New Works, an exhibition at Hyde Park Fine Arts, affirms St. Petersburg sculptor Margaret Steward as one of Tampa Bay’s outstanding artists, not only for her quiet aesthetics, but particularly for her phenomenal versatility. Few local artists demonstrate such fearlessness toward mixed media or use it so inventively. Steward, an award-winning and collected artist gravitating toward intimate-scale objects, is exhibiting 39 new two- and three-dimensional works.
Finding one’s aesthetic niche is what every artist strives for. Yet, far too many good artists (especially in the Bay area) cling fiercely to a cookie-cutter mentality, fearing that deviation in style, media, or sensibility will cast them adrift from self-imposed comfort zones. Not so for Steward, who maintains an unwavering sensibility of who she is.
Most of her works here present a pure Steward aesthetic, evident in her keen attention to detail and a fine sense of proportion and balance. Though seemingly effortless and instinctive, such qualities derive in part from her natural sciences background and several years as a hydro-geologist. This links her art to the current trend whereby art invokes the subjects and the methodology of science. But her work is far from trendy, and it interweaves art and science naturally. In one piece, folded measuring rods are enclosed within small, side-by-side, wall-mounted boxes, as if granting an ordinary tool an exalted rank.
Illustrating a recent shift that bodes well for her body of work and future directions, some of Steward’s subject matter now hovers in and around the figure. It also appears in constructed tableaux of tiny figures cast and coated with metallic bronze paint. Others depict body parts cast with hydrocal (plaster). Among the other media she uses are wood, string, paper clay, and fabric.
Curator Catherine L. Thompson initiated this first solo exhibition for Steward and displayed it beautifully. The combo of versatility, selection and mounting is a positive direction for Hyde Park’s more-work-on-the-wall-is-better philosophy.
Viva Covivant. Covivant’s two current exhibitions again raise expectations for this alternative gallery’s continuing transformation into a more sophisticated venue. Menagerie, a theme that could have turned out too cute, instead presents a fascinating anthropomorphized look at human foibles through a variety of animal forms. Among a number of standouts: curator Margaret Meehan’s ceramic frogs and Mandy Greer’s mixed-media installation. The University of South Florida annual photography exhibition, Luxuriance As They Stray, well-juried by gallery owners/directors Carrie Mackin and Chantel Foretich, includes Sunni Barbera’s fine ectacolor and Kate Spencer’s beautiful, hanging photo cubes.
Pet Project. A local twist on a public art project with national notice includes a public editions collaboration between William Wegman and USF’s Graphicstudio. Savvy kids of all ages will love hunting for William Wegman doggie limbs (and/or other parts) on local billboards. The series, up through April, began with last year’s Lesley Dill images. Wegman’s weimaraners can be seen on Tampa’s open air galleries normally used for advertising. Although some fault the artist for bowing to commercialism, Noel Smith, Coordinator of Publications and Education, suggests that these billboards sell only aesthetic experience. See for yourself. For locations, call Smith at 813-974-3503.
This article appears in Apr 19-26, 2001.
