Artists Exhibition Featuring Stephen Simmerman & Jamey Biggs

Jonesborough’s Mary B. Martin Program for the Arts

to Host Artists Jamey Biggs and Stephen Simmerman

The McKinney Centerwill be featuring sculptor Jamey Biggs and multimedia artist, Stephen Simmerman. The exhibition opening reception willtake place on Friday, June 6, 5:00 – 7:00 pm. The exhibition is free and open to the public and will be up until July4.  Both Jamey Biggs and StephenSimmerman will be present at the reception to talk to visitors and answerquestions about her artwork.  The artworkwill be on sale that night and throughout the duration of the exhibition.

Jamey Biggs grew up in Summersville, WestVirginia. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art and a Bachelor of Sciencein Art education. He completed an MFA in Ceramics at Indiana State Universityin 2003. Biggs has instructed Ceramics and Sculpture for 20 years. Jamey hasdirected the construction of multiple permanent and experimental ceramic kilnswhile at Concord University.

Jamey has served as the gallery director for theArthur Butcher Art Gallery in the Alexander Fine Arts Center on the Campus ofConcord University since 2004. He has directed the visiting artist program atConcord University providing Athens, West Virginia with free demonstrations bythe nations well-known ceramic artists and creating a channel for internationalexchange.

Jamey’s artwork is primarily ceramic and drawsupon themes of Appalachian life through sculpture and utilitarian objects.

These trucks and bulldozers areconstructed in earthenware clay using various molding and hand formingtechniques.  I have settled on the image of the metal toy because itis largely positive, a wide variety of folks have an existing relation to it,and it is not traditionally used as subject matter or imagery for high art. My hope is that the art works presented are truly non-verbal innature.  I want to make work that will instantly draw a viewer in andhold their attention through unexpected pairings.

Images are fluid in terms of theirmeaning and significance.  The material in the truck or in front ofthe dozer provides me with another possible layer of meaning and context forthe truck.  I typically try to use that extra layer as an opportunity forplay and humor.  The toy truck is associated with childhood and childlikeimpulses.  Anything that I put in the truck instantly becomes, bydefinition, a “truckload”.  That transformation is semantic (andsilly) but I want the works to have monumental qualities while being as smallas possible.

I want the loads to beoverwhelming.  I want the viewer to rely on their own associations tomake sense of those materials, objects, and commodities. I think theplayfulness and general mischief will come through the work.  Theworks will convey ideas of generosity, and abundance but I’m okay if a fewnotions of wastefulness get through as well.

I hope that adults who are wellversed in art theory, art history, and criticism can find interest in thesculptures.  At the same time, I want the work to appeal to children.

Stephen Simmerman grew up in northeast Tennessee andlived and worked in North Carolina for over ten years. From a young age Stephenhas been interested in archaeology, and how art has informed cultures from thetranslation of the Rosetta Stone to the age of digital apps. Simmerman workedprofessionally as a graphic designer and editor for five years, before decidingto pursue graduate studies, first in English then in graphic design. He hastaught for over twenty years at several schools in the southeast region.

Among Simmerman’s influences and inspirations areHenri Toulouse-Lautrec, Norman Rockwell, and Jacob Lawrence. He admires thework of Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns and how they parlayed elements ofcommercial art into their unique works of art. Stephen’s also a huge fan ofearly magazine illustrators like N.C. Wyeth and Will Bradley, as well as theGerman poster designer Lucien Bernhard.

Simmerman’s illustrations are primarily mixed media:acrylic, watercolor, oil pastel, or ink often layered with “found” type. Muchof his creative pursuits involves the word play of advertising and its power ofpersuasion, and he enjoys creating works laced with nostalgia and mysteries ofthe passage of time. Along with completing a graphic novel in 2016, Simmermanhas illustrated two children’s books and his work has been juried into numerousregional and national exhibitions. He currently serves as Assistant Professorof Graphic Design at Concord University in West Virginia.

The exhibit is free and open to the public, Monday –Friday 8am – 5pm.  For more informationyou may contact the McKinney Center, 423.753.0562.