Valley of the Zapoteca: New Work by Elizabeth Guipe Hall
Where: Harrison Gallery, Harrison Center for the Arts
1505 N. Delaware St., Indianapolis
When: May 2011
Opening reception: 6 to 10 p.m. Friday, May 6 (First Friday open-studio night)
Contact: www.elizabethguipehall.com, (317) 371-5240
www.harrisoncenter.org, (317) 396-3886
What is encaustic? Watch a video of the artist at work.
Southern Mexico’s dramatic landscape and vibrant blend of cultures are the inspiration for a new exhibition opening May 6 at the Harrison Center for the Arts.
Valley of the Zapoteca: New Work by Elizabeth Guipe Hall finds the Indianapolis-based artist applying her signature encaustic-collage technique to photographic images from a 2010 excursion to the Mexican state of Oaxaca.
Supported by a Lilly Endowment fellowship, Hall spent six weeks touring and shooting photos in and around the Valley of Oaxaca, where the northern and southern chains of the Sierra Madre mountains converge. The valley is the homeland of the Zapotec people, who ruled much of Mexico before being subjugated by the Aztecs and later the Spanish.
Modern-day Oaxaca City was founded at the mile-high site of Zapotec capital Monte Alban, or Danni Dipaa, said to have been the first metropolis of the Americas, with a population as high as 40,000 circa 500 A.D. The downtown is still dominated by cathedrals and other colonial architecture dating as early as the 16th century. The hills outside the city are home to the remaining Zapotec people, traditional weavers and woodcarvers who in some cases still speak their ancient indigenous language.
Hall’s medium, encaustic, is the centuries-old technique of applying molten beeswax to a surface and fusing successive layers together with heat and flame. She uses the wax as paint, adhesive and sealant, composing in three dimensions as she juxtaposes collage elements that include original photographs, found images, textiles and handmade papers. A full-time high school art teacher and mother of two, Hall holds a Master of Arts from the University of Indianapolis Department of Art & Design, where she also serves as an instructor.
The May 6 opening reception is part of a quarterly all-ages open-studio night at the Harrison Center, 1505 N. Delaware St., in conjunction with the Indianapolis Downtown Artists and Dealers Association’s monthly First Friday Art Tour. Aside from Hall’s exhibition in the main gallery, other attractions at the Harrison that evening will include:
- Hurried on by an Irresistible Force: Paintings by Susan Hodgin in Gallery No. 2
- Collage/mixed-media artist Hector del Campo in Hank & Dolly’s Gallery
