July 11th opening

July 11th opening

Five + 5 is a group show featuring unframed works on paper from [5]art-affiliated artists and five additional guest artists. This second installment of the exhibition will debuted at Gallery [5]art in West Tampa at the Historic Santella Cigar Factory. The exhibition has traveled to Young Blood Gallery in Atlanta, Georgia, and will continue to Twist Gallery in Nashville, Tennessee and finally, Gallery 25 in Fresno, California.
This year, the exhibition includes work from artists Ariel Baron-Robbins, Cameron Brian, Joe Griffith, Robbie Land, Diran Lyons, Tracy Midulla Reller, Kurt Piazza, Ruth Santee, Jasmine Schurrer, and Atsushi Tameda.

Show dates and venues:

[5]art
Tampa, Florida
March 6, 2009 – April 3, 2009
www.five-art.com

Young Blood Gallery and Boutique
Atlanta, Georgia
June 6, 2009 – June 27, 2009
www.youngbloodgallery.com

813.340.9067 Twist Art Gallery
Nashville, Tennessee
July 11, 2009 – July 25, 2009
www.twistartgallery.com

Gallery 25
Fresno, California
August 6, 2009 – August 29, 2009
www.gallery25.com
or more information please contact:

www.five-art.com

***(813) 340-9056

art.five@gmail.com

Twist in the Tennssean

Artist Erika Johnson says farewell to Nashville
June 7, 2009


The bad news is that Erika Johnson, whose installation Curtain was so well received last summer, is leaving Nashville. The good news is she's leaving us with a farewell show. And she plans to come back.



Johnson's new exhibit, accumulata/ dematerialization, has opened at Twist 58. "It's an interactive installation and performance about our relationships with material objects," Johnson says. Gallery visitors are encouraged to take part in an ongoing video project about the installation.

The show's subtitle, "what happens when objects are let go," underscores the theme of working with discarded items as a metaphor for our society's recession — and prompts an ecologically driven reassessment of our habits of accumulating and tossing aside possessions.

A complete list of the "found, made and rescued" objects Johnson incorporates would fill this entire space, so here's a sampling: fishing tackle, swatches, glass bottles, skin, dead bugs, magazines, cyanotypes, billiard balls, etc.

"While I hope and believe this piece addresses questions of general interest in these strange times, it is also a very personal parting gift to Nashville and to the beloved community I have found here," Johnson says.

Johnson will head to Pittsburgh in July but is already planning a spring show in Nashville involving the two cities.

Her installation remains on view at Twist 58 in the Arcade through June 27. Hours are 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday-Friday and 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday; the performance "dematerialization" may be seen by appointment. For information, call 1-888-535-5286 or go to www.twistartgallery.
com.

— MICHELLE JONES, FOR THE TENNESSEAN

Erika Johnson 's farewell to Nashville show at Twist 58 for June 6-27th 2009

accumulata | dematerialization
installation | performance

What happens when objects are let go?

A work about possession(s). Opening reception June 6, 2009 from 6 pm to 9 pm. Dematerialization at 8:30 pm June 6, -June 27.


materials include:

cookie tins
tin cans
coffee cans
canned foods
cereal boxes
seeds packets
product packaging
sticks
stones
thorns
thistledown
artichokes
dried flowers
pressed flowers
nests
eggs
claws
bones
fur
whiskers
hair
skin
discarded exoskeletons of cicadas
jars
vases
broken glass
telephones
lamps
wigs
dresses
skirts
socks
shoes
yarn
yarns
stories
tales
fishing line
fishing tackle
silk flowers
photographs
blueprints
cyanotypes
transparencies
slides
negatives
prints
art show invitations
albums
letters
business cards
postcards
possibilities
doilies
napkins
tablecloths
pill boxes
glass bottles
handkerchiefs
scarves
afghans
little sheaves of paper held together with safety pins
magazines
acrylic sheets
cyanotypes
carnival glass
frog planters
flower pots
felt
handmade paper
marbled paper
marbles
buttons
needles
thimbles
thread
swatches
a jewelry rack
hats
jewelry
milk crate
wooden shelves
drawers
chairs
whiskers
dead bugs
souvenirs
currency
ceramics
bowls
cups
plates
forks
a toaster
a waffle iron
a skillet
a kettle
a houseplant
hens and chicks
items found in the trash heaps of ghost towns
broken objects
useful objects
lenses
happy meal toys
dictionaries
story books
history books
handmade books
books of instruction
cookbooks
phone books
address books
blank books
novels
poetry
wallpaper
wire people
plastic toys
porcelain dolls
picture frames
old windows
wooden boxes
hanging baskets
billiard balls
business forms
pads
pens
pencils
file folders
memoranda
memories

Laina Seay at Twist 73 for June 6- 27th 2009

Bio:
Laina Seay was born in Tupelo Mississippi, 1986, and raised in rural western Kentucky. She has recently graduated with a Bachelors of Fine Art from Western Kentucky University, studying ceramics under Tom Bartel. In 2007 she spent the summer working for the Alexandria Virginia Commission for the Arts doing research on public art programs resulting in a collaborative report submitted to the National Endowment for the Arts. Her work has been shown nationally including at the National Convention for Ceramic Arts, which awarded her the Regina Brown Fellowship grant for Undergraduates. Currently, she is attending graduate school.

