Currently on View: Steve Davis & Lorrie Lane – Big Heads, Small Faces

This exhibition round includes works provided by Steve Davis and Lorrie Lane which will be on view in the North  Floor Gallery from November 22, 2023  – February 3, 2024.  Lowe Mill A&E invites patrons and art lovers to join us for Open Studio Night, a building-wide experience when our over 150 studios will be open to the public.  The evening also includes receptions for all seven of our gallery spaces. This series gives the public a chance to meet and interact with visiting artists and discuss their work as it is on display and available for purchase. Come out, enjoy a pleasant evening, and maybe you’ll find that special piece of art that speaks to you!  The Open Studio Night reception is Saturday, February 3 from 5-7 pm.

About the exhibit:  

Steve Davis:

I’ve worked in the visual arts for over 45 years. This particular body of work, “Big Heads,” uses the direct metal process, featuring forging and fabrication techniques, in creating the pieces.

It is my intention that “Big Heads” will inspire the viewer to consider and reflect upon persons that are meaningful to them. The heads are, of course, larger than life and the possibilities can become endless as they look back at you.

 

Lorrie Lane:

The inspiration for this series of ‘small faces’ came about accidentally. As an oil painter I rarely use acrylic paint, but I needed to practice with this medium in preparation for a class I offered through another local art center.  Using black acrylic paint on prepared watercolor paper, a set of individual and evocative faces began to emerge.  

The first set of faces appeared in the summer of 2020, a time when social distancing may have been the impetus to create images of people.  None of the faces seemed familiar to me, almost as if they were characters from the past.  I set the series aside until 2021, when I painted another set of faces, adding to the group.  This pattern has continued.  In 2023 I began framing some of the faces, displaying a small group of them at the Columbus (MS) Art Center at my solo show in 2023.

My method of painting this face series involves preparing watercolor paper with gesso, then applying black acrylic paint with a palette knife until a face reveals itself . I use water to lift and spread the paint. I don’t have a particular person or image in mind. I let the paint and method suggest the outcome.

Steve Davis and I have collaborated on several projects over the years. I am grateful to the directors at Lowe Mill A&E for giving us the opportunity to display our work together.

About the artists:

Steve Davis (b. 1951) has made objects most of his life and has explored a wide variety of media.

For many years his focus has been in metals where he utilizes the direct metal process, using traditional and contemporary techniques to complete the projects.

Passion, intellect, and full-force physical action inform his works. He will create pieces from the sublime to the ridiculous, considers himself a creative problem-solver, and has a penchant for logistical nightmares.

Lorrie Lane is an oil painter living and working in Tuscaloosa, AL. She is the owner of Lorrie Lane Studio, a painting studio and fine art gallery in downtown Tuscaloosa. Her paintings are represented by several galleries including Liz Lane Gallery in Hoover AL , Lyons Share in Fairhope, AL, Studio Gallery in Grayton Beach, FL, Taylor Kinzel in Roswell, GA, and nationally by Victor Fine Art.  Reproductions of her paintings are licensed by John-Richard.

Lorrie has been a professional artist for 30 years. In addition to painting, she has taught classes through the Studio School at the Birmingham Museum of Art and the Alabama Prison Art and Education Project.  Lorrie was a residential studio artist at the Kentuck Art Center in Northport, AL from 2010-2013 and again from 2016-2018.  

Lorrie has been involved in the business of art as well. She was a founding partner of the Renaissance Gallery in Northport AL in 1993. She helped institute the downtown Northport Art Night celebration in 1994, an ongoing art event . She was the owner of the Liz Charles Gallery in Tuscaloosa in the early 2000s.