Local Art Seen: Rachel Hayes at the Joseph Nease Gallery

The title of the current show at Joseph Nease Gallery in Duluth is Affinities. It features the work of Rachel Hayes and Eric Sall (whose work I shared here yesterday.)

"Mirage Panel"--144'x 108"

Rachel Hayes is a nationally recognized artist who creates fabric structures that vibrantly explore painting processes, quilt making, architectural space, light, and shadow. When you check out hr website (link at the end) you'll discover that she has a love of scale. That is, it would appear that no space is to large for her imagination to fill.

Hayes grew up in the Kansas City region, and went to college at the Kansas City Art Institute where she got her BFA.  I'm guessing that she met her husband Eric there because he also got a bachelors there. Later the both got MFAs at the Virginia Commonwealth University.

"Swift"--22.5"x 23.5"

Her love affair with color is self-evident. The brightly colored fabrics sing. 

The title of the show is Affinities and you can definitely see how her

works have an affinity with her husband Eric Sall's paintings.

Check out the black and white stripes in this piece below, and

compare to Eric's Deluge 3.

"Cryptic"--61.5"x 38" 

"Dark Light"--36"x 11"

"Open Vision"--59"x 59"

The materials she selects to work with varies. A straight up list would include fabrics of different kinds, thread, cotton binding, acetate, canvas, fiber, binding, acrylics, wood, chording, paper, ribbon, wire and polyester. In short, whatever feels right for the project at hand.

Sall and Hayes currently reside in Tulsa, Oklahoma with their two children, a son and a daughter.
To see more of their work, visit their websites.

http://www.rachelbhayes.com/
http://www.ericsall.com/about

The Joseph Nease Gallery is located at 23 West First Street here in Duluth.
For Gallery Hours or to see work by their other represented artists visit http://www.josephneasegallery.com/