VISUAL ARTS + MUSEUMS

Archway Gallery presents Body, Surface, Signs, featuring new work from potter Albert Goldreich and painter Becky Soria. The exhibition will be on display from January 2 – February 3, 2011. The artists will be on hand to visit with guests firsthand during the exhibition opening reception on Saturday, January 8 from 5 – 8 pm at the gallery, with an artists’ talk at 5:30 pm. Light refreshments by Hungry’s Café and wine will be served.

Albert Goldreich, an Archway member artist, brings to life in all new pieces a remarkable combination of vivid, textured designs, overlaid with unusual techniques of glaze application. Goldreich approaches each piece as an individual work of art. His passion for the craft takes shape in the Body, Surface and Signs evident in each one-of-a-kind piece exemplifying the creative heart and soul of this extraordinary craftsman.

Goldreich’s fascination for clay began back in 1975, while living in South Africa and studying with well-known South African potter, Digby Hoets. Goldreich immigrated to the United States in 1981 and in March 2005 his love for pottery became a fulltime profession. Whether creating by hand or using the potter's wheel his unique designs reflect not only his South African heritage, but encompass contemporary, universal appeal, being both functional and decorative.

“The fact that the clay can be manipulated by throwing on the potter’s wheel, pinched, cut, coiled, slabbed, textured and joined is especially appealing to me,” Goldreich said. “After more than 30 years, I still find pottery to be a never-ending challenge as I constantly attempt new ideas, driven by my passion for this craft.”

An interesting fact about Goldreich - he holds the world record of 18 hours and 3 minutes for "continuous throwing on the potter’s wheel by one person" beating the previous record by one hour as published in the book "Believe the Unbelievable" (formerly "The Book of Alternative Records.")

Guest artist Becky Soria selected a group of works with diverse abstract female and male figures, as well as a few small paintings from her collection of works with a “primitive approach.” Body, Surface, Signs are evident in Soria’s works demonstrating with each painting her intense search for meanings.

Her background in biology and the sciences influence the subject matter of her paintings. Her paintings tend to be impressionistic, but abstracted images, at first glance one can perceive surreal allusions and nuances combined with conceptual references; these images often suggest growth, change and mutation. She seeks to depict these ideas, not as objective realities, but rather as subjective responses to her reality tunnels.

Soria engages the viewer with a variety of human being’s narratives visually articulated, not so much by abstracted forms of the body, as by primeval elemental forms - a materia originalis - of dense, rich color and complex textures that churn human and animal flesh. Yet that very density, like the illusoriness one reads in a painting, appears as not so real. Like the figures in her images, these forms are constantly being dissolved and reformed, brought to a rebirth and dying every instant. Slowly, Soria explores her own visual language, a language called into being by her own experiences.

Soria was born in Bolivia, South America and grew up in an art conducive environment, where from an early age, she was exposed to classical music, visual arts and ballet/choreography. She later pursued her love for the arts in studios of South American artists. Soria continued her studies at the Glassell School of Art in Houston shortly after her move to the US. Houston proved to be a fertile ground for her artistic career, where she has been showing her works in many galleries and different venues in the US as well as Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Canada and South America.

ABOUT ARCHWAY GALLERY
Archway Gallery, one of Houston’s and the nation’s oldest artist owned and operated galleries, is located at 2305 Dunlavy and is open Monday – Saturday from 10 am – 6 pm and Sunday from 1 – 5 pm. Since 1976, Archway Gallery has been exhibiting the work of the area’s finest artists, providing a great selection of affordable, high quality art including sculpture, pottery and painting in a variety of media and styles. Artists are always on site, offering visitors a unique experience to meet the artist who created the work, offering a personal insight about the process behind their creativity. The gallery offers a “Tea and Tour” program, providing visitors with a free artist-led tour of the current exhibition, followed by tea and

refreshments. In addition to monthly exhibitions, Archway also hosts a variety of demonstrations and monthly readings for local writers and authors. With 30 artist-members, Archway Gallery is THE destination in the Houston area for art. For more information, visit ArchwayGallery.com or call 713.522.2409. Become a fan on Facebook.

Pictured above:  detail Journey, Becky Soria, 2010.