Woods exhibit opens Friday

An African chicken effigy mask, a naturally-shaped pitchfork and a ceramic ball sculpture are all part of the wood-themed exhibit opening at the Arts Center Friday.
“A Walk in the Woods” is an exhibit of artworks from the North Dakota Museum of Art’s permanent collection. The exhibit will be on display from Friday through July 18.
Matt Wallace, North Dakota Museum of Art deputy director, and Greg Vettel, North Dakota Museum of Art exhibition coordinator and registrar, were at the Arts Center Wednesday setting up the exhibit. The exhibit has about 50 pieces and all have some relation to wood.
“Each year we pick an exhibit to take around the state,” Wallace said. “Each exhibit revolves around a theme.”
Wallace said this year the museum’s staff wanted to feature items from its permanent collection and chose a lot of pieces about wood.
“We try to get exhibitions that would be of interest to communities throughout North Dakota,” he said.
“Especially schoolchildren,” Vettel said.
The exhibit includes art made from wood, including sculptures, but also prints made from woodblock carvings, photographs of woods, drawings of woods, and even artwork made by woodcarvers in different mediums.
Vettel held a large ceramic-resin ball that was made by a woodcarver. The ball had a dark coloring because the woodcarver mixed coffee grounds in with the resin. The designs on the piece were cut from deer antlers.
“This piece isn’t made of wood, but is wood related because the person who created it is a woodcarver,” he said.
Wallace said the exhibit features six pieces of African artwork the museum acquired from a man in Virginia. He said the museum had acquired some African artwork from a New York artist, and the man from Virginia contacted the museum about acquiring his collection of African artwork which was similar in style to the New York artist’s work.
Wallace said the Virginia man’s collection was 150 pieces, including ceramic, wood and textile works. One of the more popular pieces from that collection is the chicken effigy mask, a mask that looks like a chicken’s head.
“People seem to be attracted to that mask,” Vettel said.
Wallace said people also like a wood pitchfork that was made by manipulating a young sapling. He said when people realize the pitchfork was made not by carving, but by forming the tree as it grew, they find the work interesting.
The Arts Center is located at 115 2nd St. SW and is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. Admission is free.
Sun reporter Chris Olson can be reached at 701-952-8454 or by email at colson@jamestownsun.com