Metro Pulse/Artbeat/A1LabArts

What:
A1LabArts Spring Show

Where:
5120 Kingston Pike in Homberg Place (facing the east entrance to The Bearden Gallery of Fine Art Photography and what was the Ron Hall Salon)

When:
Through March 31; Tues.-Sat., 11 a.m.-4 p.m., and Fridays, 6-9 p.m. with four weekly performances beginning at 7:30 p.m. Call 525-6101, ex. 256 for info.

A1LabArts launches its spring exhibition

by Heather Joyner

A1LabArts, the Knoxville organization with a somewhat mysterious name, is without a permanent home. That doesn't mean it can't continue to unite a diverse group of artists and feature their work, but the six year-old non-profit alliance must basically start from scratch every time it switches venues and sets up a new show. According to A1's Executive Director Shirley Brown, that's not necessarily a bad thing.

When I met with Brown at the vacant Homberg area building that will host the spring exhibition opening tomorrow, artists were delivering their pieces, introducing and being introduced to fellow A1 members, and generally hanging out. Brown, an energetic woman who appears to be in her late 40s and is blessed with two of the bluest eyes I've ever seen, was clearly in charge of things when I arrived. One gets the impression that her job as Assistant to the Director of the KMA (a "chief honcho" position the museum is currently seeking to fill) has prepared her to remain calm within the center of whatever storm she finds herself in.

Regarding A1LabArt's uprooted status—its most recent exhibit having been at Gallery 1010 in the Candy Factory last October—Brown has stated, "We've not given up on the idea of having a physical address—A1's former space [near the corner of Summit Hill and Gay Street] gave us credibility and allowed us to establish a following. But with uncertainty, there are more possibilities."

The day we got together, Brown loaned me a copy of Leonard Shlain's Art & Physics: Parallel Visions in Space, Time, and Light, remarking that its assessments (on artists as revolutionaries, etc.) interested her. Experimentation clearly does. Brown said, "During our big brainstorming meeting in January of 2000, a young woman who had just moved [to Knoxville] discussed her involvement with a Baltimore arts organization. She expressed that they'd found not having a specific venue to be advantageous." When I asked Brown why she might agree with that perspective, she referred to emphasizing the art itself over fundraising, and to what she calls the constant between static and dynamic, saying, "It's a way to tap into a different kind of energy—you don't fall into patterns of activity. We listened to this woman and thought 'Well, heck. We're at a crossroads. Why not experiment?'"

Beyond embracing the philosophy that if given lemons, one can always make lemonade (or find an exhibition venue—ongoing or not), A1LabArts has declared its commitment to open-mindedness and flexibility. That's where the "lab" part of the name comes from. A1's mission statement asserts that its intention is to encourage educational events and activities and to "develop the creative artist's and the community's appreciation for interdisciplinary and new genre art forms." Annual membership dues of $25 are waived if one contributes "work-study hours," which in Brown's case amount to one helluva deal for the organization.

As for the spring show itself, I hesitate to be too much of a critic when I've seen only some of its contents scattered about and unhung. A colossal "Zipper II" created by Catherine Freeman and Birney Hand—made of bonded bronze, denim, and wood—was not yet there when I visited the exhibition space, nor were any freestanding walls or pedestals. What I did see of the 24 participants' works was intriguing.

Stand-outs from where I stood a week before the opening were Jean Hess' painting titled "Names 8," Kay Palmateer's three-dimensional piece titled "Perfect Children," and a diminutive mixed-media assemblage by Susan Wood-Reider. Hess' canvas with subtle squares of iridescent pigment tinged bronze, pink, a faint green, and other smoky colors, is downright sublime. Despite its grid-like structure and the profusion of actual wildflowers adhered to its surface, "Names 8" somehow avoids predictability and preciousness. The two upright "outfits"—a blue sailor suit and a pink dress—that are Palmateer's "Perfect Children" are made from sewn carpet padding and plastic grocery bags crafted into piping and lace. Both humorous and creepy, they seem to allude to sex-role conditioning in a disposable, mass production-oriented society. Palmateer's "you-are-what-you-discard," post-apoca- lyptic thrust makes her little dress look that much more like it's fashioned from hot dog skins. Wood-Reider's "Visitor," with inscribed words reading "I am in the world of stars," is as intimate as many of the artist's other collages, akin to catching a glimpse of an exquisitely-wrought journal entry.

Other pieces deserve mention, as do scheduled weekly performances: musicians Joe and Sharon Babb on March 9, Mark Lamb with Circle Modern Dance on March 16, and The White Hart Puppet Players on March 30—some of whom have performed with the Artists' Exchange. A poetry reading will be held March 23. All events are on Friday evenings at 7:30 p.m.