September 9 through October 30, 2005

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The Offering, acrylic collage, 46 x 32, by Gretchen Nass

The Ormond Memorial Art Museum is pleased to present the works of artists Kitty Hubbard and Gretchen Nass.  The exhibition, entitled "Blurring the Boundaries," will open for private preview September 9, 2005 from 6:00pm to 8:00pm, and remains open to the public from September 10, 2005 through October 23, 2005.

Kitty Hubbard received her BA in studio art from Guilford College of Greensboro, NC and her MFA in Visual Studies at SUNY Brockport where she currently is serving as a professor in the Art Department of the State University of New York College at Brockport.  Beginning as a photographer, her work has grown to include digital media, installations, artist books and sculpture.  She has participated in over 65 exhibitions nationally and internationally and has received numerous grants including Artist Project Grants funded by the NEA, The Rockefeller Foundation and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

For this project, Hubbard brings her digital photographs, which she makes from her flatbed scanner.  She arranges pressed flower petals on the glass (many which she collected on a recent visit to the Ormond Memorial Gardens specifically for this exhibition) and scans them.  They are then exploded exponentially and enhanced to reveal an almost ephemeral quality.  The resulting images look so realistic that one gallery had to post signs instructing visitors not to touch the exhibits.  Her series of digital images born digital derives it's name from a term used in Information Technology for images that are native to the digital environment.  The subject of what is art and what is technology is an ongoing, spirited discussion within the art community, with debate over the artistic etiology of computer related images.  With a glance at the splendor of Hubbard's series, it is impossible not to acknowledge the artistry of her methods.  The selection of subject matter viewed with such intimate examination offers an unspoken suggestion of life examined and valued.  Through this micro view of our environment, there is an inherent preciousness in the care of objects she incorporates which spills over into a common psyche regarding our shared space and experience.  One cannot dismiss celebrating life in the presence of Kitty Hubbard's work.

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Accompanying artist Gretchen Nass, a Signature Member of the National Watercolor Society is a well known New Smyrna Beach artist. Self described as not "far out" but experimental, Nass's work has evolved from realism to non-representational. "I paint abstractly, perhaps what might be called Blurring the Boundaries.  It makes me feel comfortable, expressive; one with the materials and forms.  Accident enlivens the surface.  Abstract art allows the viewer a personal interpretation.  I was a watercolor realist; sophisticated washes and accurate depiction of the subject.  I feel I have grown into abstract naturally."

Nass employs acrylic in her current collection, achieving a myriad of effects, sometimes collaged with organic and found objects.  Even in the absence of realistic subject, in a compelling way Nass's canvases evoke a similar reaction to that of Hubbard's. A celebration of the organic which seems connected to a larger thought. From a purely visual standpoint, the two collections are exquisite together.