NEW: MARIE RINGWALD
by Kevin Mellema
Falls Church News Press
March 13, 2008
Through April 5 at Gallery Neptune (4901 Cordell Ave., Bethesda, Md.). Gallery Hours: Wednesday through Saturday, noon - 7 p.m., or by appointment. Call 301-718-0809, or see www.galleryneptune.com for more information.
Open for Bethesda Art Walk Friday, March 14, 6 - 9 p.m. Artists Talk event will be held April 5 at 5 p.m. Note: Gallery will be closed March 26 through 29.
Ringwald taught at the Corcoran School of Art and Design for 27 years. Having left academia for the studio, she now concentrates full time on her own art work.
Ringwald's current works could best be described as architectonic assemblages. At times encompassing the full structure(s), at other times offering snippets both literal and abstract. Her vernacular ad hoc structures are hardly the icy hard-edged forms you'd expect from a fan of minimalism. These are more akin to the High Touch school of thought. Here we find textural materials assembled in a hand-hewn fashion that invites adjectives such as quaint, warm, friendly and inviting.
While the full and partial structures are quite nice, her most captivating works seem to be the nearly total abstract assemblages made up of these irregularly hewn materials. These works remind one of Chinese jigsaw puzzles. The interlocking irregular materials captivate the mind and eye. To be sure it's entertaining and accessible work.