MACON, Ga. — The new art show at the 567 Center for Renewal is cute but also a little spooky for this October First Friday.
It's called Barnyard and Bones.
The show features glass and ceramic animal skulls by Fine Arts Director for the 567 Center Jamie Adams next to paintings of farm animals by Kelly Kernich.
Adams has been blowing glass for almost a decade. She says she has been working on her these skulls all year.
"For this series I wanted to get figurative and after practicing my first human head I realized I wasn't ready for that yet so I wanted to start with animal skulls," she said.
She says that she and Kernich collaborated during the creation process for this show.
"I think we both pushed ourselves especially when we saw each others work and color combinations to try new things and get together on a couple of our animals that we decided to showcase," she said.
This pairing of pieces can be seen in Adams' owl skull paired with Kernich's owl painting and her dog painting paired with Adams' dog skull.
Adams says she's been interested in the themes around remains and change.
"I like the idea of thinking about remains and changing scenery and changing environment. More than about just one object but an entire environment," she said.
But the show isn't about death as much as it is about life. Both artists tried to convey this through bright colors, floral imagery to give the show a whimsical energy.
"Rather than something being past, it's still a part of the present environment so there's still life inside of old skulls, they're still a whole ecosystem around it, it could be someone's house. The movement and the change of piece rather than thinking of what it used to be is a little bit of what I'm interested in exploring," Adams said.
She hopes people see the lighthearted relationships between the two mediums in the show.
"We use color and fun textures in our work to call to life, you know rather than death even in the skulls and just how life interacts with each other and changes," Adams said.
You can see Barnyard and Bones at the 567 Center for Renewal during October First Friday's opening reception from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. There will be light refreshments during the event.
The exhibit will be open until October 28.
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