New Feature Exhibition in April March 10 2023
RITES OF SPRING
Paintings & Sculptures by Candace Knapp
April 1 - May 27, 2023
Opening Reception: Saturday, April 1, 4-7 PM
Encore Reception: Saturday, May 6, 4-7 PM
Artist Talk: Friday, May 12, 11 AM
Image 1: Candace Knapp, Sweet Summer, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 38 x 1.5 inches
Image 2: Candace Knapp, Flower, wood, 26 x 14 x 10 inches
About the Exhibition:
Candace Knapp is an artist of many talents across a range of mediums. In addition to having worked for over 30 years as a sculptor, Knapp is an accomplished painter, a published poet, and a budding photographer. At the core of her creative endeavors is a deep admiration for nature, which is the impetus for her debut solo exhibition at Arts on Douglas titled Rites of Spring.
For this display, Knapp combines sculptures and paintings to explore the awe and wonder of life in bloom. She elaborates, “Spring is when the Earth wakes up and comes alive again. I believe that artworks can remind people to do the same.”
Knapp’s sculptures and paintings complement one another, while also possessing their own unique characteristics. Her sculptures are created by laminating and carving wood to create smooth, colorful, abstracted forms that radiate the energy of spring. She notes, “I think of sculpture as a meaningful gesture… the message is always in the movement: twisting, reaching upward, retreating, or expanding. It is the dance of life.”
Her paintings, on the other hand, are more detailed examinations of the natural world. Her emphasis is on the remarkable variety of life she observes in forests, springs, and parks throughout Florida. Knapp explains, “If I sit in nature long enough, I get lost in the intricate patterns and structures; the shapes and subtle colors. The longer I look, the more there is to see. I want my paintings to be like that, endlessly intriguing. Light reflected on water or plants weaving themselves together in a tangle way are signs of life to me.”
Through this body of work Knapp celebrates the beauty of the natural world while also reminding viewers to take in the wisdom that nature has to offer. She stresses that especially in dark, uncertain times it is important to remember, “…the Spring still comes. The sun shines on the water, the plants put out new leaves and flowers blossom.” She concludes that, “these paintings and sculptures are my affirmation that life, juicy fertile life, will always renew itself.”
About the Artist:
Candace Knapp earned a BFA in sculpture from the Cleveland Institute of Art and an MFA in sculpture from the University of Illinois in Champaign. Installations of her work have been shown at the Brevard Art Museum in Melbourne, the Florida Museum for Women Artists in Deland, the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Daytona Beach, the Mount Dora Center for the Arts, and both the Florida Craftsmen Gallery and Morean Art Center in St Petersburg. Her work is also in the permanent collection of the Miaoli Wood Sculpture Museum in Sanyi, Taiwan and the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art in Memphis, TN.
