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Mary Blackwell-Chapman and
Betti Pettinati-Longinotti

June 3 - 29, 2013

Meet the Artists: Friday, June 7, Gallery Hop, 7 - 10pm
Public Reception, Sunday, June 9, 2 - 4 pm

Artworks Gallery presents a two-person exhibit of book sculptures by Mary Blackwell-Chapman, and mixed media paintings by Betti Pettinati-Longinotti.

Mary Blackwell-Chapman is showing a variety of sculptures involving hand made book forms. She says, "As I began this body of work, an homage to Trees, I was thinking simply of my love for trees, their beauty, majesty, variety, their strong presence. As I worked I thought more about the convergence of trees or forests with humanity and civilization, how our relationship with trees has reflected our history, our changing definition of our Self. An old proverb says somethinsg like "I want to be part of a society where a man can plant a tree and his grandchildren will find shade under its branches." Can this be said of our society? Even with these thoughts, I always returned in my work to the beauty and joy and peace that trees bring me. "

Blackwell-Chapman is a sculptural artist from Forsyth County, North Carolina. She earned a BA in English Literature from Goucher College, and an MA in Motion Picture from Northwestern University in Chicago. She has studied sculpture, both ceramics and book arts, at Penland, UNC-G, Arrowmont, Shakerag, and the Sawtooth Center for Visual Design. Her works are in collections in Virginia, West Virginia, Washington, DC, North Carolina, Georgia, and France. She has exhibited annually since 1993 in juried and non-juried shows in North Carolina, and has been a member of the artists’ collective, Artworks Gallery in Winston-Salem, NC since 1992.

Betti Pettinati-Longinotti is showing "28 Prayers for 26 Victims", a group of mixed media paintings that are a requiem or homage for the victims of Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Conn., and the massacre that took place there on December 14, 2012. She states: "At the crossroads of a controversial intersection of prayer and the political, this work makes a statement about the horrific culture of death our nation and world encounter in this generation. It confronts me, as to many, with profound grieving. My grieving asks questions of our society, that allows this kind of unspeakable horror as reality, and my questions unanswered become visual prayers. I state 28 prayers because I believe the young killer and his mother were also victims. The aesthetic and conceptual content of my work connects to inspiration by the abstract expressionist paintings of Richard Pousette-Dart. In a 2010 exhibition of Pousette-Dart, "Predominantly White Paintings", at the Phillips Collection, Washington D.C., the artist remarks that his paintings are visual prayers. As a contemplative artist, I appreciate the connection of prayer to the creative process, and a vehicle for both to co-exist, as well as an instrument for the Spirit to groan through my visual expression."

Pettinati-Longinotti received a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art, and her MA from the University of the Arts, Philadelphia, in Art Education with a studio major in Glass. Recently she graduated with an MFA in Visual Arts through the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University. Her work has been shown internationally and she has done commissions and collaborations in architectural glass for site specific or public art installations.

Click on image for a larger view.
Mary Blackwell-Chapman, "Books On The Wing", contorted filbert, crepe myrtle, paper, feathers
Betti Pettinati-Longinotti, "Prayer for Sandy Hook", mixed media painting