The Big Paint: Works by Eileen Blyth and Laura Spong

The Goodall Gallery at Columbia College is pleased to open its 2014-2015 gallery season with an exhibition entitled, “The Big Paint” featuring large-scale mixed media paintings by Columbia based artists, Eileen Blyth and Laura Spong. An artists’ gallery talk will take place on Tuesday, September 2 beginning at 4:00 pm with a reception to follow until 6:00 pm in the Goodall Gallery of the Spears Center for the Arts. The exhibit opens August 22with works on display through October 13. The exhibition, gallery talk and reception are free and open to the public.

From the minuscule to the massive, and every size in between, artists are naturally sensitive to scale challenging their sensibilities in new and exciting ways. For Columbia based artists, Eileen Blyth and Laura Spong, this predisposition to size was no different. “I’ve always heard a man’s grasp should extend his reach,” Spong said; "That is what I was going for. I found it very exciting and challenging to do something I had never tried before and thought that even if I didn’t pull it off, I’d always be glad I tried.”
Artist Laura Spong begins work on a large canvas.Artist Laura Spong begins work on a large canvas.After sharing their desire to paint big, Blyth decided to take action on the notion of painting in the large. In 2013, Blyth and Spong partnered on a first-ever endeavor to create works that extended well beyond their current sizes in a project simply dubbed, The Big Paint. The artists rented The Vista Studio's gallery space and procured roughly the length of fifty feet of canvas at ten feet wide. With intentions, materials, and space in place, the two artists were equipped to explore this new territory of scale.

"The Big Red" by Laura Spong"The Big Red" by Laura SpongMotivated by the complexities and rigors of working so large, The Big Paint yielded inherent challenges that Blyth and Spong found at times, trying, but equally captivating, “Having to step back and literally see the big picture of this size was new to us,” said Blyth. “It is that moment of knowing, of seeing that shape or line, of finding the composition that is the exciting thing…. It was hard physical work but it was a challenge and we were addicted,” says Blyth. By the end of the project, Blyth and Spong had gained an invaluable creative experience that materialized new and exciting works representative of each artist’s abstract styles.

The Columbia College Goodall Gallery is located inside the Spears Center for the Arts at 1301 Columbia College Drive in downtown Columbia off of North Main Street. Gallery Hours are Monday through Friday from 10 am to 6 pm and Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 5 pm. For further information about exhibits please contact Jackie Adams at (803) 786-3899 or visit www.columbiasc.edu/goodallgallery.