Artist Statement:
The physical properties of clay allow me to exploit its nature in both raw and fired forms. Using video I am able to utilize the ephemeral nature of clay in an unfired, raw state by documenting the material as it dissolves in water or other liquids. By working in this manner I satisfy both my need to create objects and the requirements to capture the event. Other methods of working I use include multiple object interaction and installation.
Working in this manner I am able to combine what I make with my interests in politics, current events, and the human condition. Themes I often explore include individualism, consequences of authoritative power, and the role of citizens as a check of governing power. Events surrounding the last four years directly fuel my art as our country deals with war, economic crisis, and political expansion. The ultimate question I ask is what is in and out of our control as individual citizens both in our domestic government systems and on the global stage.

Nashville Scene: First Saturday Gallery Crawl

Nashville Scene

Jason R. Butcher and Ann-Marie Manker at Twist Gallery
Away Team
Joe Nolan



Twist Gallery consistently finds a way to keep the First Saturday Gallery Crawl fresh, and this week is no exception. Twist has found a soul mate of sorts in Atlanta's Beep Beep Gallery--the two art spaces share a birthday--and this month finds them participating in a spontaneous artist-exchange exhibit. While Twist is sending Nashville faves Erin Plew, John Whitten and Duncan McDaniel to Atlanta, our home gallery will be hosting a pair of Atlanta artists whose individual, narrative works will be right at home at Twist. Jason R. Butcher's art explores his various personalities with pith and pathos alike, while Ann-Marie Manker's drawings depict her heroine-subject in a sexualized childhood fantasy where the Koalas are (almost) too cute for comfort.

Opening reception 6-9 p.m., May 2, as part of First Saturday.

TWIST ART GALLERY PRESENTS an Exchange with Atlanta’s Beep Beep Gallery

TWIST ART GALLERY PRESENTS an Exchange with Atlanta’s Beep Beep Gallery


NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Twist Art Gallery located at 73 Arcade in downtown Nashville presents an exchange of artists with Beep Beep Gallery in Atlanta. The opening reception takes place Saturday, May 2, 2009 from 6 until 9 pm. The event is free and open to the public. The show runs through May 28th.
Last year, Twist proprietors Beth Gilmore and Caroline Carlisle met up with some like-minded folks in our friendly city to the South. James McConnell and Mark Basehore are running a space very similar to Twist in Atlanta. We found our missions so closely aligned that we decided to swap artists. In May, Beep Beep artists Ann-Marie Manker and Jason R. Butcher will show at Twist and Twist artists Duncan McDaniel, Erin Plew and John Whitten will show at Beep Beep.
Beep Beep artists Ann-Marie Manker and Jason R. Butcher’s opening at Twist will be held on Saturday, May 2 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m

In Atlanta, Twist artists Duncan McDaniel, Erin Plew and John Whitten will open their show on May 9th. The Beep Beep Gallery is located at 696 Charles Allen Drive, Atlanta GA 30308.
Background on Beep Beep:

Beep Beep Gallery was started in January 2006 by three local art enthusiasts, James McConnell, Steven Rauber and Mark Basehore. The first art show debuted at James' and Steve's house in Oakhurst Village, an Atlanta neighborhood just outside of Decatur. Their first opening was a group show featuring mostly their friend's artwork. After holding four art openings out of their house, they rebirthed the gallery in a commercial space.
Beep Beep Gallery re-opened in August 2006, coincidentally the very same month Twist Art Gallery was opening in Nashville. Finding success with their first show in the new space, the gallery owners continued holding monthly art shows with their vision of creating a place for local artists, writers, musicians, and zinesters to show and support each other's work.




The gallery has, since then, exhibited original works by many emerging and established Atlanta-based artists. The gallery also now proudly displays locally-made zines, buttons, t-shirts, records, books, stickers, Evereman merchandise, tables and other crafty treasures for sale.
Twist is part of a collective of art studios and galleries known as Art at the Arcade. The First Saturday Gallery Crawl is held the first Saturday of the month from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. These events are free and open to the public.

