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Show Never the twain should meet i by Nan Chalat It is a common practice in the Kimball Art Center's little Gallery to feature two artists, a painter and a sculptor. The painter's canvases can-vases fill the walls and the statues fill the intervening floor space. It is a nice arrangement which maximizes maxi-mizes the exhibit space in the smaller downstairs gallery. Such is the case in the Little Gallery this month where Eric Christiansen's earthy pottery is displayed on pedestals surrounded by Pauline Khuri-Majoli's bright floral oils. But something some-thing is wrong here. Even though the arrangement is a familiar one and all of the paintings seem to be hanging properly, the exhibit seems off kilter. It is hard to focus on either the ceramics or the paintings. Christiansen's traditional tra-ditional soup tureens are swallowed up by Khuri-Majoli's Khuri-Majoli's contemporary compositions. com-positions. There is a feeling that if these two artists met they wouldn't be able to find anything to talk about. In fact, the ornate vases depicted depict-ed in Khuri-Majoli's paintings paint-ings look like something a naturalist like Christiansen might have nightmares about. Taken separately though, each artist has merit. Local ceramicist Christiansen had chosen to show a variety of work from utilitarian ear- . irc'"i if- ,Jm.... .- irir n -I 'Tir' irnftT' il wti iiimi Tin-trni-m ti mim irrMiiiiii immi TMnMiiiMiiurr man irHTntf-""--"-- inrif I'ifn'- g rfitr ni Pauline Khuri-Majoli's boisterous composition bursts with colors and patterns. photos by Nan Chalat thenware bowls and mugs to decorative raku vases. His ample soup tureens and solid salad bowls of stoneware and earthenware look as if they belong in a country kitchen. . And he seems equally adept at combining abstract designs of flowing glazes as he is at painting the glazes onto precise patterns. The skyline platter series of muted horizons, and the folk art platters which hint at his proximity to Midway's Swiss Days, show off his versatility. (Christiansen is the owner of Snake Creek Pottery and Fiber in Midway. ) . His strong suit, though, is raku pottery. Christiansen uses the ancient Japanese method of throwing a red hot pot into a pile of straw or sawdust to create a delicate fracturing of the glaze. His raku porcelain vase with cranes dancing around the rim has an arresting grace. Now the object is to shift one's attention to the walls without attempting any sort of orderly transition. Khuri-Majoli works in splashes of color and profusions profu-sions of patterns. The paintings paint-ings work around a common theme. An abandoned parlor table is bedecked with flowers, fruit and a patterned scarf against a boisterous backdrop of floral wall paper and striped upholstery. Persimmons Per-simmons and orchids crowd the artist's fantasies. The only exception is a composition entitled Blue Pathos, a single flower on a plain tablecloth against a solid blue backdrop. It looks as if Khuri-Majoli were blue when she painted it, or was just trying to say, "See, it's no fun without all the confusion." Next to it is the painting Pakistani Lamp, in which the ornate lamp almost disappears into the textured background, showing Khuri-Majoli Khuri-Majoli once again as her exuberant, colorful self. The Khuri-Majoli Christiansen Christi-ansen exhibit continues at the KimbaH Art Center through March 28. i!it;a -srhv Eric Christiansen's skill with raku firing shows off the delicate patterns of a cracked glaze. |