ATHICA hosts opening of 2018 juried art exhibit featuring 22 artists

By Kathrin Merritt

Photos taken at the local art gallery ATHICA's new exhibit reception on Saturday, August 18, 2018 off of Pulaski Street in Athens, Georgia. This was the exhibit to be hosted in the independent gallery's new location. (Photo_Christina R. Matacotta, crmatacotta@gmail.com)

Athens Institute for Contemporary Arts welcomed its brand new juried art exhibit on Saturday, Nov. 3.

The juror, Teresa Bramlette Reeves, is an Athens native and University of Georgia graduate. She is the curatorial assistant at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, the Guggenheim Museum and Artists Space and is the current director of curatorial affairs at the Zuckerman Museum of Art at Kennesaw State University.

All pieces featured were selected from a pool of over 100 applications. The art weaves together to showcase the eclectic voices of each artist. Museum-goers should expect to see whimsical pieces that provoke thought and inspire creativity simultaneously.

During the selection process, Reeves did not have any specific running themes in mind, but somehow each piece, from painting to photograph to sculpture, has elements that play into the next.

“What I saw in a lot of this work was a little bit of irreverent kind of sensibility, which I like, and a lot of people who [are] able to assemble different things into a single piece or collaging things into a single piece,” Reeves said. “There was just this little bit of giving-it-to-the-man connected to some of the work that I really responded to.”

Artists filled the galleries, eager to see their pieces alongside others in the collection and share what inspired their works. For self-taught artist and Lowe’s employee Tamara DeStefano, art provides an outlet for creative self-expression not often found in her day-to-day life.

“I enjoy sitting and being able to create different things that come to my mind, because at Lowe’s it’s very structured. So doing artwork is a way to broaden my horizons,” DeStefano said.

DeStefano’s piece, titled “My Favorite Things,” is an acrylic and oil painting done on canvas that encapsulates all the little things DeStefano loves.

“The piece that I have here is incredibly whimsical and it’s really sort of tongue-in-cheek. It’s got Carmen Miranda and all my favorite things. There’s a beer on her head and there’s ice cream and Oreos,” DeStefano said. “It’s very whimsical and surreal.”

Another featured artist is photographer Ginger Goekjian, who invokes some of today’s social issues with the piece “Sweet Nothings.” The picture is of a woman on her cell phone in front of a giant, reproductive statue of a nude man who seems as if he is whispering into the woman’s ear.

Goekjian initially took the photograph because of the comical scene it imitated but after further exploration she found that the picture came to represent the devastating realities for many women in modern society.

“When I saw it, I thought about whispering sweet nothings …  but then lately … I started thinking that it could also mean something along the lines of women having things happen to them, that are inappropriate, done by men,” Goekjian said.

Adding an unusual art medium to the exhibit is artist and musician Eli Saragoussi with an embroidered felt mounting entitled “Trophy Wife.” The bright and bold materials come together to embody what  looks like a prize to be won.

“My piece …  depicts a wood-grain frame with a mermaid wrapped around a gem,” Saragoussi said. “It’s some sort of thought or emotion or physical something trapped within someone’s grasp, just  being there like a trophy wife — just something to show off.”

With a recent move from Denver to Athens, Saragoussi is excited to be a part of the vibrant and thriving art community here.

“I think it’s really cool that a small, tiny town like Athens has a contemporary art gallery, I think that’s really amazing,” Saragoussi said. “I feel like the art community here in Athens is so dynamic and broad compared to a lot of places I’ve been, like a lot of bigger cities.”

ATHICA, in particular, stands out to Saragoussi for the unconventional art forms that it brings into the limelight.

“I really appreciate that [ATHICA]they invites all kinds of art, including a lot of crafts,” Saragoussi said.

This season’s juried exposition will be on display until Dec. 9 at ATHICA’s new location on Pulaski Street.