Fayetteville Underground to host “Ozark Artistry: Tradition and Contemporary Craftsmanship, pt 1”

Ozark Artistry: Tradition and Contemporary Craftsmanship, pt 1

Successful modern reinterpretations of traditional…styles move us not only at an aesthetic level. They show us how we, too, might straddle eras and countries, holding on to our own precedents and regions while drawing on the modern and the universal…Without patronising the history…we might carry the valuable parts of the past and the local into a restless global future.

-Alain de Botton, The Architecture of Happiness

August’s exhibitions, opening on First Thursday August 6 from 5-9pm,  will mark part one of our two part installment on tradition and craftsmanship in contemporary regional art.

In our main gallery, a retrospective of work by outsider artist and Ozark legend Tim West will be on display including his landscapes, prints, sculptures, and drawings, along with photography of the artist by Diana Hausam. Be sure to stick around until 8:30pm on August 6 for a showing of an excerpt of Diana Hausam’s film Westland, a documentary in-progress on the wild life and times of Tim West. The Tim West exhibit, curated by folklorist and poet Willi Goehring, will be featured in Roots Festival programming in our galleries from August 27-30, and will include not-to-be missed artist talks and workshops, so be sure to check our website for release of our Roots Festival programming in the next weeks! Special thanks to Mac Murphy from Little Rock’s M2 Gallery, the Fayetteville Roots Festival, and the Walmart Foundation for this month’s show. 

Also featured in our Adventure Subaru Gallery is an interactive thread installation inspired by the Buffalo River by Ozark native Amber Imrie-Situnayake, and a selection of portraits of Fayetteville Farmers’ Market vendors presented by Saatchi and Saatchi X, In our other galleries, find all new art from the region exemplifying locally made well-crafted art, both traditional and contemporary. In September, more work focused on skilled regional artists will be displayed. To complement our exhibition, food will be provided by Farmer’s Table, offering locally sourced, organic, and home-made food located on 1079 S. School Ave. in Fayetteville. Beer will be provided by Ozark Beer Company, a local brewing company rooted in Ozark traditions.

August’s Ft. Artists: Tim West Retrospective, Amber Imrie-Situnayake Buffalo Installation, Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Farmers’ Market Photography presented by Saatchi and Saatchi X

From: Wednesday, August 5 – Sunday, August 30

Reception: August 6, First Thursday, 5-9pm — Free with drinks and snacks provided by Farmer’s Table Cafe and Ozark Beer Company

Music: Pete Howard and Friends — donations suggested for the musicians

About Tim West

Tim West (1938-2012) was a reclusive and prolific artist working in a variety of mediums. After graduating with an MFA from Southern Illinois University Carbondale in the 1960s, where he gained a reputation for both his talent and his wild lifestyle, West slowly left the public art world, returning to his father’s land near Mt. Gaylor, AR. It was there, primarily, that he found the subjects and inspiration for his huge body of work.

Already locally well-known for his eccentricities, West was yanked from his self-imposed obscurity by photographer Diana Michelle Hausam in 2006, when she discovered some of the artist’s work by the side of the road and left a letter in his mailbox. Since then, there has been a resurgence in local and national interest in West’s often brutal oeuvre. “I’m real glad I didn’t get this kind of attention in my thirties,” Tim once said, determined not to let the art world change him. “With me, there’s no pretense….I am who I am, and that’s how I’ll stay.” 

Installation: Buffalo by Amber Imrie-Situnayake

Cast your shoes aside and prepare to crawl in our Adventure Subaru Gallery! Embrace your inner kid and lay beneath the fiber ripples and adventure into this whimsical rendition of the Buffalo River in this art installation that spans over eighteen feet and is fully interactive. Created painstakingly over the course of five months by artist Amber Imrie-Situnayake, an Ozark Mountain native. Buffalo is an interactive art installation homage to the Buffalo River.

The sculpture is created in two parts: the blue threads which make the winding curves of the river and 1,000+ wool stones that come together to create the river bed. Over eighteen feet of canvas is rolled out across the gallery wall, hovering above the soft rocky river bed. Each thread is hand stitched into the canvas and then attached to the river bed’s outer edge, creating a rippling wall of threads. Underneath is triangular space in which you can crawl through, knees padded by hundreds of soft wool “rocks”. Inside, you’ll find yourself cocooned within this river of fibers, comforted by childhood wonder and nostalgia.

Imrie-Situnayake is also showcasing many of her 2-D embroidery based work, including a 6 foot tapestry of the Arkansas River and many smaller framed works. Her body of work is rooted in redefining her natural surroundings by re-fabricating them as safe domestic goods/environments. She works with historically craft based and domestically ripe materials to bring comfort to things that are in all honestly, not as pleasant as they initially seem.

Amber Imrie-Situnayake grew up off-the-grid in Newton County Arkansas and now resides in Oakland, California. In 2013, Amber graduated from UC Berkeley with High Honors in Studio Art and was awarded ‘Excellence in Sculpture’ from the Art Department. Since graduating, Amber works full­time on pursuing her art career which largely focuses on her childhood in rural Arkansas, her mother’s illness, and their nomadic unconventional childhood.

Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food

The Fayetteville Farmers’ Market, along with Saatchi & Saatchi X present the Josh Duke Know Your Farmer Know Your Food portrait exhibit. In celebration of National Farmers’ Market Week Aug 2^nd – Aug 8^th the exhibit supports the USDA campaign “Know Your Farmer Know Your Food”. This exhibition invites you to attend market on the square and then stroll through the exhibit to see if you know those who have been captured in the studio. There will be over twenty portraits on display which feature those responsible for bringing us the best of locally produced fruits, vegetables, meats, artisan crafts and more. The exhibit will also touch on the craftsmanship of the Ozark culture so be sure to include it in your stop during the Fayetteville Roots Festival.  Prints from the exhibit will be available for purchase.

Music by Pete Howard and Friends

Pete Howard grew up in a house full of musicians and artists in Fort Smith Arkansas. Learning and listening to a wide variety of music and attending fiddle contests when his dad was a contest judge, he eventually became fascinated with traditional fiddling from the Ozarks, learning from legendary fiddlers like Bob Holt, Fred Stoneking, and Jim Lansford. He has played for festivals in a number of string bands over the years, most notably The Skirtlifters, Fork and Knife, and The ScrapHounds. He has also passed on the traditions to younger fiddlers in the Ozarks. More than anything Pete derives a great deal of pleasure playing for traditional square dances in Arkansas and Missouri.

Tim West Exhibit, Curated by Willi Goehring

Willi Goehring is a poet, folklorist, and theater artist. He received a BA from Knox College in Creative Writing and Performance Studies and an MFA in Poetry from the University of Arkansas. Recent credits include performances for Crystal Bridges and KUAF, poems in ‘Prelude’ and ‘Hot Metal Bridge,’ and original work with The Artist’s Laboratory Theater, with whom he is a company member. He is a co-leader of the Fayetteville Oldtime Music and Dance Society, where he performs and teaches regionally. 

About the Fayetteville Underground

The mission of the Fayetteville Underground is to promote the visual arts in Northwest Arkansas by actively collaborating with the community, supporting area artists working to the highest standards, and encouraging education and public engagement in the arts. The Underground presents 12 exhibits per year, opening concurrently with Fayetteville First Thursday on the Square. In addition, the Underground features numerous art-related classes and programs weekly as a nonprofit duty to support the artistic needs of the community. The gallery is open Wednesday through Saturday from 10am–7pm and Sunday 12-5pm at 101 W. Mountain St.