This month at Practical Art, we’re featuring the work of local artist Beth Shook and her show, “Journal Entries and Margin Notes.” We asked Beth if she wouldn’t mind talking a bit about her inspiration and processes. This is what she says:
“When I was in college working on my near completed degree in English Literature, one of my assignments was to write a plot analysis on Chinatown – the 1974 film starring Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway. Unfamiliar with the movie, I initially saw this as an opportunity to get easy credit for watching a great flick.
Fortunately, the campus theater was free to students. I sat through that film for three consecutive showings. Still, that wasn’t enough to quell my wince each time I watched Nicholson’s character, J.J. Gittes, get his nostril slashed open.
There were plots, sub-plots, scuttlebutt and red herrings. The multi-layered story line appealed to me; creating a narrative closer to the intricacies of life.
Likewise, I employ layers of information, methods and materials to convey my story. For example, the tile images are drawn, redrawn and rediscovered up to five times during the process. Each time the image is reworked it shifts and changes – moving from the original photograph to the final glazed tile. Traces of the previous layers are left behind to build on each other. Layer upon layer the images are deepened.
The best stories touch us on many levels. My hope is that my work relates similarly; with richness and a complexity, that provides common ground.”
— Beth Shook
If you’d like to hear more about Beth’s work and see her show close up, the reception is this Friday evening, December 10, from 7-9pm. Free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.
