The Fabric of Our Lives
Gay M. Arthur examines everyday objects and their meanings.
A new series of oil paintings by Gay M. Arthur examines how we weave a portrait of ourselves in the simple items we use in our everyday lives. Seemingly ordinary things such as jeans, an apron, or an old pair of work boots tell much about our past and who we are as a people.
Arthur has long been keenly aware of how past and present intermingle. She has said this sense of nostalgia dates back to ideas that came to her in art school as she watched the demolition of a building near the UTC campus. She began to examine how people and things intersect and how the past shapes the present. She has found this to be an intriguing path that reveals much about the world around her. In previous series of paintings, she has looked at, among other things, cars, toys, and even various grand buildings in Chattanooga, depicting their changes as the times around them changed.
A good example of how she utilizes this approach is found in her painting, American Flag Tribute. Because her visual approach avoids complication, each element must be carefully thought through and all must be balanced to create the power of the image. 
In this work Arthur, who describes herself as patriotic by nature, focuses the viewer’s eye on primary shapes that stand boldly against a simple background. Largest and most central is the folded flag itself. But the flag is held in two pairs of hands, one gloved and one not, which suggest our roles as individuals (the ungloved hands) in the institutions that shape our lives and society (the gloved hands) and the sacrificed required of us (the flag). The primary colors combine with the shapes of the hands and the triangle of the flag to convey a notion of transition. As the eye travels across the painting, the viewer is confronted with both the idea of sacrifice and how that sacrifice transcends the death of the individual in its social implications.
The same notion of sacrifice and change is present in Arthur’s Blue Jeans Drying on the Line. The image at first appears uncomplicated. Various generations of blue jeans hang on a clothesline. Once again, as in American Flag Tribute, the composition is horizontal, this time denoting the passage of time. Hard work is present in these humble clothes and their story of struggle and will. Hanging before our eyes and pinned to a line that could almost be time itself, the shapes of these blue jeans march across the canvas and symbolize a life unfolding. Here, as so often in her work, Arthur seeks “preserve the past and its ways in paint and in doing so, lead us to reflect on the complexities of the ‘simple’ artifacts of our lives.”
“This theme of nostalgia,” Arthur says, “has been the basis for much of my art throughout my career. For this show I wanted to explore the fabrics and textures that are woven into our lives. These fabrics represent not only our own story but those of people who have shaped our lives, our loves and our country, with sacrifice , hard work and constancy. I’m drawn to things like the colorful apron grandmother wore in the kitchen (Grandma’s Apron) or grandpa’s boots showing a life of hard toil (Old Work Boots). For me these are just a few examples of who we wrap ourselves in the memories of our past and cherish the present.”
Gay Aurthur’s Featured Artist show, The Fabric of Our Lives, opens on Friday, September 7, 5-8pm. Keenly aware of the intersection of past and present, in this series of paintings she explores multiple facets of time and place in our lives. She creates layers of meaning visually in what a first appears to be simple images of the everyday. The exhibit will run through the end of September.
For Prices and Sizes in Gallery, please click on the little i on the top left.
