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Juror Statement New beginnings manifest themselves in numerous aspects of our lives. One of the oldest seasonal symbols of a new beginning is upon us now, as the snow melts to the ground. Cycles of birth and death open the possibilities of new beginnings, at the same time as they bring others to an end. We can affect new beginnings in political life every November. In our personal lives, we build new families; we travel across the country or the world to a new home. The hope of starting over is evidenced in lives of faith that claim a rebirth or transformation of the individual. They are integral to theological conceptions of repentance, redemption, and resurrection. New beginnings can be both mundane and transcendent, and often at the same time. And, thankfully, they come around more than once. We find ourselves in and endless repetition of new beginnings as the morning breaks each day. The works in this exhibition have grown out of these fresh starts in our lives. Chillon Leach’s Cocoon of Self investigates both personal and liturgical beginnings that arc through our lives, breaking them apart and bringing them back together. A variety of techniques and iconography come together in Suzanne Skon’s Jack in the Pulpit to hint at the relationship of human creations to forms, growth, and life within the natural world. The new beginnings that drive our ecological system are highlighted within mathematical forms in Gregory McDaniels’ Prairie Habitat. This sort of investigation into the possible forms, meaning, and import of starting fresh or recapitulating to something anew have found numerous interesting expressions in the works presented by the artists in this exhibition. Not surprisingly, the artist has given this idea their time, respect, insight, and understanding, each of them having, themselves, to encounter a new beginning whenever they face canvas, paper, camera, or clay. Lex Thompson |