PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 07, 2021
Contact: Joy Reed Belt
405.528.6336
gallery@jrbartgallery.com
www.jrbartgallery.com
EVENTS
Exhibition Opening
Friday, May 7, 2021, 5 – 8 pm
JRB Art at The Elms Presents
Beth Hammack: “Drawing on Walls”
Sheridan Conrad and Tracey Bewley: “Our Secret World of Insects”
OKLAHOMA CITY – Springtime brings flowers, trees, storms, warmer weather, and, most importantly, new beginnings. JRB Art at The Elms is embracing the new beginnings of 2021 with the opening of the colorful abstract canvases of Beth Hammack and the metal and glass insects of Sheridan Conrad and Tracey Bewley. This exhibition, running from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., will be the silver lining to the grey, turbulent spring Oklahoma has experienced thus far.
Celebrated Oklahoma artist, Beth Hammack’s thirteenth consecutive annual solo exhibition at JRB Art at The Elms in The Paseo Arts District will open on May 7, 2021. This highly anticipated show, “Drawing on Walls,” will feature several of Beth’s large scale statement paintings, as well as a new body of smaller more intimate paintings. Beth, who graduated with a degree in mathematics from the University of Oklahoma has studied at the London City School of Arts and the Chicago Art Institute as well receiving private instruction from artists of national and international prominence. Beth says of her practice, “I paint with freedom and abandon creating colorful textural surprises, disguised symbols, and barely legible writing….combined into purposeful abstraction. The title of the show, “Drawing on the Walls,” comes from the importance of drawing in each composition. In speaking about Beth’s work, Joy Reed Belt, Director of JRB Art at The Elms reminds us that “Beth’s paintings are poetic in nature as they tend to be very expressive and use imagery and rhythm to convey emotion. Her affinity for color as well as her lifelong interest in jewelry and interior design are skillfully incorporated into each painting,” says Belt.
Belt continues by stating, “We are excited to show Beth’s work in conjunction with a separate collaborative exhibition of jeweler, Sheridan Conrad, and glass and metal artist
Tracy Bewley, entitled, ‘Our Secret World of Insects.’ The pieces featured in this exhibition are primarily wearable works of art and one-of-a-kind designs combining insects, leaves, twigs, and other metals and gemstones.” It is the artists’ hope that these extraordinary pieces will remind the viewer and the wearer of the fragility and balance of nature and how essential insects are to humanity by producing essential products such as wax, honey, and silk. Sheridan Conrad became interested in jewelry making at an early age, eventually leading her to enter the undergraduate program in art at the University of Arkansas. Sheridan worked as a designer and bench jeweler for several companies and then created her own company in Oklahoma, A Jeweler’s Art in 1998. She went back to college and earned her Master’s degree in Education and her National Board certification. She opened a studio/jewelry gallery in the historic Paseo Arts District in Oklahoma City in 2009. She continued to focus on custom work and taught a number of jewelry classes while representing local and national contemporary jewelers in her studio/gallery.
In the summer of 2017, Sheridan traveled to Italy to study from Italian masters the ancient technique called chasing and repousse. Her creative urges stimulated, upon returning she decided to close her gallery and focus on her own designs. She works full time in her studio making jewelry and objects of art.
Tracey Bewley, a native Oklahoman, received her Associates degree in Art and Design from OCCC. She went on from there to OCU and graduated with a BFA and a minor in Museum Studies. In 1995, Tracey started her designing career at MTM Recognition. Tracey worked as a graphic and product designer and worked up to managing their custom design division where most of their high-profile awards are created including awards for NASCAR, College Bowl Game awards, and corporate awards for large accounts such as Sonic, McDonalds, and Merril Lynch, to name a few. She worked there for 22 years before quitting to take on full time management of Art Fusion, the gallery and studio that she and her husband own. Tracey has explored many artistic mediums such as illustrating, painting, sculpting, photography, stained glass, and now has focused primarily on fused glass and mixed media pieces for over 19 years. Tracey’s fused glass, along with custom furniture and other artistic creations, has been shown in multiple OKC galleries and festivals throughout the region. She has also been in many juried and invitational art exhibitions.