Art show extended due to response

Upon entering the unobtrusive brick Fell Building, home to Bloomington Clay Studio, several tables stood in a large, open space.

Sawdust was sprinkled on the floor. The smell of carpentry permeated the air. 

Work from artists featured in the fourth annual “Devotion” group art show hung on walls, stood in the middle of the room and played on a flat-screen TV.

Though traditionally a one-night event, the show was extended for two more weeks due to positive feedback, according to a press release by event coordinator Jeremy Sweet.

The first room, set up for work, did not detract from the array of artwork featured in the room adjacent to it.

Positioned in the middle of the room facing the doorway, an enormous hyena with no eyes stared menacingly at whoever entered.

Artist A.J. Baker made the hyena using mixed media, according to the information tablet.

“Six Foot One Inch,” also made using mixed media by artist Daniel Evans, is the upper body and head of a man.

A round orb-like feature was attached to the man’s back left shoulder.

Paintings from several different artists hung on the walls. A series of three paintings by Jereme Galloway hung on the wall immediately to the left of the entry. White backgrounds made frightening images doused with blood stand out for this artist’s work.

Hanging from the rafters at the opposite end of the room, a large canvas with a camouflaged jet shooting across it moved slightly as the wind from the air conditioning unit whirred throughout the room.

“You People Feelin’ Free,” emblazoned on the right-hand corner of the canvas, was symbolically colored red, white and blue.

The other side featured a large, futuristic war machine.

Ten white, shiny tanks lined a white platform beneath the tasseled canvas. One gold tank sat facing them all at the end. This piece was created by Chris Dacre.

Artist Katie Hayden created necklaces, a ring, brooch and bolo tie using medical supplies, sterling silver, copper and other mediums. All of these pieces made up Hayden’s Endocarditis series. 

A circle of red strings held a curved piece of black Styrofoam, created by Ben Cirgin.

On one end of the main piece sat a smaller piece of Styrofoam. A ball of white wire sat on the other. A tangled weave of gray, black and red wire lay trapped in the middle.

“Tardy for the Party” and “Fortunes from Beyond,” paintings by Caleb Weintraub, demanded attention with a mesmerizing palate of colors.

Both paintings featured skeletons — one a bride, the other a fortune teller. The bright swirls of paint made it look as if each one has just been painted and is still wet.

In a small room in the back, artist Betsy Stirrat’s work with beeswax sits near the doorway.

Made using cotton cord and thread, two objects resembling a human brain were placed on pedestals in the back of that room. Marla Roddy created the pieces, titled “Loss III” and “Loss IV.”

On a large, Panasonic flat-screen, creatures made from food lurched, snapping and biting, out of a sea of whizzing buildings. Catherine Chi used animation to create this piece, “The Law of the Jungle.”

From paintings and animation to beeswax structures and cloth brains, a diverse spectrum of work by several different artists is shown in “Devotion.”

The seemingly normal brick building on Fourth Street hides a treasure trove of art beneath its rafters.

The show, which began Nov. 2, will be featured through Saturday.

— Makenzie Holland