News Details (Posted: May 14, 2007):

Making Allegories - Recent work by Herb Weaver and Cliff Tresner

Full Description:

In this exhibition, the work of both sculptors tells the story of the entire creative process from inspiration to construction with material to presentation. Telling a story, sometimes of its own evolution, the artwork is to be understood as representing other things and symbolizes deeper meaning. Weaver and Tresner both pay close attention to process during creation, remaining receptive to unplanned surprises and revelations.

Cliff Tresner, an Associate Professor of Art at the University of Louisiana in Monroe employs an array of media such as wood, bronze or steel to tell his stories. Drawing from his love of nature and the outdoors and his background in furniture design, Tresner sometimes allows the wood or the casting process to reveal the form of the piece to him. Through the process of assembling the pieces together, they sometimes suggest they have an alternate utilitarian function and appear to be everyday objects. At first glance, Sculpture, Twenty Five Dollars. Table to Put it On, Priceless appears to be a woodworking bench littered with tools and works in progress but is also a finely crafted table and many sculptural objects. A professor in the fine arts department at Bethany College, WV, ceramic artist Herb Weaver finds his inspiration in everyday objects. Using puns, Weaver creates a clever twist in his hand-built clay sculptures by endowing them with layers of meaning beyond normal representation. In works such as Bushwhacker, the title punning on the name of the Commander-in Chief, the blades of this hand-built clay lawnmower sculpture are embossed with casualty numbers and phrases. Reception: Saturday, May 12, 7:00pm Both artists will give a brief gallery talk at the reception starting at 7:00pm.

Source: www.odu.edu