October 7th - November 18th 2023
Gallery Hours: 24/7
miniMAC (miniature Mount Airy Contemporary)
25 West Mt. Airy Avenue, Philadelphia PA 19119
www.mountairycontemporary.com
miniMAC is pleased to announce Wellspring, an exhibition of works by Tremain Smith and Jonathan Eckel. These artists work with the mystery of being human: The power of our inner selves and mythologies, whether mined from internal experience or from collective history, and the stories we tell for ourselves.
Tremain Smith says of her work, “I use my skills as an artist to facilitate healing, personal and collective. I want to make compelling works of art that create access to spirit. My paintings are an expression of what is within and are about the mysteries I find when I let what is inside come out. The lines, shapes and colors are mappings of the unseen as I visually explore internal landscapes. I explore, discover, and heal through the language of painting and writing. I have made public my practice of responding to my paintings with writing, and most pieces have accompanying poems. The writing spontaneously explores what is mined in the painting.
‘If you live by inspiration then you do what comes to you.’ This quote from the artist Agnes Martin has led me my entire career. I let the process take over, guiding and absorbing me. I take risks by expressing emotion and freedom in mark-making while simultaneously finding wisdom in structure and restraint.
My aspiration: I am a soul artist. I see into my own being. I have a source inside me. I make what’s blocked start moving again. I am a warrior of concentrated light.“
Smith’s website is www.tremainsmith.com.
Jonathan Eckel says of his work, “I’m in love with the act of painting - the entire process of starting from nothing, creating, problem-solving and resolving. These works reflect themes of ritual, metamorphosis, vernal phenomena and personal mythology. Walking the line between figuration and abstraction. I’m trying to tap into the vital force. The impulse of life.
This selection of paintings continues a decade-long series, reaching deep into our collective human history with a profound interest in anthropology and ethnography. Inspired by African, Mesoamerican, Oceanic Arts, and cultures, as well as European and American Modernism, these paintings draw from the rich tapestry of the past to chart a course into an uncertain future.”
Eckel’s website is www.jonathaneckel.com.
Tremain Smith has four works in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NewYork. Her work is in corporate and private collections across the country. She has had dozens of solo exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Scottsdale, Maine, Delaware,Florida and Hawaii. Group exhibitions include SOFA Chicago, Art Miami, the Painted Bride, thePhiladelphia Art Alliance, and the USArtists American Fine Art Show.
Tremain has been reviewed extensively including coverage by the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Chicago Tribune and the LA Weekly. Her work is included in Encaustic Art in the Twenty-First Century by Anne Lee & E. Ashley Rooney, published by Schiffer Publishing, The Art of Encaustic Painting Contemporary Expression in the Ancient Medium of Pigmented Wax published by Watson-Guptill, and in the art journal New American Paintings. She studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Tyler School of Art, Carnegie-Mellon University and the University of Pennsylvania. She received a Teaching Artist Certificate from the University of the Arts.
Alongside her studio practice, Tremain teaches, lectures, and leads workshops. She was a panelist at the Eighth International Encaustic Conference presenting on “The Roots of Contemporary Encaustic”. The technique she uses is composed of layers of oil glazes, collaged elements, and transparent beeswax. Her works on paper are made with a hand-ground recipe of gum arabic and oil emulsion. Tremain’s concerns center on art and healing. Her abstract works are mappings of an inner world. She responds to her paintings with writing, following a creative process that combines painting and poetry. Smith explores, discovers, and heals through both languages.
Jonathan Eckel was born in Glenside, Pennsylvania in 1980. He received a BFA from Tyler School of Art in 2003 during which time he spent one year studying abroad in Rome, Italy. Before, during and after his fine arts studies he traveled extensively in North and Central America, Eastern and Western Europe, Asia and Africa; spending one full year living in the Great Rift Valley. In 2010, he spent three months as an artist in residence at the Vermont Studio Center which greatly impacted his creative practice and painting style. Most recently, he spent another three months as an artist in residence at the Ballinglen Arts Foundation located on the sea coast of North County Mayo in the Republic of Ireland. Eckel is primarily focused on painting and drawing, exploring new subject matter and styles, often blurring the line between abstraction and representation. This constantly inviting and developing approach to art-making allows for experimentation, reconsideration and action; giving the artist the freedom needed to make an honest mark. The diversity of his imagery is strongly influenced by his world travels along with his deep interests in the history of art, anthropology, philosophy and music. Eckel’s work is included in many public and private collections including the permanent collection of the Woodmere Art Museum, the U.S. State Department Art Bank Program and the Ballinglen Contemporary Museum of Art in County Mayo, Ireland. The artist currently lives and works at Greene Street Artists Cooperative located in the historic section of Germantown, Philadelphia.
miniMAC is a project of MAC (Mount Airy Contemporary). MAC has been curating shows in northwest Philadelphia since 2009.
