Holiday Art Shopping at 5x5x5 Miniature Show and Porch Sale comes to River Oaks

The holidays are quickly arriving in Central Louisiana, and that means two of the year’s major art events are right around the corner. The nationally anticipated 7th Annual 5x5x5 Miniature Exhibition with Guest Juror Ashley Kenneth Chavis opens on Friday, November 11, 2022 with over 80 works from artists across the country on display. The #Triple5 has become known in the arts community nationally and garners hundreds of entries year after year. Just being selected is a special honor and the resulting show – available for viewing in both the Bolton-Davis Gallery and online at RiverOaksVirtualExhibitions.com – packs more creativity into 25 square inches than any other show in the state.

The premise of the 5x5x5 Show is to create a two- or three-dimensional piece of art no larger than 5-inches square or fitting in a 5-inch cube respectively. These parameters challenge the artist to bring his or her best creative work within a limited space. 

“The 5x5x5 Miniature truly has a special place in our exhibition lineup. It finishes the year with a creative spark while offering our patrons an opportunity to expand their collections,” says Rachael Dauzat, Executive Director at River Oaks. “Most importantly miniatures offer the viewer a unique, intimate relationship with the art - by sheer proximity and by the limiting factor of size.”

This year’s exhibition is juried by renowned artist and ceramicist Ashley Kenneth Chavis. Originally from southeast Georgia, he received an art portfolio scholarship to the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) to study architecture in 1995. He quickly fell in love with Fine Art and graduated from Armstrong with a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Studio Art. He completed graduate school in 2005 at The University of Mississippi where he earned the Master of Fine Arts degree with an emphasis in Ceramics.

Since 2007, Ashley has been a full-time art instructor at Northwest Mississippi Community College where he teaches foundation art courses in Drawing and Ceramics. Much of his creative energy is devoted to producing functional pottery with a simple aesthetic that synthesizes design, tactility, and function. In addition to clay, Ashley also experiments with mixed-media drawings; and in 2019, drawing was the focus of his residency and exhibition in Marnay sur Seine, France. 

His most recent clay accomplishments include entry into the 29th Annual Strictly Functional Pottery National Exhibition in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and the SECAC 2021 Members Juried Exhibition in Lexington, Kentucky. Ashley’s work can also be found at Oxford Treehouse Gallery in Oxford, Mississippi. He is a member of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA), Southeastern College Art Conference (SECAC), Southern Graphics Council International (SGCI), and Sycamore Arts Council. Ashley lives in Oxford, Mississippi with his wife, Virginia – also an artist and a former 5x5x5 Juror – and their two children. Chavis will also exhibit his own work in a concurrent exhibition titled ‘Transition.’

Meanwhile in the Galerie des Amis, River Oaks Resident Artists Maria Manemann will be featured with her exhibition titled "Fire in the Water" in the Galerie des Amis. Manemann’s style can be described as impressionistic. There is always a subject matter in her paintings but it is used as the starting place. Color is bold and primary, blended straight on the canvas. The brushstroke is in partnership with color and treated almost as calligraphy, with energy and expression. Subjects are drawn from nature and mythology, from stories that are used to explain or grasp something beyond words - ideas, beliefs, feelings. Sometimes two distinct forms or figures are melded in an effort to express a new form that is both and neither. The image that come to mind is overlapping yellow and blue glass to make green light.

Manemann graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Louisiana Tech University. She has donated work to various fundraisers, LBP’s Art and Travel Auction and is also represented in local businesses and the Alexandria Museum of Art.

Rounding out the exhibition lineup will be “Ceramics Outreach” featuring students from The ARC Rapides under Instructor Lindsay B. Moore in the Stokes-Harris Gallery. Since 2010, River Oaks’ Outreach Ceramics Project, under the instruction of River Oaks resident artists, has provided hundreds of sessions of visual art lessons to developmentally disabled clients from Rapides ARC, Evergreen Life Services and Pecan Grove Training Centers. Basic art techniques are taught, providing a positive expressive outlet in an external environment, culminating into a large-scale public art project and featured exhibitions. These year-long sessions of creative design at River Oaks are sponsored by LA Charities Trust, Louisiana Division of the Arts, LA Project Grant administered by the Arts Council of Central LA and the RoyOMartin Foundation.  

An exhibition opening has been scheduled for November 11, 2022 from 5-7pm with an award ceremony taking place at 6:30 pm. The opening reception is sponsored by GAEDA and Louisiana Feed Your Soul.

Guest Juror Ashley Kenneth Chavis will also be on hand teaching a workshop titled “Nobody Draws The Same: A Creative Approach to Observational Drawing” on November 10 & 11 from 10:00 am - 3:30 pm. This “use what you have” DIY all-levels drawing class will let students  explore mediums and techniques on paper like charcoal, marker, ink, acrylic and oil paint on paper. Students will work with the following preferred materials: mixed media paper, charcoal, India ink, pencil, ink pen, markers, watercolors, acrylic paint, oil paint, linseed oil, dammar varnish, mineral spirits, paint brushes, and drafting templates. 

The 2022 Porch Sale will return to River Oaks on Saturday, December 3 from 9 am - 3 pm in both the Bolton Home and the Studio Annex Building. It will feature guest artists Amy Glisan, Ken Tracy, Charissa Owens, Amber Voorhies, Aubrey Bolen, Kimberly Brannon, Ralph Hammer, Kayla Terrell, David Crain, Conner Burns, Martin Welch, Leah Morace, Dr. Jose Garcia, Karen Morrow, Laura Gates, Lindsay B. Moore, Rhonda Reap-Curiel, Jane Crowell, Dusty Reed, Chris Pate, Pam Fuqua, Janet Ahrens, Tish Fresh, Barbara Clover, Sylvia Kerry, Margie Tate, Wendy Starn and inventory from many more contemporary visual artists! As always the Porch Sale is the official kick off to the holiday shopping season for many of our patrons and we look forward to another year of spreading joy through art.

For more information on the exhibitions, classes and the porch sale, contact River Oaks at 318-473-2670, visit their website at www.RiverOaksArtsCenter.com or find them on Facebook and Instagram at River Oaks Arts Center.