One Thing Leads to Another
April 3 – June 2, 2014 @ Macky

In One Thing Leads to Another, Gayle Crites has conjoined the ancient and present. Her mixed media works utilize materials from indigenous cultures personally collected over the past seven years. Crites has painstakingly flattened, stretched, dyed, and bordered Amate paper from Mexico, tapa bark from Tonga, and siapo bark from Samoa. She then paints on these “canvases” with saturated washes. Crites further embellishes these works with intricate and delicately wrought fine line drawings and calligraphic marks applied with Japanese brushes and Sumi inks. The encoded meanings in her works encompass universal symbols. Infinity signs, broken circles and knotted ropes reflect the fragility of our interconnectedness amidst tangled and disjointed circumstances.

In her artwork, Crites uses culturally laden organic materials extant for thousands of years, and now facing potential obsolescence, in order to highlight the necessity for conscious inquiry. She conveys the message that we must recognize consequences of our disregard, protect our limited natural resources, and interact responsibly with nature and culture to maintain equilibrium. Through her work, Crites asserts that only enhanced global awareness and heightened individual compassion will allow our planet to thrive.

Gayle Crites was born in Denver and currently lives in Golden, Colorado. Formerly a representational and plein air painter and teacher, she has exhibited nationally and internationally. She is represented by Chiaroscuro Gallery in Santa Fe and Goodwin Fine Art in Denver.

Guest curated by Joan Markowitz

BMoCA at Macky is an off-site exhibition series presented in collaboration with Macky Auditorium Concert Hall, University of Colorado Boulder.