Hearts: A Close-up of the February 2017 Show

February and Hearts seem to go together.  St. Valentine, whoever he really was, seems to be somewhat responsible for this.

Although there are any number of legends about the origin of Valentine's Day, some harking back as far as Rome in the year 496, there is plenty of fog surrounding these ancient connections.  What we do know is that the day first became associated with romantic love within the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in 14th century England, during the flourishing of the charming and quite precise art form known as courtly love.  Later it evolved into an occasion involving the presentation to one's love of flowers, candy and cards ("Valentines", of course).  This sparked an industry, still going strong today, which replaced hand-written notes with pre-printed and mass-produced greeting cards.

We would like to suggest that, while any day a gift is given with love in one's heart is a good day, there are many ways to make that gift special, perfect, and personal.  A one-of-a-kind heart, a sweet ceramic treat small enough to tuck in a pocket or a loved one's outstretched hand, is a perfect example.

Which brings us to our upcoming February show, Hearts, showcasing Bainbridge Island artist Karen Chaussabel's ceramic and encaustic monotype on paper works.  (Please see our previous post for more details.)

Not only does Karen offer us pieces from her lovely collection entitled Cradled Hearts, but it is quite stunning to see the relationships she has created between these little gems and her wall art.  Here are some examples:

 Traditional profound reds abound, and flurries of breathless pinks; but Karen goes

deeper with her colors, her combinations and their relationships, as can be

seen below:

 

These blues and greys are particularly interesting, and light, perfect in play with reds:

Karen draws from a wide variety of materials in her works, and in the context of

this show invites us to interact with them on a very personal level, using sight,

touch, and each of our own sparks of recognition to discover the

true shape of our own hearts.

See more about Karen's process in this lovely video:

Hearts runs February 3 - 28, 2017.

View Karen's Artist Pages:

In Paintings and Prints

In Ceramics: General