The Brick City Gallery will feature the exhibit “Manifestations in Silver” by Aj Smith and Marjorie Williams-Smith until Nov. 12. The work showcases their talents in silverpoint, or metalpoint, using a metal stylus to deposit minute metal particles onto a white, or light value, ground.

Flowers that shimmer

Williams-Smith said she finds the ethereal qualities of silverpoint captivating.

“The metal shimmers and reflects light in a way that graphite cannot. I believe this adds subtle qualities to the flowers I draw,” she said in her artist statement.

Recently, she has explored the use of black acrylic gesso as a ground for images. A darker ground has added a new dimension to her work.

“Whereas silverpoint drawings on a white ground are meditative and ethereal, on black they are more pensive and introspect.”

Williams-Smith is an art professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She has been working with silverpoint since 1986, and her subject is often flowers.

 

 

Portraits that speak

Smith’s portraits add a haunting quality to the exhibit, their faces peering out from the frame.

“The drawings are more about establishing a communication link between the subject and myself,” he said in his artist statement. “I hope to present an honest depiction of my subject that reflects upon a suspended moment in time. … I hope that my portrait drawings remind the viewer of someone they know, have once known, or would like to get to know.”

Smith is an art professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. In addition to degrees in painting and printmaking, he is a master printer in fine art printmaking. He apprenticed five years with Robert Blackburn, a distinguished artist, art professor and founding Director of the Printmaking Workshop, Inc. in New York City.

Exhibition details

Date: Oct. 12-Nov. 12
Gallery hours: Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.; Saturday, Noon-5 p.m.; and by appointment
Location: Brick City Gallery, 215 West Mill Street
Admission: Free and open to the public