In the Company Of

In the Company of

Art & Light Gallery is happy to present “In The Company Of”, a two-person exhibition of work by Western North Carolina artists Beth Elliott (Asheville, N.C.) and Rachael Van Dyke (Boone, N.C.) launching on the Art & Light website and in the gallery at 10am (EST) on Tuesday, December 3 with an opening reception on Friday, December 6 from 6:00 - 8:00 PM.  “In the Company Of” is a two-person exhibition that explores the interplay between the figurative and the abstract. Through organic biomorphic vessels and naïve gestural paintings this collaborative show playfully considers the relationships and the responses we have with the objects and people that surround us. Beth Elliott reduces the vessel and its surface design to simple, modest, representational forms, the surfaces of which outline internal stories and landscapes. Rachael Van Dyke’s bold, colorful still lifes and quirky, narrative portraits speak to the human need for companionship, belonging and natural beauty. 

Beth Elliott’s formal education is in biochemistry and landscape architecture. Her research in biochemistry focused on the microscopic architecture inside cells that spatially organizes and directs motility. Her education in visual art further investigates spatially important juxtapositions of form and function. Elliott’s study of art has developed through self teaching, intuitive exploration and study of design for over twenty years. All of these educational foundations heavily influence her work in clay and in sculpture, but her art is intentionally directed away from the precision that both science and architecture require. To have the freedom to create with abandon and explore with unfettered curiosity is essential to Elliott’s artwork. Her work is often functional, while also exploring form and gesture in line work and figure in both clay and mixed media.

Rachael Van Dyke is a full-time artist creating abstract landscape and figurative work inspired by living off the grid in the Blue Ridge mountains and traveling abroad. Van Dyke is an avid artist-in-residence and has participated in national and international residencies. These residencies create new boundaries for her work and encourage an alteration of technique and expression. Being open to a new color palette or a new visual language to express the land and culture is necessary. Each body of work is influenced by place and tells a story of the people and land that she’s encountered.