Carol Boram-Hays watches the world with a critical eye and translates humankind’s impact on the environment into industrial-inspired art. Louise Captein creates her own worlds within intricate collages and then captures their color, complexity, and chaos in vibrant paintings.
Both artist-educators will exhibit their works between Jan. 17 and April 2 at Ohio Wesleyan University’s Richard M. Ross Art Museum, 60 S. Sandusky St., Delaware. The exhibit will include a free community reception with both women from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Jan. 19 at the museum. (In case of inclement weather, the reception date will be moved to Jan. 26.)
Boram-Hays, who teaches at Columbus College of Art & Design, uses metal reclaimed from industrial sites as well as steel ductwork, conduit, and electrical wiring to create art that explores “our conflicted relationship with industrialized culture.”
Of her exhibit, titled “Accumulated Errors,” Boram-Hays said, “In an attempt to adapt to the onslaught of changes being done to the environment by humans, nature is increasingly creating hybrid forms that fuse the manmade with the natural. Mollusks incorporating plastics into their shells, organisms evolving to tolerate former poisons, and animals that use refuse to create their homes are just some of the modifications nature is devising.
“Using these new life forms as inspiration, I combine reclaimed industrial materials and cement in sculptures and installations that explore the legacy of our current lifestyle and its effects on our world.”
Learn more about Boram-Hays and her art at www.carolboramhays.com.
Captein, who teaches at Otterbein University, creates vibrant paintings based on sketches of her brightly colored paper collages. Each painting is an exact copy of the original collage and involves a careful mixing of colors and meticulous application of thin layers of paint to create a smooth surface. Of her OWU exhibit, titled “From One Thing to Another,” Captein states:
“In my work I purposely communicate spontaneity and directness, and stress exciting contrasts in form and color, which vivify life. In my paintings as well as in my paper collages I propose intentional play, chance, mistakes, optimism, and rigor as productive ways to make images. I desire for each of my works to simultaneously be the result of the effects of chaos and change, as well as expressions of deftness, naturalness, flow, and aesthetic resolve.”
Learn more about Captein and her work at www.otterbein.edu/public/About/Faculty/LouiseCaptein.aspx.
Ohio Wesleyan’s Ross Art Museum is open Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The museum is closed every Monday and Saturday, and also will be closed March 12 through March 19 for OWU’s spring break. The museum is handicap-accessible, and admission is always free. Call 740-368-3606 or visit www.owu.edu/ross for information.