september solo exhibitions for rick beck, johan hagaman and ruth ava lyons open this weekend marking the beginning of our fall/winter shows. all three established artists have worked for years in their perspective mediums and have delved deep into their visual voices. what they have found is pure and true. through the simplistic beauty of light filtering through rick beck’s cast glass spoons to the complex subject matters being address in both johan hagaman and ruth ava lyons work, the end results are breathtaking and though provoking.
rick beck is a studio artist who worked in spruce pine, north carolina for over 30 years and recently relocated to hawaii. he began working in glass at hastings college in nebraska, where he received his ba. he received an mfa from southern illinois university. in 1994, rick was awarded a visual arts fellowship by the north carolina arts council, followed by a national endowment for the arts regional visual arts fellowship from the southern arts federation in 1995. beck is part of the studio glass movement. he has taught at the prestigious pilchuck glass school, assisting artists curtiss brock and jan mares. he has taught at the penland school of craft since 1988. rick beck is known for his large-scale cast glass sculpture depicting industrial, everyday objects and the human figure.
johan hagaman is an artist whose work explores the psychological nature of human experience. born in jeffersonville, indiana, she was an artist/maker at an early age; however, her curiosity carried her in different directions. she obtained a ba and ms in english from indiana university; and spent two years in the peace corps in sierra leone, west africa, teaching English. it was in africa that her desire to make art was rekindled, not just by the beauty of the people, culture and land, but also by how necessary art was to their society, to their survival, with its stories, its divine conjuring, its healing and protective powers. after the peace corps, johan began creating--works on paper and sculptures that drew from the same urgency and necessity as the african art. she has exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the united states, and has works in private and public collections, including the nashville’s historic courthouse, tennessee state museum, and the evansville museum of arts and science in evansville, in. johan was the recipient of the tennessee artist fellowship for 2005.
“making art reminds me to live a considered life. the process itself leads me to new ways of seeing the world and new ways of expressing it. my sculptures and works on paper typically include a figure ensconced or encircled by some form of flora and/or fauna—usually vines, thorns, birds or clover, which have become metaphors for how what we do and do not give our attention to determines how we shape ourselves and our world, and how we are shaped by them. my work is psychological: interior explorations of security and insecurity, luck, fate, chance, and choice. nature—its patterns, beauty, adaptivity—feeds inspiration and calls to awaken, calls to wonder, and calls to address, “what is in our world?”
ruth ava lyons was born in cleveland, ohio and holds degrees from kent state university and cranbrook academy of art. she is a fulbright fellowship recipient and has taught at several colleges and universities. ruth has received several grants, awards, and residencies and her work can be found in numerous private, corporate, institutional, and museum collections including the metropolitan museum of art, hearst corporation, bank of america, new orleans museum of art, national museum for women in the arts, sas institute, the federal reserve bank, us dept of interior and others.
ruth creates impressions of the natural world that explore concepts surrounding man’s negative impact on the environment and its possible restoration and renewal. the effects of global warming creating endangered ecosystems and environmental degradation inform the imagery she develops in several series.
these inspirational ecosystems include the everglades, rainforest, amazon, wetlands and many scuba diving underwater locations. her paintings are evidence of her personal search to comprehend universal themes of growth, resistance, and adaptation that she sees in nature, and in her own life.
“in 2019 i was honored to be invited to participate in an annual expeditionary residency program aboard a specially outfitted barquentine sailing vessel to explore the high arctic svalbard archipelago and arctic ocean. along with other artists, researchers and citizen scientists, i worked and studied in this vast haunting remote landscape. indelible impressions were created as i hiked glaciers, sailed under aurora borealis, and snorkelled and scuba dived in unforgiving waters. on daily excursions i would pick up bits and pieces of plastic refuse and contemplate our infiltration of this place of speechless barren beauty. i cannot protect my children from the world and neither can mother nature. this was my walk in the quiet north.”
all available work by each artist can be viewed on our website under their individual tabs including sizing + pricing. hidell brooks gallery is by appointment only. please call the gallery if you have any further questions.