New alt_space Exhibition in January December 18 2024
CANDACE KNAPP
Creative Ways to See
On Exhibit: January 4 - February 8, 2025
Opening Reception: Saturday, January 4, 4-7 PM
Artist Talk & Book Signing: Friday, January 10, 11 AM
Left: Candace Knapp, What the Blue Heron Sees No. 2, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24 inches
Right: Candace Knapp, Whirl of Wanting, ceramic, 21 x 13 x 7 inches
About the Exhibition:
Candace Knapp is an artist of many talents. In addition to having worked for over 30 years as a sculptor, she is an accomplished painter, a published poet/author, a ceramicist, and a budding photographer. Knapp recently published a book titled Creative Ways to See, in which she posed nine questions and then challenged herself to explore them visually. In the introduction to the book she elaborates, “Whenever I understand something new, I need to make something with my hands. Expressing what I have learned in a tangible form makes it real.” For this, Knapp’s second exhibition at Arts on Douglas, she showcases the artwork that resulted from each of the nine questions in this creative exercise. Below are examples from a few of these chapters.
In the chapter titled Is there an Alternate Way for a Dream to Come True? Knapp delves deep into her imagination to find a way to actualize a longstanding dream of having a solo exhibition in a major museum. She came to the realization that she could make her dream come true in an alternate way by creating model museum spaces with small paintings, clay sculptures, and elements from nature thoughtfully curated into each scene. By presenting these spaces as photographs, she could play with the sense of scale, allowing small objects to take on a larger presence. An example from this chapter is Portal-41 (above), in which Knapp creates a scene with lush greens and organic forms that pop against the sharp lines of the walls. Obstacles and passageways fill the scene, offering viewers a hint of what lies just around the corner.
Another chapter is titled What Do We See When We Close Our Eyes? Through this question, Knapp explores ways to visually depict “another world we can visit with our eyes closed.” As an example, her piece titled Deep Silence No. 2 represents an entirely imagined landscape based on visual experiences she encountered while meditating with her eyes shut.
As a third example, the chapter titled What is the Shape of an Emotion? is a prompt that presented Knapp with an opportunity to explore how emotions can be conveyed in 3D sculptural forms. The piece titled Midnight Disco came about from this prompt and conveys “the experience of dancing to music with such abandon that you forget about everything else.”
As a whole, this exhibition gives viewers insight into Knapp’s creative approach to art and life, embodying the clever ways she gives form to abstract questions. At the same time, Knapp encourages viewers to use these questions as a springboard to explore how they might unlock their curiosity by considering their responses, or even prompt viewers to ask new questions that allow them to see the world in a new way.
Left: Candace Knapp, Journey to the Deep Silence No. 2, acrylic on canvas, 57 x 44 inches
Right: Candace Knapp, Midnight Disco, ceramic, 24 x 15 x 14 inches
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.