Charcoal drawings and complex prints line the walls of the Noyes Upstairs Gallery at the Noyes Cultural Arts Center, alongside a collection of intricate wooden towers. 

Local artists Alice George, David Rubman and Jeanine Coupe Ryding celebrated the opening of their new exhibit titled “Charcoal | Tower | Lightness” Friday. The exhibit features the artists’ individual projects and collaborative works.  

Towers are a focal point for the exhibit, with each artist including their own interpretations. The three worked together to establish a common thread between their individual collections. 

Earlier this year, George said, she became fascinated by Rubman’s wooden towers. The two had previously worked together in a group for local Evanston artists — Four Hands Collaborative — and met in their shared studio space.

“I started hauling them upstairs and started to sketch them,” George said. “I did them in all different variations: superimposed, by themselves, in groups.”

George painted Rubman’s towers with watercolor and ink, executing realistic depictions of the towers and abstract portrayals to create 20 paintings within her displayed “Speculative Architecture” collection. George said she views the towers as buildings, people and little communities. 

Rubman’s towers are made from wood he gathered from the side of the road. He chisels indents on the towers using a high-speed rotary tool repeatedly to create a pattern in his sculptures. 

“This city (of towers) is constructed from local trees, chiseled from local trees, chiseled to evoke bygone New York, or perhaps a future world — or just a forest of surreal trees,” Rubman wrote in his description “I aim to evoke a universe of endless diversity by using a very repetitive and tedious process of mark-making.”

George’s other project in the exhibit, “Science Fiction,” depicts George’s favorite science fiction novels. The pieces alphabetically illustrate titles like “The Jasmine Throne” and “The Intuitionist.” To create these paintings, she started with charcoal and ink, built it up with acrylic, added pastel and finished using oil.

Ryding’s portion of the exhibit, “River detail,” includes four woodcut prints, an acrylic painting and an accordion fold book. 

“I try to draw the viewer into the work for an intimate experience,” she said. “(I) try to create a sense of depth and space beyond the surface because wood cutting is such a surface technique.”

Ryding’s largest piece at the exhibit, “At the River,” is a painting on an amate bark paper that she purchased 35 years prior to its use. The papermaking technique was used by the Aztecs for codices and record keeping.

“I thought this (painting) is kind of like a record keeping,” she said. “It’s almost like a count: trees up, trees down, trees floating.” 

“Charcoal Tower Lightness” will be open to the public until Jan. 9.There will be an artists’ talk on Nov. 4 to discuss the exhibit. 

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Twitter: @SarahSerota

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