Twist Art Gallery is located at 73 Arcade on 5th Ave. North. Please visit www.twistartgallery.com or www.artatthearcade.com for more information or call (888) 535-5286. Regular gallery hours at Thursday and Friday 11:00 a.m. to

5 p.m. and Saturdays 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.





Information on the Artists:

Ann-Marie Manker
Ann-Marie Manker is a visual artist with experience curating and directing an alternative art space. Based in Atlanta, GA, Manker teaches drawing and painting in the School of Fine Arts at SCAD Atlanta. She received her BFA at The University of Southern California, Los Angeles (1992) and her MFA in Drawing and Painting at Georgia State University, Atlanta (2004).
Manker has exhibited widely in Atlanta at a variety of spaces, such as such as The Museum of Contemporary Art of GA, Marcia Wood Gallery, Youngblood Gallery, Eyedrum, Beep Beep Gallery and she is currently represented at Whitespace Gallery. Manker has also exhibited in Los Angeles at Sabina Lee Gallery and Ruth Bachofner Gallery. In 2005 she formed Golden Blizzard art collective with fellow artist Alex Kvares, leading to its 8 member status which includes co-exhibiting artist Jason Butcher as a member.
Manker founded and directed ArtSpot gallery from 2001-2004 where she organized and curated a variety of exhibitions. The gallery was awarded "Best Alternative Art Space 2003" in Atlanta, by Creative Loafing. She was awarded the Forward Arts Foundation Emerging Artist Award grant for 2006. She was also selected for Transatlantic 2006, Artists in Residence International, exhibiting in Berlin, Germany.
Statement

Ann-Marie Manker’s current drawings explore the psychological narrative between a single female surrounded by animals in a fantasy setting. Subversive elements of desire and flirtation play out their role in an environment of mid-century inspired nature, design and motifs. For this series, Manker was inspired by a drawing she created as a child that depicted heterosexual critter couples and their offspring. Manker chose to revisit this theme as an adult, tapping into the sexual elements, which were masked by childhood naiveté, idealism and innocence.
The setting for these drawings were derived from a variety of early 1960’s pop culture, including the Southern California neighborhood where Manker grew up, Hong Kong pop YouTube videos, the lyrics from Rebecca Pan’s early 60’s hit “Bengawan Solo” and Disney’s It’s a Small World ride.
In addition to her drawings, Manker sculpts bringing her drawings to life using three-dimensional landscape elements to support her imagery. She works with a variety of materials including sanded and painted foam, cast plastic and plaster gumdrops that are painted and coated in glitter, cut painted paper and fabric.









Jason R. Butcher

Butcher teaches courses at The Art Institute of Atlanta and also works in interactive software design and programming, computer illustration and animation, multimedia editing, authoring, and distributing, custom circuit design, and A/V Integration for museum exhibits. Recent projects of note include the Center for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife, Sanibel Island, FL, GSTC Kiosk at Hartsfield-Jackson Intl. Airport, Atlanta and the Ocmulgee National Monument, Macon, GA.
He received his Master of Fine Arts degree with a concentration in Electronic Art from the University of Cincinnati in 2006. In 2003, he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with concentration in Printmaking and Painting from the Georgia State University in Atlanta.
Recent exhibitions include a performance with Don Hassler on Buchla Electric Music Boxes at Kavarna in Oakhurst, GA; Fiat Lux, an installation at Castleberry Lofts for the Le Flash Art Event, and subsequent Castleberry Hill Art Strolls in collaboration with Scott Carter and Mario Schambon in Castleberry Hill, Atlanta, GA and A Paradise for Couples Only a two-person exhibition with Ann-Marie Manker at Beep Beep Gallery in Atlanta, GA.
Statement

A Short Report Regarding My Work

The majority of my artistic output is derived from the construction of a personal mythology based on three distinct states of self (the shameless lothario, the ardent geek, and the angry rocker). These figures serve as narrators for a variety of subjective explorations that often rely on “freezing” the dynamic techniques normally associated with animation, film, and sound to suggest vague and fragmented spaces that form impressions of a larger whole in which the self and space often tangle into a single instance. Imbued throughout are explorations and transpositions of concepts which are not entirely evident upon cursory examination, but through their amassed natured create a sensation of purpose beyond their individual parts. Action is most often unresolved; the narrative unclear, as if the entire structure may be a projection of how particular events may unfold. The characters are trapped by a variety of circumstances; conjoined physically to other characters, in sexually compromising positions, witness to actions or events of horror and danger. Although grotesque, they command the viewer to empathize, feeling a range of emotions and require the viewer to determine context in regard to the direction of the narrative and connection between characters, objects and space within the scene. The strong visual content coupled with the viewer’s control of the narrative reigns and personal determination of context should allow them to walk away with new considerations of identity, individuality, humanity, and environment.

Jen Cartwright installation