by Luke Eldredge
Artist Michelle Forsyth brings together watercolors, paintings and weavings that she said offer the viewer a meditative viewing space. Forsyth is opening an exhibit titled “Gray/Grey” in the Bryan Oliver gallery on Nov. 13.
The water colors are saturated hues continually layered until grey tones are created, but the original washes of color can still be seen in certain lighting, as well as on the edges of the paintings. Forsyth’s work is process-oriented; she said she enjoys delving into the meditative space it creates.
“I try to employ practices and technologies that slow myself down,” Forsyth said. “They are so time consuming that I get caught up in it.”
Forsyth said the viewer often considers these meditative works as abstractions, even though they are representations.
Gallery director and art professor Lance Sinnema said the pieces are very layered.
“It sounds like the surfaces are very subtle,” Sinnema said. “When you look at them from a distance it’s just grey tones, but as you get closer you notice all the layers.”
The exhibit will also include woven pieces that are a return to Forsyth’s creative origin: knitting and needlework taught to Forsyth by her mother. These pieces continue the process-oriented theme and are made from many different materials, including bamboo and cotton.
“I’m also really interested in labor,” Forsyth said. “The labor is impugned into the work”
A viewer mentioned to Forsyth that these works looked like her husband’s shirts. After hearing this, Forsyth began work that is actually based on patterns from her husband’s shirts.
“It was just an off-hand comment, but I went with it,” Forsyth said.
Those pieces incorporate paintings on wood, linen and weavings. Unlike the water colors which are made with large brushstrokes, these paintings are created with tiny brushstrokes, creating a new texture.
“It slows people down when they view the work,” Forsyth said.
Forsyth has displayed work in group and solo exhibits throughout North America and overseas, including the Zaum Projects in Portugal, the Pentimenti Gallery in Philadelphia, and the Hogar Collection in New York. She is currently associate professor in the fine arts department at Washington State University.
“Gray/Grey” opens at the artist’s reception Nov. 13 at 5 p.m. in the Bryan Oliver Gallery. Forsyth will give a lecture at 6 p.m.
Contact Luke Eldredge at leldredge16@my.whitworth.edu.