Works by Aunspaugh features the artist's newest obsession: balls of crap!

Works by Aunspaugh opens Thursday, March 10, at MAC Gallery at 121 E. Market Street in Chatsworth, Georgia. The meet-and-greet reception will be from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. Richard "Dick" Aunspaugh will exhibit his newest work. The show features watercolors, drawings, mixed-media pieces, sculpture, and pottery.

Most of the visual images center around the artist's newest obsession, "balls of crap." Aunspaugh creates sculptures from miscellaneous found objects ~ ahem, crap! that we all have lying around our houses. There's so much of it these days. He recycles these artifacts of modern civilization into sculptural balls and amorphous forms, some of metal, some of plastic, and some a strange conglomeration of both. The sculptures stand alone, but he also does intricate paintings of the same, turning them into surreal landscapes.

Aunspaugh is environmentally conscious. Last summer, he raised money by completing a canoe-a-thon, Georgia River Network's Paddle Georgia 2015, a seven-day, 95-mile trip down the Ogeechee River. He plans to do the same for the charity's Paddle Georgia 2016 tour, a 103-mile water journey from Dalton to Rome, Georgia, down the Conasauga, Oostanaula and Coosa rivers. He has already raised about $375 this year.

Aunspaugh taught art for 33 years at Young Harris College in Young Harris, Georgia, retiring in 2006. His work has appeared in various exhibits throughout the country. In August the artist loaned some works to Murray Arts Council for an eclectic exhibit. He visited the gallery, which is housed in the century-old Cohutta Bank building, and was charmed by the space. He agreed to do a solo exhibit there.

Admission to the gallery is free to the public. The art will remain up through May 27. For more information, email Dave Robinson, daverobinson1764@charter.net or call 706-229-1575 (bus. cell).

Related Links:

For more about the artist, Richard Aunspaugh, see my previous post, http://southernmusejournal.blogspot.com/2016/01/art-by-aunspaugh-at-murray-arts-council.html or...

Visit the artist's Facebook Fan page at: https://www.facebook.com/Dick-Aunspaugh-Artist-Craftsman-405959900190/

Murray Arts Council's Facebook Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/murraycountyartscouncil/

Dick Aunspaugh's Paddle Georgia 2016 Fundraiser: https://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/richard-aunspaugh/paddle-georgia-canoeathon-2016

Georgia Rivers website: http://www.garivers.org/paddle_georgia/index.html

Works by Aunspaugh, at Murray Arts Council Gallery in Chatsworth

Ball of Crap, watercolor by Richard Aunspaugh

Murray Arts Council in Chatsworth, Georgia, will host Works by Aunspaugh, an exhibit of art by Richard Aunspaugh, Fulbright scholar and professor emeritus of Young Harris College. The public is invited to attend a wine-and-cheese reception to view the art and meet the artist on Thursday, March 10, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the gallery at 121 East Market Street in Chatsworth.

The exhibit will feature the artist's current work. For his “Ball-of-Crap” sculptures, he recycles found objects. He makes intricate drawings and paintings of the same, turning them into eerie landscapes. The pop and Dada influences in his art come from his early immersion in the art scene of New York City. The artist received his Master of Arts degree at New York University in New York City. 

While in New York in the 1960s, Aunspaugh participated in “Happenings,” including You, by Wolf Vostell; The Tart, by Dick Higgins; and Calling, at the Festival of the Avant Garde in New York City.  He also took part in exhibits at Brooklyn Museum of Art, Pepsi Cola Exhibition Gallery, and State University College in Potsdam, as well as exhibits in San Francisco, California, and Georgia.

Aunspaugh, taught at Young Harris College in Young Harris, Georgia, for thirty-three years, retiring in 2006. During his tenure at the college, he continued to both exhibit and study art. He went back to New York for intensive workshops, as part of the Masters program at Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, earning his Master of Fine Arts degree there and participating in the MFA Thesis Painting Exhibit in 1990. 

Richard Aunspaugh - A Retrospective: A Lifelong Look at an Artist's Work (link) was held in 2004 at the William W. Fincher and Eunice L. Fincher Visual Arts Center at Reinhardt College in Waleska, Georgia. Aunspaugh has also exhibited at Nexus Art Center in Atlanta, State College in Minot, North Dakota, the LaGrange National II in LaGrange, and the art department at LaGrange College (his alma mater—he received his Bachelor of Arts degree there in 1963). His work has been in other prominent exhibits throughout the state of Georgia. In 1979, Aunspaugh received the honor of a Fulbright Study Tour: “Art of the Low Countries,” Belgium and the Netherlands.

The gallery in Chatsworth is a small venue for the artist, but he is glad to do a show for the non-profit arts organization. He recently loaned works to Murray Arts Council for a collaborative exhibit. While visiting the gallery, he was charmed by the space—a century-old bank building—and agreed to have a solo show.

Everyone is welcome to attend the March 10 reception from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. Refreshments will be served. The art will remain on view until May 27. For more information, please call Dave Robinson of Peach Realty at 706-229-1575.

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Event Details: 

Art by Aunspaugh

Opening Reception: Thursday, March 10, 6:00 - 9:00 p.m.

Murray Arts Council Gallery

121 East Market Street

Chatsworth, Georgia

Media Contact: Dave Robinson - 706-229-1575

The exhibit will remain up through May 27, 2016.

Links:
Richard Aunspaugh - A Retrospective: A Lifelong Look at an Artist's Work 

http://www.reinhardt.edu/News/0304_releases/Aunspaugh_exhibit_020904.html

Five Questions for Dick Aunspaugh (article, Jan. 2012), Today@YHC 
http://www.yhc.edu/about/news-media/publications/today/january-2012#5q