Exhibition text:

Heather Baumbach and Tracy Hayes combine their visual languages in a gestural interplay of their works for this initial installation. An extension of a shared interest in the embodied as guide to resultant imagery, dictated by the need of the body and of the hand, works emerge as lattice-like, structural, and above all, governed by an internal ordering logic. Lilting and intertwining, shapes expand and contract over and again as they seemingly gather strength from within and gain ground, tentatively at first and then with increasing speed.

Open sight lines juxtaposed with partially veiled perspectives-between walls and around corners, creates an interior that is felt but not seen in the layered works. The deliberate withholding alludes to within, below and behind. “though” purposefully ambiguous, raises the questions- What are we barred from? Where are the access points?

"With an interplay so consistent in color and texture it's hard to believe the works presented in though entry is barred was done by two artists. Baumbach's forms mixed with Hayes's mark making creates a stunning explosion of color that must be seen in person. Traditional mark making, no matter how dynamic the work, is always confined to the boundaries of canvas or paper. Hayes's installation-based hanging gives her work dimension and value that is typically not seen, adding to the fact that she is using a form as historical as a scroll. Then on top of that you place Baumbach's forms of textile netting and formed dyed fabrics and the work comes alive. It is rare to see two different personalities acting in such unified harmony that only elevates each other's strong bodies of work. It is an honor to host such a show at the Gadsden Museum of Art."

Ray Wetzel, Director/Curator, Gadsden Museum of Art

Standing still directly in front of this work, it is hard to discern where the paper ends and fiber begins, the figure/ground relationship only fully reveals itself as the viewer moves around the work.

Obliteration Scrolls emerged initially as a response to unlimited access to material and indulging in a working preference of drawing in intimate settings, which morphed into an interest in the fickle nature of language and story. How ‘obliteration’ might present visually became a recurring thought, operating from the framework of: “is it everything? Or ...nothing?” Baumbach’s void alongside Obliteration Scrolls complicates the debate, adding the layer of form to the conversation of space and time, as the negative space of one manifests into literal void in the other.