"Theatre Art Galleries announces the opening of a
Fall/Winter Exhibition curated by Guest curator Tom Patterson titled, “CLOSE TO
THE TREE: Works by Cher Shaffer and Gabriel Shaffer” opening Friday, Nov. 21 with an Opening Reception on Friday evening from 5:30-7:30 p.m. in the Main
Gallery. The exhibition will remain on view through Jan. 2, 2015.
Painter Cher Shaffer and her son Gabriel Shaffer will share
the Main Gallery in a dual exhibition. Cher Shaffer grew up on a small farm in
Fairburn, Georgia. Her mother’s ancestry was Cherokee and Melungeon, and her
Southern Baptist father was of German descent. Her early paintings, which she
began producing in the late 1960s, depicted scenes from her childhood. She
pursued her art more seriously after her mother’s death in 1978. By that time
she had moved to southeastern Ohio, where her three children were born. A
health emergency she suffered in 1985 led her to reevaluate her life, and her
art subsequently took a turn toward more expressive, primal imagery. Her work
began to reach a national audience in 1989, when she was among the artists
featured in the book O, Appalachia: Artists of the Southern Mountains, by
Ramona and Millard Lampell, and a related traveling exhibition. She moved to
rural Ashe County, N.C., in 2004.
Gabriel Shaffer grew up watching his mother make art and
interact with art dealers, collectors and other artists. The oldest of her
three children, he apparently inherited her talent, and he maintained a casual
drawing practice throughout his childhood. He also excelled early on at
writing, which he pursued more seriously. After he finished high school, and
following his parents’ divorce, he took a job with the produce distribution
company his father managed in Columbus, Ohio. Over the next few years he
underwent an identity crisis that manifested in reckless drug experimentation,
suicidal behavior and temporary hospitalization. He survived the worst of it to
spend most of his twenties writing, doing performance poetry and singing in
modestly successful rock bands. At 27 he belatedly tried his hand at painting
and realized he wanted to pursue it more seriously. After a brief residency in
Wilmington, N.C., he moved to Chicago, where he worked as a waiter and used his
spare time to paint, visit art galleries and museums and learn what he could
about art history. Encouraged by his mother, he began showing his work to
collectors and had a show of his paintings in New York in 2004. Later that year
he moved to Asheville, N.C., where he has continued to develop his work. His
paintings and collaged drawings, increasingly layered in their treatment of
personal and cultural themes, suggest compacted excerpts from an open-ended
narrative involving a panoply of familiar and unfamiliar characters.
Gallery B will host “The Chair as Art Form: an exhibition in collaboration with members
of the American Society of Furniture Designers and the Bienenstock Furniture
Library”. There are many talented, professional photographers in the area
that work in the furniture and decor industry. Some of the best were invited to
select one of the featured chairs from the exhibit and express themselves
creatively using the chair as the subject of their photograph, but capturing
something unexpected and familiar. Taking the subject out of its usual domestic
setting and truly treating the “chair as art form”.
The Hallway Gallery will feature “Works from the 512
Collective”. The 512 Collective is an artist collective and gallery in High
Point that hopes to bring the growing local art community together to create a
culture of locally supported artists and makers. The 512 Collective is located
at 512 E Washington Street.
And once again, the Kaleidoscope Youth Gallery will host the
Annual TAG Lower School Art Exhibition. Participating schools include Florence
Elementary, High Point Christian Academy, Johnson Street Elementary, Montlieu
Academy, Northern Elementary, Parkview Elementary, Pilot Elementary, Southwest
Elementary, Union Hill Elementary, and Wesleyan Academy.
Theatre Art Galleries is located in downtown High Point at
220 E. Commerce Ave. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday from 12:00-5:00
p.m. For more information contact the TAG office at 336-887-2137 or visit
www.tagart.org."
- A Press Release
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