I was thrilled to be able to finally make it to Carole Hanks’ show at the Willo North Gallery last week. It will be open until the end of the month, so if you’re in the area, I recommend a trip downtown to see the exhibit.
Carole worked on Smoke and Shadows, the Daily Comics for 2010, producing a narrative sequence of drawings published every Monday for 52 weeks.
The exhibit at Willo North is the culmination of her figurative work resulting from Smoke and Shadows, as well as a group of large paintings.
Entering the gallery you see two panels with life size drawings. Immediately, I felt the power of this body of work.
Two panels with life size drawings at the entrance to Willo North Gallery.
Around the outer walls is the Seers and Oracles series. I had seen this body of work previously with each piece displayed as a separate painting. Seeing them hung together as one continuous whole gave the work a different kind of impact. One that could knock you over with it’s power.
A portion of the left side of Seers and Oracles
The Seers and Oracles series continues on the right side of the gallery
While I was admiring the work, Jim was busy taking lots of photographs of the installation. The photos above and the two below are courtesy of James Cowlin.
Carole is pointing out some of the details of this ink and graphite drawing to me
Patricia Sahertian, artist, designed and installed the exhibit. Her ability to arrange the gallery space to show artwork at its’ best is obvious here.
Carole, Patricia and I look at the photographs I attempted to take of the installation
A few close ups of the drawings (my photographs) show the beautiful line work and the additional media included in each of the ink drawings. Unfortunately, I didn’t note the titles of the pieces.
An ink drawing with graphite included. I like the contrast between the stark black lines and the soft, grey of the graphite
The raven seems to swoop down from just outside the picture toward the people below. Totally ominous and terrifying. I think the bird is drawn in charcoal.
An ink drawing with collage. The shape of the tan area reminds me of a dust cloud, or could it be a nuclear explosion? I love the little kid below the figure on the right.
Carole is currently working on another weekly series called Comics 200e Part 2, A Collaborative Portfolio of Drawings and Poetry. It’s a fascinating idea, great fun to watch as the story grows. Be sure to click on the link to have a look at what she’s up to.