Lee Hall - Captiva and Rome Wall Series

LEE HALL Captiva and Rome Wall Series

I did the Rome Wall collages while at the American Academy in Rome. For me, Rome is the most beautiful city in the world, opposite in noise and hustle from the serenity of Civitella, but equally alive with imagery and mystery. In Rome, the present, even intimations of the future, and the many layers of the past live in harmony. The walls are enchanting and sometimes heartbreaking. There are no emotionally neutral surfaces in Rome. A wall pocked by bullets from a WWII slaughter, a Medieval fresco fragment in an out of the way church, ancient graffiti in the Forum, the cracks and blisters and peeling plaster and paint on doors, the worn walls of houses, buildings, archaeological remains, aqueducts, churches inside and out--I accept with deepest gratitude all of the visual gifts Rome offers. Being thankful, I want to praise Rome’s walls. I want never to let them fade in my imagination. I make collages. T he Captiva collages were not made while there, but were found in tranquil recollection in my studio after a visit to Captiva to escape briefly the Massachusetts winter and to see birds. I found a flat world, Captiva, where even the light seems to appear in flat vertical sheets, one after another, all the way to the horizon; the landscape unfolds in flatness that often obscures scale. Roaming mentally the planes, vegetation, shifting light and shadows of Captiva, I wanted to praise that unfamiliar visual world. When I returned to my studio, I sorted through the images stored in imagination. I wanted to understand as fully as possible what I had seen. I wanted to write thank-you collages. I use several kinds of paper and fabric which I paint (not find); I tear or cut with a razor blade; I use a flexible polymer glue. I try to work so that I’m not burdened with false notions of freedom. That is, I try to find constraints in nature, not freedom, and work toward intensification, clarification, perhaps simplification of reality, which, of course, is abstract.

Lee Hall

Cover: CAPTIVA-NIGHT-SHADOWS 2015 Mixed Media Collage on Canvasboard 8 x 10 inches

