Girardot exhibit exposes artists' innermost thoughts

Abstraction is a common interest in the 30 works juror Jan Estep chose for the Girardot National Juried Exhibition. In her juror's statement, the senior editor at New Art Examiner writes of artists "making a personal, private experience public ..." and being drawn in by "the quirky sensibility revealed through the aesthetic choices made ... ."

Estep chose "Vulture Throne," a highly decorated and fantastical chair, as the first-place winner in the annual show, which this year drew 77 entries.

Artists from all over the U.S. submitted entries in the exhibition, but first-place winner Karen Fiorino only has to drive from nearby Makanda, Ill., to pick up her prize.

The show opens today at the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri galleries at 119 Independence St. A reception for the artists will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. today.

If you're making a chair that evokes a bird, it may help to have a master's degree in zoology as Fiorino does. The different bones in the seat of the chair weren't difficult for her to paint. "I can reference my bone collection," Fiorino says.

She also is a potter whose work goes by the name Clay Lick Creek Pottery and is available on the boardwalk in Makanda and at the Red Lake Artisans Shop among other places.

Usually Fiorno's furniture is made for a commission, but she usually doesn't begin with a concept. "A lot of the things that affect me at the time get funneled into the piece. But I don't have any idea what it's going to look like until it's done."

Fiorino's winning entry actually is a collaboration between her and her husband, woodworker Joe Matthews. He built the redwood chair based on her design, then she went to work decorating the surface with paint and a glass eye. She calls the end product "fanciful furniture."

The chair was created for last year's Makanda Vulture Fest, where it won a first prize. It also has won the top prize in two other Illinois contests.

Her husband's contributions make her designs better, Fiorino says. "He tells me to put my name on it. I try to co-credit him."

Estep found many distinctly personal visions in her selections: "Teacups that fly through the air, a chair morphing into a bird, rationally articulated boxes that optically destabilize, a single leaf that takes over the canvas, tree rings that form a wobbling target, a field of grass shining a little too brightly, ballpoint pen doodles offering passage to an alien landscape, or a freaky monster mouth devouring the world," she wrote.

Fiorino will receive $150 for winning the competition. Second prize goes to Orna Feinstein of Belleaire, Texas, for "Rings Series, Playful Trunks Series. Third goes to Janet Ballweg of Bowling Green, Ohio for her teacups and tea kettle prints, and fourth to David L. Smith of Stevens Point, Wisc., for his ballpoint pen prints.

Most of the art on exhibit will be for sale.

sblackwell@semissourian.com

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