Margaret Ross Tolbert: Doors

Wednesday, August 24 to Sunday, July 16, 2006,

The focus of the Door paintings by contemporary Florida artist Margaret Ross Tolbert (American, born 1954) is present-day encounters of storied portals on the ancient trade routes in Turkey and the Middle East. The works are based on sketches made by the artist as she retraced these routes. Their subject matter alludes to the illustrious past of the Ottoman Empire (circa 1300 to 1922), which at its peak in the 16th century ruled over southeastern Europe and the Middle East. Known as the Sublime Porte, the government of the Ottoman Empire was so named for the gate leading to the headquarters where the sultan greeted foreign dignitaries. The Sublime Porte symbolized the intersection of East and West, and Tolbert's Doors likewise act as a means of access between historic and contemporary times, and between static and active states.

Tolbert received her BFA and MFA at the University of Florida, Gainesville. Recent commissioned projects include series of paintings created during residences in Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Oman. One-person exhibitions have been organized by the Gulfcoast Museum of Art, Largo, Florida; Galleri Max in Stockholm, Sweden; the Polk Museum of Art, Lakeland, Florida; and LeMieux Galleries, New Orleans. Her work is in the collection of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, the Contemporary Art Museum at the University of South Florida, Arthaus, and the Daytona Museum of Arts and Sciences, Florida. The exhibition at the Harnett Museum of Art was organized by the University of Richmond Museums and coordinated by N. Elizabeth Schlatter, Deputy Director and Curator of Exhibitions, University Museums.

Programming

Monday, November 14, 2005, 12:30-1 p.m.
Meet the Artist: Lunchtime Gallery Talk
"Doors," by Margaret Ross Tolbert, artist
Harnett Museum of Art, Modlin Center for the Arts