On View: March 28 through May 2, 2009
Opening Reception: Saturday, March 28th, 7-9pm

BALANCING ACTS refers to the complexities involved in the lives of all artists who must juggle their art creation with the responsibilities in their personal lives. The realities of making time for creativity can be very challenging in a world filled with family obligations, personal health issues and economic constraints. Each of these experienced artists has juggled all of these issues at various times in their lives. All have risen above these challenges and explore these themes within their works which are creatively expressed in each of their respective series included in this exhibition.  

In Some More Happiness, a new series of black and white paintings on paper, Jackie Felix explores the enigmatic and sometimes anxious moments we experience within personal relationships. This series builds on a previous body of works produced by the artist, We’re Really Happy, also included in the exhibit, in which enigmatic couples are depicted bound on all sides in letter box panels, leafless trees, curtains, etc., in order to reflect an anxious world. These images provoke the viewer eliciting unique personal interpretations of what these scenes may represent to them. Some More Happiness continues the exploration of these themes featuring ambiguous, figurative scenes utilizing drapes or curtains for partial concealment that again challenges the viewer to find their own meaning in these enigmatic and intriguing images.

Jackie Felix is an award winning artist with an M.F.A. from SUNY at Buffalo. Her works have been widely collected and exhibited in WNY and beyond. Locally, her works have been exhibited at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Burchfield-Penney Art Center, Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, CEPA Gallery, Big Orbit Gallery, and Carnegie Art Center, as well as other venues.   

In Myths of Perfection, Cathy Pardike offers a much more abstracted view of the world. As in all her works, these images are highly psychological in nature. Within these black and white mixed media works, she uses textured, abstracted images of objects and parts of the human body to explore feelings of anxiety in order to debunk the ideas behind perfect body forms and conditions. In describing the disjointed imagery in her works, Pardike explains, “The fragmentations represent the human condition and they go against our culture’s myth of perfection of the body, mind and spirit. Everyone makes mistakes and they reach for ideas and thoughts they can’t attain. At some point in their lives, everyone experiences illness. No one is free from this.”

Cathy Pardike received her M.F.A from University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah and her B.A. from University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. Her works have been shown in the Seattle and Salt Lake City areas. Locally, Cathy’s works have been exhibited at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Big Orbit Gallery, Burchfield-Penney Art Center, Carnegie Art Center, CEPA Gallery, Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, and Niagara Community College Art Gallery,  as well as other venues.
  
In the series, Home, Coni Minneci, explores the issues and emotional effects of dealing with the responsibilities of caring for an aging parent. Along with a written journal, the artist created a series of small-scale, digital photo collages over the time she was caring for her aging father through his admittance to an assisted living facility. The pieces contain abstracted photographic images describing her “divided” existence between her current home with her family and her childhood home where her father still resided. She states that, “The project developed at night from a need to create order, contrasting the disorder of the day. Spending time with a man whose primary goal was to sing away the day and make anyone near him laugh is not hard to do. But spending time amidst a clutter-filled 1950s home in need of this and that, can get to you.” The resulting body of work is a bittersweet homage to her father and echoes an emotional journey that most will necessarily make while contending with the decline of a parent. 

Coni Minneci holds a B.A. in Studio Art with a Concentration in Painting from Empire State College SUNY at Buffalo and a B.A. in Graphic Design from SUNY College at Buffalo. She has exhibited her art works widely within WNY and has been an active supporter of the local arts community where she is also a visual arts instructor. Her works have been exhibited at the Anderson Art Gallery, Buffalo Arts Studio, Burchfield-Penney Art Center, Carnegie Art Center, Castellani Art Museum, and Niagara Community College Art Gallery, among many others.

These events are made possible by the Tonawandas' Council on the Arts, the City of North Tonawanda, Pencil in the River Studio, Inc. and with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.

Image credits top to bottom:
Home: Untitled by Coni Minneci, digital photo collage, 2008
Myths of Perfection: Reaching by Cathy Pardike, Char-kole on paper, 2008
Some More Happiness: Winter's End by Jackie Felix, acrylic and gesso, 2008-2009