2018 Tombaugh Gallery call for artists
The Tombaugh Gallery presents “Cloth, Paper and Ink,” a collection of artwork by Ouida Touchon and Abby Osborne.
Exhibit Opening
The exhibit opens Sunday, February 5 and running through Sunday, February 26.
There will be an opening reception and artist talk from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, February 5.
Abby Osborne and Ouida Touchon, two visual artists and art educators at the Dona Ana Community College/ Arts Department, have a new collaboration of work for this two-person art exhibition at the Tombaugh Gallery. The concept of the show is the search for resonance between fiber arts, textile patterning and handprinted works on paper. Each artist, with her unique media, uses color, piecing, and some sort of binding whether thread or archival wheat paste. Each media also concerns itself with composition and visual appeal. And pattern, the raucous use of patterned materials is the dominant visual theme.
The tradition of printmaking harkens back to 15th century engraving and the invention of the printing press in Germany, as well as the 8th century workings of the hand pressed print in Japan. East and West, traditions more parallel than diverse.
Weaving and piecing of fabrics date to Neolithic times, before recorded history. With the advent of digital media, the mash up is overwhelming, the choices are formidable. Yet the archaic knowledge runs through the fingers of artists as they stitch, cut, and piece.
Here is a body of work from each of them, speaking their voices in solo songs as well as in harmonies.
Abby Osborne
Abby Osborne has been a lifelong artist. She creates using several mediums, including painting, drawing and fiber art. Her work combines multiple layers of patterns, symbolism and spirituality.
Abby has earned a BFA in painting from Arizona State University, a BA in ART/graphic design as well as an AS in computer graphics and a Masters in Learning Technologies from New Mexico State University. Abby is a Professor in the Arts Program at Doña Ana Community College.
Abby combines her love of color, textures, perspective and design through the healing spirituality process of quilting. She is inspired by nature and the pure beauty of color and shapes and places an emphasis of the tactile shared vision of spiritual solemnity. Each piece is an original design that is machine pieced and hand quilted. The art quilts and her paintings demonstrate her love to create.
Ouida Touchón
Ouida Touchón is a visual artist who spends most of her waking moments at the easel or the press. She has her BFA in painting from the Kansas City Art Institute, and her Masters of Art from the University of Missouri at Kansas City in studio arts. In addition, she has studied with mentors and distinguished printmakers and painters in Italy, Mexico, and the United States.
Her work hangs in the Federal Building of Las Cruces, the El Paso Museum of Art, and private collections throughout the west. She has taught printmaking and painting as well as mentored young artists in her community.
Her studio is a site for ongoing lessons in art that empower women to find their own creative voices through art making. Her book Morning Paintings has just been published by LuLu press and will be used in art therapy workshops taught by mental health professionals. Her studio is in an old home, in an historic pueblo.
The Tombaugh Gallery is located inside the Unitarian Universalist Church, 2000 South Solano Drive, Las Cruces, NM and is open Wednesday – Saturday 10 am – 2 pm.
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