Alphabet in the Arts
Thru March 7, 2004

More than 40 artists from 22 states use letters and words from a variety of languages as subject matter, decoration or enhancement in Alphabets in the Arts, a special Ice House Gallery show curated by Maureen Squires. Several of the artists will be in attendance at the show opening on Friday, January 16 at 7:30pm at the Ice House. Produced by the Morgan Arts Council. the gallery opening reception is centerpiece of an Art Walk that includes a stop at Mountain Laurel and a series of bookmaking events at Bath Bookworks.

From 5 to 7:30 pm on Friday, Bath Bookworks has a reception for the opening of its show: Historic Hand and Timeless Typography. Illuminated leaves and early printed pages will be on display. Both the show at the Ice House and at Bath Bookworks are hanging through March 7. Bath Bookworks is joined in the Art Walk by Mountain Laurel displaying two floors of regional American art in its corner shop voted the #7 gallery of fine American crafts in the country.

Saturday and Sunday, January 17 and 18, Bath Bookworks offers a pair of related workshops. On Saturday, Maureen Squires, curator of the Ice House Gallery show, conducts a paste papermaking class. On Sunday, Michael Dennis teaches how to use Saturday’s paper to create a simple handmade book. Workshops require registration so call 304-268-7970.

The cross disciplinary show Alphabet in the Arts showcases 63 captivating celebrations of alphabets. Work on display and for sale in the Ice House Gallery is as varied as Jenny Hunter Groat of Lagunitas, CA’s “Archaic Round of the Fates,” a unique artist’s book construction utilizing scrolls set in a round box structure to Michael Clark, Glen Allen, Virginia’s “Clock, (Time) and ‘S’ Clock.” Fabric, beads and clay are used and the languages range from Khmer to ancient Hebrew.

Recruited by MAC board member, Jane Frenke, to “do something that had not been done at the Ice House before,” Squires drew on her extensive knowledge of the field to select the artists on display.

“Lettering is no longer confined to commercial uses such as logo and type design or addressing envelopes,” said Squires. “Lettering has arrived as an art form, freeing the calligrapher/lettering artist to explore uses of the alphabet across disciplines.” Artists in the show turn the words of writers and poets into visual art through the use of the appropriate alphabet in combination with color, illustration, illumination or abstract gesture. The writing then evokes a response in the viewer because of its appearance, as well as its content. Often legibility is of less concern than expressive use of the alphabetic forms. Conversely, beautiful, formal words written out by hand, grace many of the works written on surfaces as divergent as plywood,canvas and a large variety of fine, handmade papers. In many ways, the use of the alphabet as central focus in a variety of media, hearkens back to illuminated manuscripts and weavings of the past.

Curator Maureen Squires of Branford, CT has been a lettering artist for nearly 40 years. Her personal work comes from a painter’s perspective grounded in the study of historic alphabet forms which are then used in a contemporary manner.

The Ice House Gallery show, Alphabet in the Arts, is funded through grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the West Virginia Commission on the Arts and local hotel/motel tax revenues. The Ice House is located on the corner of Independence and Mercer streets. The gallery is open from 11am to 5pm on Saturdays and Sundays. For more information call 258-2300 or check online at www.macicehouse.org