Sandra Van Tuyl, “First Amendment Free Press” (from the artist)
Sandra Van Tuyl and Christopher Leitch are both expert gardeners, which underscores their partnership in the exhibit “7591 Words” at MCC Penn Valley Carter Art Center Gallery. Although Leitch and Van Tuyl had never met, Bernadette Torres, the Art Center’s director, knew the oeuvres of both artists. She was familiar with Leitch’s annual backyard landscape extravaganzas as well as his sculpture, paintings, videos and drawings, which often incorporate wordplay.
She had also recently seen a series of paintings on old cupboard doors that Van Tuyl had created during the COVID-19 pandemic, which combined images of native flora with words from the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights. “7951 Words” refers to the number of words in those historic documents. Although Leitch’s and Van Tuyl’s artworks were stylistically different, Torres was intrigued by the potential intertwining of their notions and art into one exhibit.
It was a great idea, which resulted in this instructive and visually compelling exhibit.
Van Tuyl’s paintings are fresh and seductively pretty. Combined with phrases and words from the Constitution, such as “insure domestic tranquility” and “promote the general welfare,” they are also mysterious and powerful. As Torres notes, “These works pursue thoughts on ideals of justice and urge robust protection of democracy’s roots.”
Van Tuyl’s objective was to pair these “powerful words with imagery from the natural world, (and to invite) people to reconnect not only with the text, but with the living systems and communities these words are meant to protect.”
Leitch notes, “The U.S. Constitution is a story of unison, of interconnection and our reliance on one another — ideas familiar to any gardener.”
Van Tuyl’s paintings have the impact of great billboards, despite their modest scale. Leitch’s work is more enigmatic. He sculpted large-scale letters and arranged them freestanding and upright, while a video is projected upon them. There are also works in brilliant red fiber. For Leitch, words are clearly something that can be played with, in more ways than one, and his innovative curation pokes us into the realization that words are malleable as well as seemingly obvious.
“Words are living, breathing things, just like plants,” Leitch says. “They are never static but dynamic and lively. And words as well as plants change from an idea state to a physical one. Longevity is never a permanent state, made from a non-changeable mold.
“Words have power — they create a resonance. Like the Constitution, they exist in a fertile soil that must be allowed to grow.”
“7591 Words: Sandra Van Tuyl and Christopher Leitch” continues at the Carter Art Center Gallery, MCC Penn Valley, 3201 Southwest Trafficway, through Dec. 5. Hours are 1 to 5 p.m. Wednesday-Friday and noon to 3 p.m. Saturday. For more information, 816.604.4752 or mcckc.edu/campuses/penn-valley/carter-art-center.aspx.
