Anne Lemanski: Touch and Go
September 15 - September 16, 2010The gallery also presents works by North Carolina artist Anne Lemanski, focusing on her sculptural exploration of human and animal relationships, societal contradictions, and cultural commentary. Her piece *Coyote* is a colorful, life-sized sculpture made from Mexican serapes, referencing both the animal and border issues. Jack-dor, her largest work, depicts a hybrid creature with elements of extinct or endangered animals, symbolizing evolution and environmental concern. Additionally, her installation A Century of Hair 1900-1990 features iconic women's hairstyles from each decade, layered with commentary on societal views of women and cultural change. Lemanski, a BFA graduate and former resident artist, has work in private collections, the Asheville Art Museum, and the U.S. Department of State. She has received grants and nominations recognizing her contributions to contemporary art.
These exhibitions showcased significant contemporary sculptural work engaging with themes of nature, culture, societal issues, and environmental concerns.
The Sumter County Gallery of Art is excited to present an exhibition of work by North Carolina artist Anne Lemanski. This exhibition “Touch and Go” highlights a selection of her highly crafted sculptural works that utilize familiar forms to explore the inconsistencies and contradictions she sees in the world, from our culture’s treatment of women to its exploitation of both domesticated and wild animals.
Lemanski’s recent work focuses on the complexities of the relationship between humans and animals, highlighting society’s admiration for them as symbols, and exploitation of them to suit its needs. “I really want to make people aware of the domino effect that man has on making use of animals,” she says. “We are all linked together.”
Coyote is a life-size sculpture of the animal composed of brightly colored Mexican serapes. “It’s a subtle play on the term coyote as in those who smuggle illegal immigrants across the border,” says Lemanski, who likes to get people talking about current issues.
21st Century Super Species: Jack-dor is the largest piece in the entire exhibition. The creature is eight feet tall with a 10-foot wing span made out of birch wood veneer. He has the legs of a horse, the torso of a California condor and the head of a Mexican jack rabbit. “This creature is based on animals that are extinct or in trouble,” said Lemanski. She sees this piece as the evolution of a new species.
Also included in the exhibition is a work entitled A Century of Hair 1900-1990. This installation showcases iconic women’s hairstyles from each decade of the 1900s through the 1990s ranging from an old Gibson Girl upsweep hairdo to two long braids, which is how Lemanski wore her hair in the 1990s. But embedded in each sculpture is a commentary on the culture of the time: how women were regarded and the challenges they faced in each decade.
Anne Lemanski received her BFA from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, MI. Lemanski is a former resident artist for both Penland School of Crafts in Penland, North Carolina, and Ox-Bow Summer School of Art in Saugatuck, Michigan. Lemanski’s work can be found in many private collections as well as the permanent collection of the Asheville Art Museum in Asheville, North Carolina, and the U.S. Department of State, Art in Embassies collection. She is the recipient of the 2010 North Carolina Arts Council Grant, and was recently nominated for a Louis Comfort Tiffany Grant.
