Antholt opens new show of her work, “India,” in Monterey’s Lighthouse District

Western Washington University Professor of Art Sharron Antholt references architectural and sculptural shapes in her new work, “INDIA,” on display in the Green Chalk Contemporary gallery in Monterey, California from Sept. 20-Nov. 30.

The images come from her 2013 trip to Tamil Nadu, in South India, and influenced from the years between 1963- 1985 when she lived for long periods in Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India.

In her new works on paper and canvas, Antholt refers to what she calls “a feeling of condensed or collapsed time which powerfully permeates everyday life in India; the sensation of thousands of years existing in a single moment." The works feature images of fortresses, temples and sculptural forms to flat shapes.

Antholt extends these ideas of flattened time and space to the titles of her work, which are inspired by the 7th Century Bhakti poets of Tamil Nadu. The sensual descriptions used in that poetry describe sounds, smells and tastes in the 7th century that are still found everywhere in Tamil Nadu today, from the village roadside to the inner depths of the temples.

As a California native, Antholt also finds inspiration for her work from sources as the California coast and the poetry of the Monterey Peninsula poet Robinson Jeffers. Jeffers suggests that we “uncenter our minds from ourselves” and “become confident as the rock and ocean that we were made from.”

Sharron Antholt’s show, “INDIA” will be on display from Sept. 20- Nov. 30 at the Green Chalk Contemporary gallery at 616 Lighthouse Ave, in Monterey. An opening reception for the show will be held from 6-8 p.m. on Sept. 20 at the gallery.

For more information, contact Chris Casquilho, Western Washington University’s College of Fine and Performing Arts manager of Marketing and Special Events, at (360) 650-2829 or chris.casquilho@wwu.edu.