Fosses to show dynamic dioramas May 9-10 at Philip Morton Gallery

Artist Pam Foss and her husband Bob Foss will show selections from Pam’s dynamic diorama collection from 6 to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday, May 9 and 10, at Philip Morton Gallery in Rehoboth Beach. They will offer demonstrations and video presentations on the work throughout both evenings.

Pam has been creating challenging visual art for 35 years. She has always been driven by the joy of discovery, which has led her to create work genuinely outside the box including her recent revolutionary work derived from common insulation foam board and a series of dynamic dioramas.

"I began experimenting with insulation board as part of my quest to find a material that would allow me to create gestural, free-flowing drawings that I could ultimately turn into bas-relief sculpture. What I discovered was that I could use tools designed to make pyro-graphics to create complex gestural drawings both on and beneath the surface of the insulation board. The heat from the tools I used to draw left their mark with indentations on and beneath the surface of the insulation board, making each drawing, in turn, a sunken relief."

With one discovery leading to another, she began experimenting with packing the surface of these sunken relief sculptures with a cotton-based pulp to see if she could pull a negative (bas-relief) from the sunken relief (positive). As the pulp dried over the next several days, she watched in amazement as a beautiful abstract expressionist bas-relief sculpture emerged from the insulation board. Eureka!

More experimenting with insulation board soon led her in a new direction with this remarkable material. She learned she could easily cut, shape, and model this surprisingly tactile material into some truly compelling sculpture such as her majestic sculpture "Out of the Blue."  Monumental in scale yet amazingly light, it is an assemblage of 81 individual sculptures cut, carved, and modeled out of a single piece of blue insulation board.

"My idea for the Art of this Century dioramas began to germinate while thinking of how synergistic and fitting it would be if I could celebrate the Art of this Century’s 70th anniversary with an object of my own making in the form of a dynamic diorama. My dioramas start as enclosed structures representing an actual building with a removable roof. To show the diorama the roof is removed allowing the six interior walls that make up the diorama to rotate outward and fold down, creating a gallery space replicating the Art of this Century’s Surrealist and Abstract Galleries. Observing the dioramas as they unfold conveys the sense of witnessing a special moment in the history of modern art unfold before your eyes," she said.

"Finding a unique way of telling Peggy Guggenheim’s compelling story with my art was what led me to create these. Peggy’s iconic Art of this Century gallery was destined to become a cornerstone in establishing New York as the capital of the art world from the day it in opened in 1942. Since introducing my Art of this Century dynamic diorama in the fall of 2013, it has proved to be a truly remarkable vehicle that never fails to engage and captivate an audience. It’s like seeing art history unfold before your eyes."

Her studio is in St Michaels, Md. She has major public sculpture on display throughout the United States as well as in the Baltimore/Washington metropolitan area including a monumental bas-relief in bronze of President Monroe’s inauguration in the lobby of The Monroe Building at 2001 Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington; a majestic pair of great blue herons in bronze at Quiet Waters Park in Annapolis, Md.; and a bronze globe, at Calvert School in Baltimore.

The Philip Morton Gallery was awarded Best of Delaware - Art Galley Downstate for 2012 and 2013 by Delaware Today Magazine and is at 47 Baltimore Ave. in Rehoboth Beach, between the Blue Moon and Aqua. Contact 302-727-0905 or info@philipmortongallery.com.