Staff Reports
Mistakes are a good thing for Indianapolis painter Dorothy Stites Alig. But viewers will be hard-pressed to see how errors can result in such colorful, ethereal beauty as her latest works on display in the current exhibition at 411 Gallery in downtown Columbus.
Her efforts are titled with the Latin word “Errare.”
“Many of my ideas come from ‘mistakes’ resulting from a willingness to depart from the routine; to wander,” Alig said. “These works tend to be more personal and experimental and don’t always fit neatly into a larger body of work, so I appreciate the opportunity to show them — many for the first time.”
The free display that also features Columbus sculptor and furniture designer Steven Baker opens today and runs through April 9.
The intimate 411 Gallery at 411 Sixth St. is a community arts gallery and cultural space for exhibitions, events, and collaborations with Columbus’ arts and cultural organizations. Managed by the Columbus Area Arts Council, 411 is made possible by grants from the Efroymson Family Fund, the city of Columbus, Columbus Museum of Art & Design and by donations from the community.
Alig, a painter and printmaker whose studio is in an old telephone switching station in downtown Indianapolis, has shown her work in New York, Denver, Chicago, Indianapolis and throughout the Midwest. For 14 years, she was senior conservator of textiles and costumes at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
“Making art is a way for me to delve into subjects that intrigue me and try to find connections between seemingly disparate ideas and images,” Alig has said online in her artist statement. “I have recently explored subjects ranging from psychological testing, poetry, historic textiles, Islamic architecture and the urban landscape.
“I also love to investigate different materials and see how they react/interact. The fusion of these interests is what keeps me excited to be in the studio — to see what unexpected alchemy may result.”
Baker’s works are shown under the theme of “Well-lit Room.”
“This collection represents an expression of ideas that use forms to challenge light, and in turn, allowing that light to embolden form,” Baker said. “Inspiration for this work came from many things here: the postural attitude of a crustacean’s shell, or the top-heavy bend of a flowering stem. The soft filtration of light through shoji screens in a Japanese bedroom. And the many varieties of Midwestern barns with their turbine ventilators that slowly spin away the hot summers into fall harvests.
“If light has a language, then it should be spoken in a well-lit room.”
