WAMA- Motion Detection: The Visual Rhythms of Walter Anderson May 1

Motion Detection:
The Visual Rhythms of Walter Anderson
May 1 - August 3, 1998

School Yard - Water Color on Paper c. 1955

"The sun slowly rises, getting hot and close, clouds form in the North...
then the wind clears things off and everything dances."
-- Walter Anderson

Welcome to "Motion Detection", the current exhibition here at the Walter Anderson Museum of Art. "Motion Detection" provides an innovative presentation of the visual and performing arts as twin elements in the continuum of creative exposition. Featuring the work of two Mississippi artists. Walter Anderson and James Seawright, the exhibition explores the elements of space, time, and energy as components in dance and movement and in painting, drawing and sculpting. Reinforcing the theme of this exhibit, the Museum is presenting two special ArtForms performances by two Mississippi native artists. The internationally renowned Mimi Garrard Dance Theatre and acclaimed Leif Anderson & Company will enlighten and delight audiences with energetic performances at the Ocean Springs Civic Center in May and July.

Rima by Walter Anderson
Rima - Ceramic c. 1935
On loan from Shearwater Pottery

The role that movement plays in the work of these two artists provides an interesting commentary on visual perception. How is motion perceived and indicated on a two-dimensional surface? How does one describe an object that moves consistently yet never leaves a given area?
Jimmy by Walter Anderson
Jimmy - Watercolor on paper
c. 1952

Anderson’s work possesses the strong element of fluidity and a well-defined spatial sense which is coupled with his remarkable use of the voluminous line. The watercolor of a young boy, entitled Jimmy, exhibits a deliberate shift as he swings his arm and his body pivots toward the viewer. His movement across the page has a graceful balletic quality.

Twins by James Seawright
Twins - James Seawright 1992
Metal, plastic, microcomputer components

The observation of movement is also expressed through the mechanisms of the current day. James Seawright’s works of kinetic sculpture seek to capture the ideas of motion, employing a variety of techniques. Some like House Plants I do so by actually responding to the light present in their environment, mimicking the natural processes we know so well.
Orbits by james Seawright
Orbits V - James Seawright 1997
Steel & Aluminum

Some such as the Orbits series are designed to remind us of the musical revolutions of the spheres, fixed and eternal in the heavens. And some like the fractal Hexflector quietly reflect and multiply our own movements before them, implying the growth of the honeycomb - or even the compound view of an insect’s eye. All realized with the tools and technology of the late 20th century.

The work of James Seawright bridges the work of Walter Anderson and the physicality of the dance. The kinetic sculpture of Seawright, the artist/scientist, invokes the search for the perpetual-motion machine, while the dynamic works of Anderson, the artist/poet, reflect the visual impact of light and the rhythm of motion: "I sat on the wharf and watched, first a flock of gulls, then herons, then two children driving cows and as they walked away from me the soles of their feet were shod with gold in the last rays of the sun." --Walter Anderson