Alice Pixley Young

Salt Fever

Alice Pixley Young creates personal narratives in floor to ceiling constructions of hand dyed paper, fabric, text and salt.

Artist Lecture: Final Friday, October 27, 5:30-6:30 pm

Artist Reception: Final Friday, October 27, 6:30-9 pm

Exhibition Dates: October 21 - November 10, 2006

Gallery Hours: Mon-Fri 9-9, Sat & Sun 9-5

Convergys Gallery

Art Academy of Cincinnati

1212 Jackson Street

www.artacademy.edu

(513) 562-6262

The floor to ceiling “constructions” of hand dyed paper and fabric are Alice Pixley Young's attempt to tell a very personal story using simple, household materials. Young’s work is generated from words and phrases she overhears, reads or that simply “come to her” at three a.m. The words are penned repeatedly and obsessively until a narrative can be gleaned from why they held her ear in the first place. Young’s work is made from hundreds of small, dyed scraps of paper written on and pieced into flowing, sculptural forms. Fabric and paper is lacquered and covered with coarse salt and hung across the space to create an intricate and textured environment. The laborious process of using small multiples such as dyed paper, thread and fabric to make larger works, reflect traditional women’s labor and in particular the artist’s mother’s quilting background. The way in which these media are used, however, subverts their anonymity and creates a striking, monumental statement. The process and word play act as metaphors for her exploration of power and passivity, creation and destruction. Tensions of scale and the use of personal narratives that read as both public mantras as well as the most private of diary entries, tie the work together. Fairytales, language, women’s experience and Young’s own personal history fuel the content and feed the process of creating her works.

Alice Pixley Young participated in the New York Studio Program and received her MFA from the University of Maryland. She has been a visiting artist, lecturer, instructor and illustrator and her illustrated educational children's book was presented at Congressional Hearings and requested by Senator Edward Kennedy.  Young has exhibited nationally and was a 2003-2005 City of Cincinnati Artist Grant recipient. She has been an artist in residence at the Contemporary Artists Center in Massachusetts and the Vermont Studio Center. Recently she participated in the Cincinnati Art Museum’s Living Traditions Artist Program and was showcased on the HGTV network’s “That’s Clever” program.  She currently lives and teaches in Cincinnati, Ohio.  To view more of her work, you can visit www.pixleyart.com