
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 22, 1992                   TAG: 9203190099
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E-19   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BRIAN SIEVEKING
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

COLLEGE KEEPS UP FINE RUN OF SHOWS

Without a great deal of pomp or publicity, the directors of Roanoke College's Olin and Smoyer galleries have used their impressive facilities to present a continuing series of first-rate shows. Their mixture of fine arts and crafts, artists of local and national repute, and individual and group exhibitions have offered thought-provoking ideas and created challenging juxtapositions.

The Olin's current show, featuring the work of two of the college's art faculty, Charles Brouwer and Jane Hunter Frazier, is no exception. Indeed, on initial viewing there would seem to be no link between the two artists' work.

Frazier's small-scale, carefully rendered watercolors of domestic animals in bucolic landscapes do not immediately meld with Brouwer's larger-scale, simply colored, and hard-edged sculptures. However, the more careful consideration that both of these artists' work demands begins to yield a number of important similarities and congruences in their mutual concern with craftsmanship, elegance and theatricality of presentation, and interest in creating and capturing moments of quiet transcendence.

Frazier's classically arranged tableaux of fish lying in fields, foxes on the prowl, sheep, cattle, horses and even fighting cocks complete with ankle daggers seem to belong to another time.

In their attention to detail and forthright presentation they recall the closely observed scientific studies of the 19th century, while their warm, rich color schemes and flowing backgrounds seem related to the Flemish masters' landscapes with a nod toward the golden age of children's storybook illustration.

The storybook analogy undoubtedly rises from Hunter Frazier's technique of methodically layering every color and object in the picture. She eschews the light and airy feeling of many current watercolors for a flatter, richer and ultimately theatrical presentation. By offering images that seem at once comfortable and familiar, but with an air of distance and idyllic separation, and presenting them in simple, classic frames she allows the paintings to assume the air of formal objects of contemplation and meditation.

Charles Brouwer also is concerned with theatricality, objects of contemplation and recognizable symbols, but is more obvious in his desire to tie his work specifically to moments of and opportunities for spiritual communication and development.

In his drawings and sculptures (both large and small), ladders, windows, suitcases, trucks, autos, falling stars and moon shapes intermix with biblical quotations and personal reminiscences. All point toward the relevance of personal experience as allegory and the ever-present possibility of moments of spiritual insight and elevation.

While his large-scale, traditionally symbolic sculptures of houses, ladders and stars are immediately impressive, perhaps the most effective pieces in the show are the smaller-scale sculptures of suitcases, park benches and a man mowing his lawn. In these beautifully crafted, simply presented carvings of everyday objects, the ordinary becomes the celebrated, and one feels the opportunity of a Zenlike moment of insight and transcendence.

On display in the Smoyer Gallery is Artemis XV, the annual art show run in conjunction with the publication of the literary journal of the same name.

The traveling show poses a reviewer the usual problem of trying to write cohesively about a show consisting of 31 pieces by 27 different artists. Indeed the strength of any such show lies in its degree of variation. And variety of style and technique is represented - from Marcia McDade's vivid expressionistic allegories to Jim Yeatts' meticulously rendered abstracted landscapes to Annie Doughty's wonderfully simple, almost sketchbook,\ musings. Photography runs the gamut from Jack Jeffers' close-up, technically accomplished portraiture, to Tim Shepherd's playfully sleazy musings on hotel life. Linda Atkinson's sculpture, John Clingempeel's encaustic painting and Mary Jane Burtch's monoprint well represent their respective genres and mediums. In all, the show represents an opportunity to study a multiplicity of style, vision and technique on a manageable scale.

AT ROANOKE COLLEGE: Jane Hunter Frazier and Charles Brouwer exhibit their works through April 5 in Olin Gallery. Artemis XV Exhibition through April 3 in Smoyer Gallery. Tuesday-Sunday, 1-4 p.m. Salem. 375-2333.

Brian Sieveking is an artist and print publisher who lives in Roanoke.

by CNB