THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 13, 1995 TAG: 9507120122
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
The Wakefield Foundation Center for the Arts has a your-guess-is-as-good-as-mine exhibit this month.
Actually, it's a showing of surrealistic sculptures and paintings by Leigh Reid-Wallace of Smithfield.
Even she is not sure of the meaning of some of her creations, so they're open to interpretation.
Not all fall into that category. ``The Bombing,'' for instance, is her tribute to the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing.
``That really got to me,'' she said. The sculpture shows a seemingly desecrated figure stretched out behind an ammunition box.
Some elements of her work she finds in thrift shops, regular shops and even along the highway.
``I found a trashed muffler on the side of a road in Newport News,'' Wallace said. ``It's now a harsh metal form - a flower garden that grows in spite. It's almost like metal and organic combining.''
If you think the description is complex, check the work itself. The show and sale is called ``Art With Jagged Edges,'' a title that needs explaining.
``I like anything sharp, bold and strong,'' Wallace said. Nails, for example, are part of a couple of her displays.
Most of the display is sculpture, but there are some paintings.
One of them looks like an oil spill, but Wallace claims ``it is like something beautiful.'' Surrealism, after all, gives new meaning to the phrase about beauty's being in the eye of the beholder.
Wallace, 24, said she always wanted to be a surrealist.
``I started out realistically, just to learn, but I knew I wasn't going to stay that way,'' the Delaware native said. ``I like realism, but it's just not me.''
Her husband, Greg - they met in a sculpture class at Christopher-Newport University - displayed his oil paintings in Wakefield in January. Eventually, the couple hope to have a joint exhibition.
``This is my first exhibit,'' she said. ``I wanted to wait until I had a nice body of work. This is everything.''
Wallace works part time at Boulevard Cleaners in Smithfield and is looking for the day when ``I can do this (art) full time.
``I'm constricted,'' she said. ``It's hard to sculpt everything I see.''
Her ``Self-Portrait'' makes that point, showing a woman who is bound, and has vision problems; ``Communication'' is similar. The sculpted individual has the mouth covered, but the hands are in use.
One of Wallace's favorite pieces is the self-explanatory ``Oppression Due to Sexuality,'' in black and red.
``They're powerful colors,'' she said. ``They show the strength that will pull you out of a situation.''
The situations depicted by Wallace are yours to enjoy - and interpret - as you wish. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by FRANK ROBERTS
Artist Leigh Reid-Wallace will display ``My Chair'' at The Wakefield
Foundation Center this month.
by CNB