June, July, August | Michael Rydak
COFFEE BREAK: Artist Talks | Michael Radyk & Susan Smerker
Saturday, April 23 2022 | 10:00a.m. – 12:00p.m.
FREE | In-Person Event
Our Coffee Breaks are sponsored in part by the Jenkinstown Lyceum.
Abington Art Center is proud to host this in-person artist talk featuring Michael Rydak and Susan Smerker.
Our Coffee Break series is a casual conversation with the artists featured in our exhibition programming. Learn more about the exhibiting artists’ process and technique through a talk and a Q&A. Coffee and bagels are provided for free.
Michael Radyk
The making of woven cloth is at the core of Radyk’s artistic practice. He has been researching weft cut textiles including corduroy and fustian. Fustian is a fabric made by weaving two or more sets of wefts, or fillings into a textile. Theses weft floats are cut creating a plush and active surface. The word has come to denote a class of heavy cotton fabrics, some of which have pile surfaces, including moleskin, velveteen, and later renamed and rebranded as corduroy.
Radyk’s goal is to bring the artists hand and contemporary sensibility to the process of fustian cutting and weaving. He finds inspiration in repurposing and the reinvention of a variety of industrial and machine-made materials he can integrate into his work. The ubiquitous nature of the materials he uses are interesting to him because they usually defy desire: heavy cotton, re-purposed plastic tape and gimp, recycled polyester, industrial dyed feathers, retro-reflective safety tape, phosphorescent and holographic tapes.
Susan Smerker
Smerker has always been drawn to the figure and portrait as subject matter. Working primarily in oils, she sets out to achieve a likeness or essence of her subject, whether it is a quick sketch or a more formal portrait.
Inspired by the people and personalities closest to her, she often use friends and family members as models, a tradition practiced by many painters. When Smerker has a model in front of her that she knows very well, it leaves her free to experiment with the paint. To her, there is nothing more satisfying and challenging than working from a live model and she exercises this skill as often as she can. She always enjoys learning and investigating ways to move forward with her craft. What keeps her engaged in the creative process is the challenge she encounters each time she conceives an idea and then attempts to bring it to life on the canvas.
For more information on a particular artist or piece please call 215.887.4882
This event is produced as part of our Winter Solo Series 2021, on view from February 25 – April 4.
Our Coffee Breaks are sponsored in part by the Jenkinstown Lyceum.