Two towering sets of paper cowboy pants, reaching from floor to ceiling, greet visitors walking through the doors of the Prichard Art Gallery.
The current exhibit, “Out of the Woods,” features monochromatic folded paper sculptures, Letraset stamps of all different sizes, sound-based exhibits and more.
Behind the cowboy pants are several smaller pairs of origami britches. The work, titled “Stand Off,” was created by conceptual artist Ted Kelchner.
A spread of abstract black designs stand stacked on the far wall. In front of the display are conceptual artist Andria Marcussen’s original stamps, used to print the artwork.
“For us, art shouldn’t be a billboard. Billboards are meant to leave you with no option to inform it. It doesn’t want you to think your own thought of it, it wants to tell you what you should think,” Marcussen said. “Art and poetry and stuff should do the opposite. It wants to communicate with you, it wants that dialogue to be an exchange.”
Kelchner and Marcussen were contacted by the director of the gallery, Roger Rowley, about putting up an exhibit in late May. About a month later, the exhibit was up and running, ready to open for the public.
“Normally for exhibits, we spend anywhere from a year to five years putting them together,” Rowley said. “This was put together in a month. So, given that kind development time to put something in the space, it’s pretty amazing.”
Kelchner and Marcussen had both already been working on the artwork currently displayed when Rowley reached out about a possible exhibit.
During the winter months, the pair were bored, looking for ways to entertain themselves. Marcussen found a paper folding book at the Potlatch Public Library and, after several tries without satisfactory results, she passed the book on to her husband. Kelchner then took a liking to the craft, he said. The library book eventually inspired the paper sculptures for the gallery.
While Kelchner busied himself with paper sculpture, Marcussen remembered she had a collection of transferable typeface lying around and decided to begin designing stamps to make prints. She was inspired by the pair’s recently combined stamp collection and her own designs.
Marcussen and Kelchner’s artwork is heavily influenced by daily life. The audio recordings set up in the second floor of the gallery reflect experiences like looking out the kitchen window or visiting the optometrist with a mysterious flair from Kelchner’s clarinet and flute, Marcussen said.
“Artists have that responsibility of really seeing themselves as the brain surgeons of culture, opening peoples’ minds. Not to pollute them, not to make them controversial or anything, but to promote thought and dialogue,” Marcussen said.
“Out of the Woods” is on display at the Prichard Art Gallery from June 26 to Sept. 5. A closing reception will be held 5-7 p.m. Sept. 4. Kelchner and Marcussen can be found at their website, confinementloaf.com.
Anteia McCollum can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @antxiam5