{"id":43600,"date":"2019-04-03T18:46:21","date_gmt":"2019-04-04T00:46:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=43600"},"modified":"2019-05-01T11:14:09","modified_gmt":"2019-05-01T17:14:09","slug":"languages-of-the-tangible-and-the-intangible-at-john-sproul-and-nancy-starks-library-exhibits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/languages-of-the-tangible-and-the-intangible-at-john-sproul-and-nancy-starks-library-exhibits\/","title":{"rendered":"The Tangible and the Intangible in John Sproul and Nancy Starks’ Library Exhibits"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nWhile the two exhibits that hung together in The Gallery at Library Square during the start of 2019 offered a thematic comparison of nature and its elements as found in the works of Lisa Anderson and Susan Makov, the two shows up through April 26, by Nancy Starks and John Sproul, are memorable instead for the ways in which they contrast but still serve to enhance each other.<\/h4>\n

There\u2019s a refreshing yin-yang shift going on with the current work in the gallery of flat pieces hanging opposite and amid 26 rounded and elongated vessels \u2014 one that occurs , too, in the backstories and intentions of the artists: a first showing of pots for her; yet another of many for him; she maneuvers the clay she uses into forms while he is fascinated with the body \u201cand what its language tells about all of us as a whole.\u201d It is his endeavor, he writes, \u201cto push against the lines that divide the tangible from the intangible.\u201d<\/h4>\n

\"\"<\/a>On the walls, the contemporary gestural figures of John Sproul, presented in 20 acrylic works of varying sizes titled An Underness of Being, <\/em>contrast sharply with the formal (occasionally edging on funky) hand-built pottery of Nancy Starks \u2014 lovely stuff that can, with its frilly or fringed edges, look like it arose from the sea, showcased in a manner somehow reminiscent of richly appointed British high teas nestled in understated Japanese gardens.<\/h4>\n

Starks rejected the proffered Plexi risers (inevitably used for display purposes at this gallery), considered her work well, then brought up from the bowels of the building \u2014 where she volunteers for the Friends of the Library\u2019s Amazon area \u2014 some impressive, sizeable-but-skinny matching leather-bound tomes to stack at varying heights and thus show off her work, leaving some pieces sitting flat on the base. The result is simple perfection under glass, like viewing treasure trove underwater.<\/h4>\n

Roll, Fold, and Pinch <\/em>is Starks\u2019 first show of pottery and first library exhibition. Sproul, whose work focuses on human body language and how it connects us, has shown at the library on several other occasions as well as in numerous area galleries and has a 25-year professional history of solo, two-person, and group exhibits that stretches through Utah, across the United States and also through parts of Europe and Malaysia.<\/h4>\n

Not that Starks has been idle in the arts: for nearly 50 years she has created stained-glass windows and lamps on a commission basis in our state. Most of her windows are in private homes, but a few can be seen in public places such as Centerville\u2019s library and Church of the Resurrection; Congregation Kol Ami (a Salt Lake City synagogue); Rowland Hall School; and Sprague Branch library in Sugar House. And in 2013, Starks exhibited her lamps alongside and attached to at least one of the creative welded steel pieces made by her artist husband, David Starks, at the Art Barn in a delightful, artfully crafted and wickedly titled show, On the Light Side. <\/em><\/h4>\n

Though Starks says there are \u201cfew arts and crafts in which I have not worked and played,\u201d her serious connection with clay began at the Sandy Senior Center only after she retired from teaching (at Madeleine Choir School and Rowland Hall) in 2005. She was looking for an activity for her sister, who was developing dementia but had studied under Dorothy Berenson at the University of Utah and was a good potter. \u201cShe found the class frustrating more than anything, as it turned out. Her husband, Ty, and I just loved it. So we kept going.\u201d<\/h4>\n

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She typically uses just a solution of iron oxide and different colors of clay and scratches designs into her work, tipping it upside down and allowing the oxide to run into the rivulets to create the depth she achieves in tone. \u201cI\u2019m getting more into color, though,\u201d she says.<\/h4>\n

\u201cMy works are hand-built as I enjoy finding the limits of this medium as I roll, fold and pinch it into sculptural forms,\u201d Starks writes in her artist statement. \u201cThe natural textures and colors of the clay are used in my work to create organic and irregular shapes. I want my pottery to reflect the process of its creation \u2026 as if it is still emerging from the lump of clay I began with.\u201d<\/h4>\n

She is selling the work to benefit Doctors Without Borders. \u201cUnlike most artists, I don\u2019t need this money to survive,\u201d she says. \u201cDoctors Without Borders goes as a team into any desperate area of the world and does what needs to be done. It was to them or UNICEF, \u201c she says of her beneficiary. Though she \u201cadmits\u201d to holding back three pieces for herself, the pottery sold so fast that Starks didn\u2019t have time to red-sticker one other work she really wanted to keep \u2014a tall, wavy, white piece that\u2019s \u201cgreat with gladiolas.\u201d<\/h4>\n