HARRISBURG – Midtown’s new Fenêtre Gallery at HACC will exhibit painting and prints by the father and daughter team of Robert Troxell and Grace Troxell, Aug. 17-Sept. 13. A reception for the artists will be held 6-8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 17, during Harrisburg’s 3rd in the Burg event.
The gallery will also be open 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 9, for Harrisburg’s annual Gallery Walk.
Though the artists do not usually collaborate, similarities can be seen in their aesthetics. The work of both artists is tactile and deals with illusions of negative and positive space. Grace Troxell works in mixed media. Her paintings are sculptural reliefs that incorporate ribbon, fabric and found objects. They are muted in color and evocative of the female figure. The overall effect of the work can be both lyrical and disturbing. The artist says: “I think about the idea of revealing and concealing and what would happen if someone became one with their clothing. I am ultimately dressing the canvas and then taking it apart to create tension between different parts of the self and the environment.”
Grace Troxell is a senior at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and plans to graduate in the spring of 2013. She studied abroad at Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, Scotland, in 2011 and during a Japanese Art and Culture Travel Seminar, in Kyoto this summer. She has shown her work at the Case Gallery and the Schick Gallery at Skidmore College and at FiveMyles Gallery in Brooklyn, N.Y. She received the Renee VanDewater Award for her painting in the 2012 Juried Show, “Composition #3” at Skidmore College. Grace Troxell was an intern at FiveMyles Gallery and for contemporary American sculptor and photographer Petah Coyne. She has been involved in fashion design and live performance.
Her father, Robert Toyakazu Troxell, is a printmaker and ceramic artist. His large scale, abstract etchings are dynamic and have a strong sense of pattern and texture, sometimes with figural components. After working in ceramics for many years, Robert Troxell has returned to printmaking recently. This summer he produced prints at the Manhattan Graphics Studio in New York City.
Robert Troxell has a doctorate in art education from Penn State University, School of Visual Arts, and a master’s degree in printmaking from Delaware University. He is a professor of art at HACC and was a lecturer at the Barnes Foundation in the Philadelphia area. He shows his work at nationally known galleries; most recent shows include a group show at the Manhattan Graphics Center in New York City and FiveMyles Gallery in Brooklyn.
Fenêtre Gallery is on the second floor of HACC’s Midtown 2. Entrance to the building is at 1500 Third St. The gallery is open 5-7 p.m. Thursday and 6-8 p.m. third Fridays and by appointment. Special gallery hours will be held Sunday, September 9, 11 am – 5 pm during Harrisburg’s Annual Gallery Walk. Events are free and open to the public..
For more information contact Kim Banister, gallery coordinator, by email, kebanist@hacc.edu, or telephone, 717-780-2435.
