Dallas Artist Rebecca Guy Celebrated In A New Bath House Exhibit

DALLAS, TX —Captivating Beauty is the newest retrospective exhibition of collages and mixed media art by the late Dallas artist Rebecca Guy. And her work will be on display at the Bath House Cultural Center from June 8 to July 17, 2021.

Guy died just a month ago, and the new exhibition attempts to collectively celebrate the artist’s life. Family and friends of the artist also plan to host a private reception in June at the gallery.

Her innovation? Guy realized that almost any type of material (even those that are often discarded or labeled as unusable) had the potential of becoming a precious element of a work of art.

Rebecca enjoyed exploring the possibilities of those materials and often found herself collecting pieces of paper, old prints, rubber stamps, antique toys, pressed plants, metal, and other objects she could repurpose. As it is common with some creatives, Rebecca’s source materials are extensive and highly eclectic.

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Spontaneity and adaptability were two defining elements in Rebecca’s creative process.

To hear her tell it, she rarely planned a collage or painting to the last stroke; instead, she began working with an initial simple sketch or fragment that, little by little, begins developing and transforming itself in reaction to the way the materials are reacting and the ever-evolving narrative in the art.

What appeared to be plain and unadorned in the beginning, slowly becomes rich in texture and content. She described the process this way: “The surfaces of my work have complexity and intricate detail, evolving layer by layer, constructed as carefully as a spider’s web. Multiplicity of texture and pattern energize the surface.”

In the late artist's work, a viewer finds the symbols from various religions, echoes of anthropology and psychology, and hints from diverse literary sources. She admired Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell as well as the Magic Realist writers and Surrealist artists of Latin America. She admired many painters of the past (Klimt, Schiele, Redon, Matisse, Chagall) as well. As an artist, Guy assimilated all those influences as a part of her thought process.

The Bath House Cultural Center is located on the eastern shore of White Rock Lake at the end of Northcliff Dr. off of Buckner Blvd. at 521 E. Lawther, Dallas, TX 75218.

For general information about cultural programs at the Bath House Cultural Center, please visit the center’s website at http://www.bathhousecultural.com/

Gallery viewing hours are Tuesday-Saturday from 12 PM to 6 PM.

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