WORK BY ARTIST JAMEY GRIMES AND COMPOSER RICK SNOW FEATURED AT TUSCALOOSA’S CULTURAL ARTS CENTER IN JULY

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
The Arts Council of Tuscaloosa
Contact: Kevin Ledgewood
pr@tuscarts.org
205-758-5195, x6

 

WORK BY ARTIST JAMEY GRIMES AND COMPOSER RICK SNOW FEATURED AT TUSCALOOSA’S CULTURAL ARTS CENTER IN JULY

(Tuscaloosa, Ala.) The Arts Council of Tuscaloosa will present the collaborative exhibit “Wash” at the Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center on July 11, 2014 from 5 – 8 p.m. This installation will feature large format sculptures, digital imagery and music created by visual artist Jamey Grimes and composer Rick Snow in the Black Box Theatre. The two artists will blend physical forms, digital images and sound to form one complete sensory experience.

The forms, created by Grimes, are constructed of corrugated plastic which has been cut, melted and suspended from the ceiling. Several color groups exist, but the largest group of white and clear material was chosen and will be filled with original video using projection mapping techniques.  The video is coordinated with Snow’s original music to create a living, changing environment that viewers can enter and explore.  The abstract forms, colors, and sounds are inspired by nature, but remain open to viewer interpretation. Large enough to walk into, the viewer will be surrounded by light and sound within the installations. Video is generated by both artists and is derived from natural patterns, the shape of the sculpture and unique sounds performed during the event.

Variations on this installation have been presented at the Troy-Pike Cultural Arts Center and the Chipola Center for the Arts in Mariana, Fla. Alternate sculpture and projection pieces from this series will be concurrently on display at Kentuck Art Center’s T.E.M.P. Gallery for the month of July, located across the river in downtown Northport. Each time the work is installed, it is unique to its location.  The July 11th presentation at the Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center will be the largest and most complex collaborative work to date.

This performance is an extension of an exhibit in The Arts Council Gallery that will be on display from July 7 – 25. Grimes will fill the gallery with installations that utilize color and form to create an environment for viewers to explore. The Arts Council Gallery hours are 9 a.m. – noon and 1 p.m. – 4 p.m. on weekdays.

“My sculptures are fragments of a conversation with Nature. The dialogue can be hostile, soothing, or both.  Storms, trees, and the sea personify heightened emotion, wisdom, and awareness. Reflecting on my own vivid experiences with Nature, I realize that imagination plays a powerful role, transforming observations into unique, dream-like forms,” commented Grimes. In reference to his technique, Snow created a generative system where material and events can be spun out for an indeterminate amount of time without ever repeating. “At times I allow this system to directly create an experience for the audience.  In other work I explore the way a performer or even an audience member might interact with the system and influence or even directly control the resulting materials through the use of microphones, sensors or cameras,” noted the composer. 

Jamey Grimes is a native of Tuscaloosa, Ala., where he is a full-time instructor in the Department of Art & Art History at The University of Alabama.  He received a 2012 – 13 Visual Artist Fellowship from the Alabama State Council on the Arts. Grimes has shown his artwork extensively, including exhibitions at the Troy-Pike Cultural Arts Center (Troy, Ala.), Wiregrass Museum (Dothan, Ala.), the Dunedin Fine Art Center (Fla.), the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts (Del.), the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts (Mich.), Sculpture Key West (Fla.), FAT Village (Ft, Lauderdale, Fla.) and the Rymer Gallery (Tenn.).

Rick Snow is a composer of acoustic and electronic music as well as a creator of multi-modal artworks of sound and light. Custom interactive computer sound and projection mapping instruments and installations comprise his most recent work. In this work he seeks to create situations in which audiences discover a complex “alien” system or environment. These situations create an interaction between participant and work engaging the active memory and movement of both the participant and the system. His work has been performed/exhibited in many venues in the United States as well as selectively in Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland and Wales. A native of Tuscaloosa, Ala., he currently holds a Professor of Practice position at Tulane University in New Orleans where he is the Director of the Music Science and Technology Program.

The Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center is located at 620 Greensboro Avenue in Downtown Tuscaloosa. For more information about the CAC, The Arts Council or Bama Theatre, patrons should LIKE the Facebook page “The Arts Council – Bama Theatre – Cultural Arts Center” and follow tuscarts on Twitter. Call 205-758-5195 or visit tuscarts.org for further information.

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