LEE HALL Capt i va and Rome Wa l l Se r i e s

September 12 - October 31, 2015

625 South Sharon Amity Road Charlotte, NC 28211 704.365.3000 gallery@jeraldmelberg.com www.jeraldmelberg.com

C a p t i v a

ARC OF THE REDDISH HERON 2015 Mixed Media Collage on Canvasboard 8 x 10 inches

CAPTIVA-BEACH ROOTS 2015 Mixed Media Collage on Canvasboard 8 x 10 inches

CAPTIVA-AFTERNOON EDGES 2015 Mixed Media Collage on Canvasboard 8 x 10 inches

CAPTIVA-DUSK AFTER STORM 2015 Mixed Media Collage on Canvasboard 8 x 10 inches

CAPTIVA-LIGHTHOUSE BEACH 2015 Mixed Media Collage on Canvasboard 8 x 10 inches

CAPTIVA-DUSK SHORE 2015 Mixed Media Collage on Canvasboard 8 x 10 inches

CAPTIVA-MORNING WALK 2015 Mixed Media Collage on Canvasboard 8 x 10 inches

CAPTIVA-SHORE FOR WILLETS 2015 Mixed Media Collage on Canvasboard 8 x 10 inches

CAPTIVA-NIGHT-WINTER 2015 Mixed Media Collage on Canvasboard 8 x 10 inches

CAPTIVA-RAIN-SWAMP 2015 Mixed Media Collage on Canvasboard 8 x 10 inches

CAPTIVA-STORM EDGES 2015 Mixed Media Collage on Canvasboard 8 x 10 inches

CAPTIVA-WINTER MORNING 2015 Mixed Media Collage on Canvasboard 8 x 10 inches

CAPTIVA-WINTER NIGHT RAIN 2015 Mixed Media Collage on Canvasboard 8 x 10 inches

MANGROVE HORIZON 2015 Mixed Media Collage on Canvasboard 8 x 10 inches

R o m e

ROME WALL STUDIES 1 2010 Collage on Paper 10 1/2 x 7 1/4 inches

ROME WALL STUDIES 2 2010 Collage on Paper 10 1/4 x 7 1/2 inches

ROME WALL STUDIES 3 2010 Collage on Paper 10 x 7 3/8 inches

ROME WALL STUDIES 4 2010 Collage on Paper 10 3/8 x 7 1/8 inches

ROME WALL STUDY 5 2010 Collage on Paper 10 3/4 x 7 1/8 inches

ROME WALL STUDY 12 2010 Collage on Paper 10 1/4 x 7 1/2 inches

ROME WALL STUDY 17 2010 Collage on Paper 10 3/4 x 7 inches

ROME WALL STUDY 14 2010 Collage on Paper 10 1/2 x 7 1/4 inches

ROME WALL STUDY 15 2010 Collage on Paper 10 1/4 x 7 3/8 inches

ROME WALL STUDY 16 2010 Collage on Paper 10 1/2 x 7 3/8 inches

ROME WALL STUDY 18 2010 Collage on Paper 10 1/4 x 7 1/2 inches

ROME WALL STUDY 19 2010 Collage on Paper 10 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches

ROME WALL STUDY 20 2010 Collage on Paper 10 1/4 x 7 3/8 inches

ROME WALL STUDY 22 2010 Collage on Paper 10 5/8 x 7 1/2 inches

ROME WALL STUDY 23 2010 Collage on Paper 10 5/8 x 7 1/4 inches

ROME WALL STUDY 24 2010 Collage on Paper 10 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches

ROME WALL STUDY 25 2010 Collage on Paper 10 1/2 x 7 1/4 inches

ROME WALL STUDY 28 2010 Collage on Paper 10 3/8 x 7 1/4 inches

L E E HA L L b. 1934, Lexington, NC

1967-70 1965-67 1958-65

Associate Professor, Drew University, Madison, NJ Assistant Professor, Drew University, Madison, NJ New York State University College at Potsdam, Potsdam, NY; Keuka College, Keuka Park, NY; and Winthrop College, Rock Hill, SC SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS Jerald Melberg Gallery, Charlotte, NC Jerald Melberg Gallery, Charlotte, NC Fairweather-Hardin Gallery, Chicago, IL Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, NY Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, NY Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, NY Benson Gallery, Kansas City, MO Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, NY Woods-Gerry Gallery, Rhode Island School

EDUCATION PhD, New York University MA, New York University BFA, the Woman’s College of North Carolina (now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro) AWARDS Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts, University of North Carolina at Greensboro Childe Hassam Purchase Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters Athena Medal, Rhode Island School of Design TEACHING Senior Vice President, Director of Arts and Communications, Academy for Educational Development, New York City President, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI Dean of Visual Arts, the State University of New York at Purchase Professor of Art, Chair of Art Department, Drew University, NJ; Consultant for the National Endowment for the Humanities

1965 1958 1955

2015 2013 1981 1979 1977 1976

1976

1978

1983

1975

1983-92

of Design, Providence, RI Drew College, Madison, NJ Drew College, Madison, NJ

1974 1972 1969 1966 1962

1975-83

1974-75

Ruth White Gallery, New York, NY Davidson College, Davidson, NC Keuka College, Keuka Park, NY

1970-74

1961

East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN Keuka College, Keuka Park, NY University of Oregon, Eugene, OR Ruth White Gallery, New York, NY Forum Gallery, New York, NY SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS Jerald Melberg Gallery, Charlotte, NC Jerald Melberg Gallery, Charlotte, NC University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC The Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Ogunquit, MN Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, NY Woods-Gerry Gallery, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY Brainerd Hall Art Gallery, State University College, Potsdam, NY

1973 1962

Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, NY Winston-Salem Gallery of Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC Winston-Salem Gallery of Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC New York University, New York, NY Winston-Salem Gallery of Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC New York University, New York, NY New York University, New York, NY University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC SELECTED COLLECTIONS Chase Manhattan Bank, New York, NY Citibank, New York, NY Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, SC Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ Newark Museum, Newark, NJ New York University, New York, NY Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC

1960 1959-60 1958

1960

1958

2014 2013 2012

1957 1956 1954-55

2006

1995

1978

1976

Indianapolis Museum, Indianapolis, IN Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, NY Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, NY

1975 1974

625 South Sharon Amity Road Charlotte, NC 28211 704.365.3000 gallery@jeraldmelberg.com www.jeraldmelberg.com