York's Coleman Center opens new exhibit

By Staff
special to The Star
Feb. 4, 2004
YORK, Ala. "Shadows and Reflections: The Work of Marilee Keys" is now on display at the Coleman Center for Arts and Culture in the Altman-Riddick Museum.
The exhibition is free and will remain on view through Feb. 27. "Shadows and Reflections" consists of three pieces which explore the Southern natural landscape.
Keys said her "work is about my on-going search for information about my environment." Using traditional drawing materials or the natural materials themselves, Keys brings attention to the simple beauty that surrounds life.
Two pieces, "Suspended Pine Line 4" and "Wire/Leaf Line," create 3-dimensional drawings using natural materials. In the first piece she suspends pine needles in a wedge in the center of the museum, creating a sweeping sketch of lines that redraw themselves as you move about the space.
The other piece creates a geometrical "painting" of dried leaves. Dried leaves are suspended on wires to create a 2-dimensional plane, bringing to mind a large-scale painting that studies the various shapes of different trees' leaves.
Both pieces use light and motion, creating shadow patterns across the wall to create beauty in simple repetitive gestures.
The third piece in the show, "Organdy Digital Prints," continues Keys' search to give new life to simple elements in nature. By layering organdy fabric prints on top of a paper print, she creates a 3-dimension depth and the illusion of movement. Through these experimental photographic images, the work explores the diversity and wonder of our natural landscape.
Keys spent a week at the Coleman Center as an artist-in-residence to create the exhibition. She has been a practicing artist for over 25 years. She studied art at the University of Utah and at the Sergei Bongart School of Art in Santa Monica, Calif.
She has had recent solo exhibitions at the Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pa.; the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center in Atlanta; the Alabama Council for the Arts Gallery in Montgomery; and SawWorks in Birmingham. She currently lives in Auburn, Ala.
The Coleman Center for Arts and Culture is dedicated to the revitalization of the arts, culture and community and is committed to bringing contemporary art and high quality exhibitions to West Alabama.