminology….”

Patricia Green’s recent local exhibitions include Atlantis Restaurant, First Unity, Project A Gallery, Central South Art Exhibitions (Tennessee Art League) - 2006 (received The Zenora Duffy and Frances Kromer Award), 2008 and 2009 (received First Place), Premiere Gallery, numerous juried Tennessee Art League Members’ Exhibitions and Unitarian Universalist Congregation. She is represented by MKM Fine Art of Philadelphia, PA. To learn more about Patricia Green and see examples of her paintings, visit http://www.streampaintings.com/.

Originally from England, Roberta Winnett Harrison has spent many years focused on her art. She elaborates, “At age sixteen, I was taught by artist Ian Murphy at my local high school in Standish. He helped me realize my interest in the simple pleasure of mixing and blending colors of oil paint. I spent all my school and college career working harder and more passionately on my art projects than any other subject. It was in Dundee, Scotland, years later, whilst at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, that I embraced the idea of combining different views within one composition. I used the computer to aid my sketching process of layering photographs and sketches of views, people, objects and places. By re-creating these layers with paint, rhythms of color and light were formed across the canvas, enhanced by the texture of various applications and techniques.” After earning a BA Honors in Fine Art (and being referred to as 'Best in Show' by a national newspaper), Harrison exhibited in galleries throughout Scotland. While her work was continuing to be widely exhibited in Scotland, she pursued teaching (earning a Post Graduate Certificate of Art and Design Education at Manchester, England Metropolitan University) but found it did not afford her time to develop and enjoy her own art. Although she did find satisfaction working as a designer of wall decor and promoting other artists’ works, Harrison says, “…I knew that I wanted to devote all my time to my own painting and photography. I moved to the United States over a year ago to be with my husband who has been a constant source of support and inspiration. I spend my days and nights working on ideas, photographic imagery and paintings. I now work with acrylic paint, finding I can create the desired textures and movement in my work with an elegance and immediacy I find invigorating. Today, I study the function of memory and emotion through my art and how the power of light and dark influences our perception of a time or place – how color and form can represent these memories and the feelings evoked by them.” Describing works for her Centennial Art Center exhibit, she says, “All my work is driven by a feeling that I want to portray. This exhibition consists of two reflective moments that I chose to investigate through my art; ‘Remember Who and What Makes You Happy’ and ‘Two Worlds.’ Both of these explore rediscovering yourself, making memories and learning to understand the emotions that stem from such memories.”

Roberta Winnett Harrison received an Untitled Nashville (an artists’ group) SOF (Special Opportunity Funding) Grant for the materials to complete the works for this exhibit. She has had numerous exhibitions in Scotland and this region, with those of local interest including such venues as Studio 83 (Arcade, First Saturday Gallery Crawls) Untitled Nashville (various group shows), American Artisan, Mesh Boutique (Murfreesboro) and in Columbia, SC, Portfolio Art Gallery (on an ongoing basis). Visit http://www.myspace.com/robertawinnettharrison to learn more about Harrison and her art.

"My mind and soul find ample nourishment in the creative process and the rhythm of an artist's work." So reveals Boise, Idaho native Timothy Weber, who considers life’s experiences and opportunities as the primary inspirations for his works. He will be exhibiting both wheel-thrown stoneware and Raku pottery and culturally inspired works – both freestanding and for walls. Weber completed an apprenticeship with acclaimed potter Charles Counts in Rising Fawn, GA., and afterwards – while earning a bachelor’s degree in studio art from Troy State (Alabama) – assisted in the development of a production pottery studio in Brundidge, AL. While living in Alabama, Weber served as an Alabama Council for the Arts Resident Artist for the city schools of Troy, Decatur and Mobile. Timothy Weber has worked as a potter, arts administrator, teacher, exhibition juror, gallery owner, curator and advocate for the arts. He spent ten years as the Resident Potter at the Kentuck Art Center (near Tuscaloosa, AL), then joined the staff of the Tennessee Arts Commission in Nashville where he served as Director of Visual Arts, Craft and Media for the Tennessee Arts Commission. While living in Nashville during that time, Weber operated a pottery studio and exhibited works regionally and nationally. In 2004, he became the Director for Appalachian Center for Crafts (Smithville, TN), serving in that capacity until recently. Now residing in Nashville, he is a sought after instructor whose workshop and teaching credits include Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts (Gatlinburg, TN), Mid-South Ceramics (Nashville), Vanderbilt University, University of Alabama and the Danish Folk School in Denmark. He will be teaching pottery classes for Metro Parks’ Centennial Art Center this summer.

Timothy Weber’s works are in national and international corporate and private collections including Amoco Corporation, BellSouth, the Japanese Embassy, LSU, the Mobile Museum of Art and the Tennessee State Museum. To see his works, visit https://www.artfulhome.com/artist/7008.html.

Centennial Art Center’s Director enthuses, “This is an exciting trio of artists, and their exhibit should not be missed!” The public is invited to the opening reception for Patricia Green, Roberta Winnett Harrison and Timothy Weber on Friday, June 5, from 5 P.M. to 7 P.M. Refreshments will be served and admission is free. Tom Rice’s outdoor sculptures also continue on display in the Herb Garden courtyard. Centennial Art Center http://www.nashville.gov/parks/cac.htm is located at the 25th Avenue North and Park Plaza corner of Centennial Park in Nashville, TN. Gallery hours are Monday – Friday, 9:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M. PH (615) 862-8442.