Paige Wideman at AEC, Covington, KY

Found object artists at times fall victim to a lack of consistent language in their work due to the arbitrary nature of their craft. Their works become mediated upon chance discovery, external inspirations and risk lacking a developed style of continuously expounded/explored forms.
Paige Wideman's mature sculptures represent the opposite case of this approach. Her work has a personal language, part formalist/part narrative. The qualities of her recovered materials are conserved, sometimes re-worked and always successfully collaged into her compositions. Graceful curves appear in works such as Kindred, 2009 and Solitude, 2009 while others, such as Op-red, 2007 and Edifice, 2009 jut upwards in monolithic fashion. The works have an atmosphere of antiquity in part due to the weathered materials. The tones are rustic throughout (wood, steel, etc.) and warm the eye with rusted reds and textures.
In Mazda, 2009 and Parlato, 2009, the found nature of the components completely disappear in these intimate compositions. Particularly in the latter, I was reminded of the art of Joseph Cornell.

Also of note is budding artist Elizabeth Laskey (in particular in such works as Numen). Her art constitutes the other half of this exhibition curated by David Knight, gallery director of Northern Kentucky University.
-A.C. Frabetti

'Recycled Finds: Work by Paige Wideman and Elizabeth Laskey', The Covington Artisans Enterprise Center, 25 West 7th Street, Covington. Curated by David Knight. June 5th thru July 10th.
Photo: Wideman, Paige. Past Absolved, date: n.d. Wood, rust, found metal, 4"wx12"hx6"d. AEQAI staff photo.

Garden Sculpture: The Art Academy at the Civic Garden Center

25 sculptural installations are dispersed throughout the landscape of the Civic Garden Center and Hauck Botanic Garden. All are by artists involved in the Academy, either as students, alumnae or instructors. The works vary in size, scope and aesthetic, from geometrical, modernist work to conceptual, narrative installations.

Whether one enjoys the individual works or not, each artist nevertheless invites the visitor to reflect upon some aspect of the garden and the relationship of humanity to nature (or gardenized nature).

The exhibition includes a map of the location of each of the works. The visitor has an important choice here. He or she may survey the space first, encountering the placement of the pieces by chance. This option allows one to experience the individuality of each work as the artist may have wished it without it being specifically 'bracketed' as an artwork. The other choice is to follow the map, noting exactly each work according to its author, location etc. In this way one does not 'miss' anything although risks being too easily 'led.' For the beholder of art is not a passive receptacle, but an active and lively creator of the actual experience: this is a simple case in point.
-A.C. Frabetti

Art Academy of Cincinnati: 25th Biennial Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition, Civic Garen Center, Hauck Botanic Garden, April 4-26, 2009. On Reading Road between Oak St. and Taft Road.
In Photo: Sheri Besso, Protection, (Date: n.d.). Mixed media.