Elephants in the Room: Work by Sue Roberts and Natalie Niblack
"Elephants in the Room: Work by Sue Roberts and Natalie Niblack” features collaborative ceramic work by two Anacortes area artists that takes a wry look at dysfunctional families and politics.
When Sue Roberts and Natalie Niblack met, they discovered a common affinity for narrative, wry humor, and figurative works in clay. Their first collaborative exhibition, “Fun and Games” (Skagit Valley College Gallery, 2016) featured work that used toys as a way to talk about the vicissitudes and contradictions of human behavior. Sue’s two boys pointing at each other with toy guns and grins, and Natalie’s female figures whose turning heads mouth “I Hate You” or “I Love You”, created a sense of a funhouse occasionally sliding into the dark side. The current exhibit continues with the same sensibility of the absurd on the edge of laughter or tears. The collaborative pieces “Elephant in the Room” and “Flockers” set the tone for this exhibit. “Elephant in the Room” defines the dysfunctional family, with Natalie’s monolithic uncompromising elephant, and Sue’s hapless family, each in denial in their own way, excepting the youngest, who is pointing things out. “Flockers” follows up on Natalie’s big Trump head, created in 2016, and originally spewing Trump tweets, but now reprised by including an audience of his cultish flock of followers, created by both artists. The rest of the show consists of some older work and some new, some collaborative and some individual. Much of Natalie’s work was created during the last Trump administration, when there was so much material that deserved lampooning. Like “Flockers” there have been upgrades, for instance “Pelosi Two-Step” is now “Kamala Two-Step”, and the inclusion of Rupert Murdoch and Fox News into the mix (“Rupert”)is very deserving of an indictment. Natalie’s newer work such as “Sister/Owl” and “Mother/Church” go a little beyond dysfunctional families and also references the dichotomy between nature-centric and human-dominant viewpoints. Sue’s work is also taking a look at polarized ideologies in “Saving the Children”. She sees the irony of certain groups banning books from schools and libraries in order to protect kids from the books’ contents while kids have total access to anything and everything on their phones.
Sue is intrigued by how distracted humans have become with cell phones and social media and how it affects our daily interactions and relationships with one another. What was suppose to be a world made simpler through technology has also created a society filled with anxiousness and sense of isolation. “Mass Distraction” and “Play Ball” are an expression of these observations.
Traditionally seen as less refined than other media, clay allows for parody, humor, and topical commentary. Although the characters and subjects we depict may seem temporary and soon forgotten, we find that human behavior and misbehavior eternally reproduces itself. Some of these characters are distressingly familiar archetypes straight out of a dystopian tarot: the Narcissist, the Sycophant, the Holy man, or the heartless Judge. So to are the endless human conflicts in families and in politics: who is in power and why, and who is left behind.
Opening and Artist’s reception October 5, 2024, 2 to 5 PM. Show continues thru October 28, 2024
Sue Robert' Bio
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Sue Roberts received a BFA from the University of Kansas in 1983. She went on to study life modeling at the Art Students League in New York City, and bronze casting/metalwork in Central Florida.
Having worked in a variety of materials, including encaustic wax, wood, copper and rivited sheet metal, Sue’s main focus has always been sculpting and working in clay.
Roberts’ work is known for its humor and stimulating social commentary, and has been written about in articles in the Orlando Sentinel, Metalsmith Magazine, Seattle Times, as well as featured in 500 Figures in Clay (Lark Books), 100 Northwest Artists (Schaffer Publishing) and Embracing Encaustic (Hive Publishing).
Her work has been displayed in museum shows and galleries across the United States and in Japan, and is in numerous private collections throughout the country. In 2002 Roberts received an Andy Warhol Foundation artist residency grant at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina, and in 2012 was an Washington State Artists Trust Grants for Artist Project (GAP) recipient.
She currently maintains an art studio and residence on Guemes Island, Washington.
Natalie Niblack's Bio
Natalie Niblack is a visual artist working in a variety of media: drawing, oil painting, printmaking and ceramics. She lives on the Skagit River in a rural agricultural area surrounded by natural and man-made environments. From this viewpoint, she is able to observe seasonal cycles, as well as the pressures of conflicting demands on a fragile landscape. This environment of beauty, conflict and change has increasingly informed her artwork since moving to Skagit Valley in 2000.
Niblack taught visual art at Shoreline Community College for 20 years. She received her Master’s degree from Edinburgh College of Art in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1993, and has shown her work in solo and group shows internationally, nationally and regionally.
Works pictured may be currently available.
Purchase inquiries are welcome.
Rick Leonard Gallery represents some of the finest artists of the Pacific Northwest.