InLiquid at the Bride Series presents
Exhibit 3

Mixed Media works by

Lorraine Glessner
Nathan Haenlein
Allen Spencer and Deborah Imler
Sue White

February 3 - March 18, 2006

First Friday receptions: February 3, and March 3, 5-7 pm

Painted Bride Café Gallery
230 Vine Street, Philadelphia
Click here for directions

Gallery Hours: Tuesday - Saturday, 12 - 6 pm

Exhibit 3, the third in a series of offsite exhibitions, offers the public an opportunity to view firsthand work from selected InLiquid members' online portfolios. The focus of this exhibition is to look at a group of artists that incorporate a variety of materials into each of their works. Ranging from the organic to the synthetic, the chosen materials act as a means to broaden the artists' visual vocabulary, resulting in works that are as unique in process as they are in concept.

Lorraine Glessner’s process of incorporating found objects as tools for mark-making and composting fabrics as under paintings for her encaustic works seems fitting for an artist whose interest lies in the interconnectedness of nature and themes of universality. Layered with encaustic and buffed by the artist's hand, the surfaces of Glessner's work act as a seal to a history of fragmented marks and images that fall in and out of the viewers focus, reminiscent of the way one might recall an event from memory. Glessner received her MFA from Tyler School of Art. Her work has been shown nationally, and in Philadelphia at Tyler School of Art, The DaVinci Art Alliance, Woodmere Art Museum and Silicon Gallery. She lives and works in Philadelphia.

Nathan Haenlein draws the viewer in to his work by creating luxurious surfaces over wood panels. Described by the artist as a form of printmaking, Haenlein carves computer-generated images into layers of glossy resin and by rubbing the marks with an oil-based pigment, produces clean machine-like designs reminiscent of Spirograph drawings. The beauty of the surfaces and decorative imagery satisfy the artist’s interest in consumerism and capitalist ideologies. Haenlein received his MFA from the School of Art and Art History, The University of Iowa. Haenlein is the recipient of numerous grants and fellowships and his work is in a number of public collections. His exhibitions include Crosspollination, Museum of Contemporary Art, Santa Rosa, CA; Draw-Drawing : International Drawing Biennale, Gallery 32 and Brazilian Embassy, London, England; Third International Masters Exhibition, National Palace of Art, Minsk, Belarus; and Contemporary American Printmakers J.A.V., Lithuanian Graphic Center, Vilnius, Lithuania. The artist lives and works in California.

Allen Spencer and Deborah Imler work as a team, and have done for nearly 30 years. The artwork the two of them have worked on together has resulted in a substantial body of work that is surprisingly cohesive, making it difficult to see where one artist stopped, and the other began. Process is particularly relevant in the included works entitled Persian Flaw, where the artists intentionally break the pattern in a repetitious series of photo-assemblages on board. The resulting works, which pay homage to the idea that only God can make something perfect, draw their practice and title, from traditional craftsman and rug makers. The team’s brief exhibition history has already brought them a number of awards including the Jurors Award, Works on Paper, Perkins Center for the Arts; the Adam Spandorfer Memorial Award and Albert Schultz Memorial Award, MCGOPA Mixed Media Exhibition; and the Yvonne M. Kelly Memorial Prize for Mixed Media, Woodmere Museum 65th Juried Exhibition. Allen Spencer and Deborah Imler live and work in Philadelphia.

Susan White’s selected works incorporate one of the artist’s favorite things, old books. Drawn to the covers, and end pages, the artist uses the original patterns and designs as a starting point or catalyst to explore her own work. Rooted in imagination and a sense of wonder, synonymous with why one might be attracted to books themselves, White’s images, loosely based on topography, are personal and private and communicate through a combination of drawing, printmaking, and paper-making, the artist’s innate passion for exploration.