Menu The Alliance for the Arts’ January exhibit pairs the work of two women artists who live part-time in Southwest Florida. Barbara Hoffman is a photographer who will exhibit current work following the theme Beauty in Decay. Painter and printmaker Tammra Sigler’s exhibition will include pieces from her Flowers series of 2007 and her more recent Fun monotype series. Their joint exhibit will open with a public reception on Friday, January 8 at 5PM at the Alliance. The artists will lead a Gallery Walk & Talk on Saturday, January 9 at 10AM. The exhibit remains on display through January 30.
SEE MORE ABOUT THE ARTISTS
While they work in different mediums, the Alliance exhibition committee felt their artwork is complimentary. Committee member and Fort Myers artist, Andy Browne, says “I saw two artists whose work was similar in that both are rooted in floral and organic imagery, but they have two very different approaches; both in medium and attitude. I see Barbara’s work as quiet, formal and elegant and Tammra’s work as zippy, frenetic and noisy.”
Barbara Hoffman is from Peoria, IL but now winters in Bonita Springs. She has often shown her work around the country for the past decade. Most recently her Beauty and Decay collection was featured as a one person exhibition at Carl Sandburg College in Galesburg, IL.
Tammra Sigler splits her time between Maryland and Naples. Tammra attended Syracuse University, School of Fine Arts, and graduated with honors in painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, Maryland in 1965. Ms. Sigler has shown her work extensively and been awarded many prizes in the Baltimore/Washington area as well as Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Cincinnati, Los Angeles, Lexington, Palm Beach, and throughout South America.
Tammra’s work has been acquired by The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C. and the Baltimore Museum of Art. It is included in many corporate and private collections both nationally and internationally…(selected corporate collections: The Johns Hopkins Hospital, The Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital, Towson University, Maryland Institute College of Art, Ohio State University, University of Maryland, University College Collection) Twice her work was selected (1994, 2000) to be represented in the national publication “New American Painting” by Open Studio Press as well as “Studio Visit Magazine 2014.” Sigler’s work was featured in the13th Annual Artis–Naples Artists’ Studio Tour in 2008 and has been shown at the von Liebig Art Center in their Founders and Encounter, other juried shows. The Baker Museum, Artis–Naples, featured four of her “Philip Glass -In the Upper Room” pieces in “The Florida Contemporary” 2015.
Artists Statements
Barbara Hoffman – “Traditional flower and plant photography is about perfection, catching the plant or flower at its most perfect and unblemished point. This series uses decaying tropical plants, well past the point of traditional perfection, as a metaphor for the beauty in all phases of life. The vegetation’s lushness and sensuality can be felt, even through aging and death.
The plant material in many of these images was found in pristine neighborhoods in Florida. From stacks of curb trash I found incredible sources of exquisite detail and rich color. In the wild, I found plant material lying in sensual array, decaying in place. Its beauty was undeniable.
The inherent conflict between societal expectations of youthful physical perfection and relentless physical decay sets up a tension that requires continual adjustment of self-image. This body of work is helping me put aside arbitrary expectations, reaching for a new understanding of aging. The richness in color, texture and form parallels the richness of experience and depth of beauty in the human aging process.”
Tammra Sigler – This diversified collection of my work spans 8 years: my “Flowers” series of 2007 to my “Fun” monotype series of 2015. Although the work has a wide range of subject matter and size, there are a number of constants.
As a painter and printmaker, my primary concern is always “the mark.” ….just what happens when the pen/brush reaches the paper/canvas. That is my electric moment. My buzz! The very specific character, personality, energy, vibrancy of my mark, be it lively or quiet and contemplative, are the very heart of my work. While I may be responding visually, as in the flower pieces, responding to my imagination, as in swarms and bees, or responding to sound, as in the music pieces from 2015, first and foremost, is always “the mark.” Secondly, it is quite obvious that I am concerned with color. I find myself pushing my color…introducing colors that just don’t quite belong! Finding solutions that are contrary to the obvious. I hop onto unexpected opportunities. How can I break rules? Where is the magic? The humor? The whimsy? I like to laugh. I do not think about these ideas, I just find them…or perhaps, they find me! They fuel my search. My moments of delight come from SURPRISE.
The opening reception on Friday, January 8 from 5-7PM is free and open to the public. Barbara Hoffman and Tammra Sigler will hold a free Gallery Walk on Saturday, January 9 at 10AM. The exhibit remains on display through January 30.
Artwork created by Alliance instructors and their students will be displayed in the Member Gallery. Broadsides: Poetry off the Shelf featuring will be featured in the Foulds Theatre Lobby. The official Broadsides event is January 28 at 7PM.
