DVAC PRESENTS COLLABORATION BY TWO CELEBRATED DAYTON ARTISTS Stratum: New Work by Amy Kollar Anderson & Kate Huser Santucci

DAYTON (February 09, 2018) – The Dayton Visual Arts Center (DVAC) presents Stratum, an exhibition featuring new, collaborative works by Dayton artists Amy Kollar Anderson and Kate Huser Santucci. This show opens February 22nd , 2018 and runs through March 24th. An Opening Reception will be held on February 22nd from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. A Gallery Talk is scheduled for March 2nd from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. All events are free and open to the public.

Stratum is a project about collaboration and communication. Anderson and Stantucci each began with 20 birch wood panels that they traded back and forth, layering materials and documenting the progress. Santucci worked with oil-based mediums, focusing on encaustic, pigment and bone to create lush, natural-toned imagery. Anderson used acrylic-based materials such as pouring medium, mica and glitter resulting in slick and other-worldly surfaces. During sessions, panels would be worked until the artists felt resolved.

The artists will be installing the final panels, along with their corresponding materials “log”, throughout the entire gallery in a free-form map reminiscent of the cryptographic mathematical formula-covered chalkboards by Nobel Laureate in Economics, John Nash, as depicted in the 2001 American biographical drama film A Beautiful Mind.

“Part of this process involved letting go of ego, and becoming comfortable with altering, covering, or sometimes even removing the others’ work,” stated Anderson and Santucci in a joint artists statement. “It built deep connections between us as artists. As the artworks evolved and moved towards completion, we became more comfortable with the process, allowing ourselves to become immersed in the visual dialogue that was taking place.”

“A new, original collaboration, Stratum is at once a stunning deconstruction of the detritus of the layers of our natural world and, as each panel is displayed with a record of its process, is a seldom-seen peek into the creative process,” stated Eva Buttacavoli, DVAC Executive Director.

A link to a video highlighting the collaborative process between the two artists can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watchv=zXKQ1kh6l2I

Sponsors for the Cline Show include Exhibition Partner Anne F. Johnson and Education & Public Program Sponsors Dr. Bob Brandt, Jr. and Dave & Mary Beth Whitley

ABOUT AMY KOLLER ANDERSON

Amy Kollar Anderson creates surreal narrative paintings inspired by natural forms and decorative arts. Her work has been exhibited throughout the region and internationally and she recently was awarded three commissions for the Dayton Public Library. Amy received her BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and went on to receive a Master of Humanities, with a focus in Fine Arts, at Wright State University. She lives with her husband in Dayton and until recently, was the Gallery Coordinator for Rosewood Gallery, Kettering before she left that position to pursue her art career full-time. She refers to her painting style as “Nouveaudelia,” incorporating Psychedelic Art and Art Nouveau aesthetics. For more on this artist, see www.kollaranderson.com.

ABOUT KATE HUSER SANTUCCI

Kate Huser Santucci was born in 1971, and lives and works in Dayton, Ohio. She graduated from Wright State University in 1994 with a BFA in visual art with a concentration in sculpture and participated in an encaustic painting workshop with Susan Mulder at the Krasl Art Center in Michigan. She has taught classes at the Dayton Art Institute and Rosewood Arts Centre, as well as private lessons for children. Her work has most recently been shown at the Rosewood Arts Centre in Kettering and Lily’s Bistro in Dayton. Public work includes a mural in downtown Dayton on E. 3rd St., and a series of three pieces for the new Southeast Branch of the Dayton Metro Library, opening in September 2018. Her works are part of private collections in Dayton, Cincinnati, and St. Joseph, Michigan. Kate started her career as a sculptor and is now working in encaustic and mixed media. The work combines wax painting with three dimensional techniques, found objects, and drawings. They focus on our place in nature, and our interconnectedness to the world outside and within our physical selves.

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ABOUT THE CONTEMPORARY DAYTON

Mission: To provide art for the community and a community for artists.

Overview: The Contemporary Dayton (The Co) is the region’s contemporary art center. Established in 1991 as Dayton Visual Arts Center (DVAC), a 501c3, The Co produces and presents original exhibitions and programs, art events, community partnerships, and artist opportunities. Exhibitions and education programs feature artists living and working today, both nationally and in Ohio, with an emphasis on those whose work focuses on issues of social justice. In addition to its three galleries—open to all and always free—its retail store, the CoSHOP, provides income for Ohio artists and extends The Co’s accessibility to art, from visitor engagement to educational outreach through store products, programs, and experiences.

The Co is proud to support the creation of connections among the arts, community building, civic engagement, community planning, and use of public space, and makes an annual economic impact of 3.4 million to the region. Recently raising 1 million during the Pandemic to expand and move into its new home in downtown’s historic Dayton Arcade, The Co is led by Executive Director Eva Buttacavoli, a 30-year art museum administrator, curator, and educator, whose previous roles were at The Contemporary Austin, TX and The Perez Art Museum Miami, FL; and Curator Michael Goodson, who previously served as Curator at the Wexner Center for the Arts, Beeler Gallery, Columbus College of Art and Design, OH; and as Director at James Cohan Gallery, NY.

The Contemporary Dayton receives operating support from Culture Works, Montgomery County Arts & Cultural District, Ohio Arts Council, the Virginia W. Kettering Foundation, and Members.