Press release here:
Local visual artist, performer and author, Kathryn Temple, will be exhibiting new works at the North Carolina Stage Company this month. The oil paintings and text-based pieces echo themes and images from RUTH, John Crutchfield’s new lyric drama, running at the theatre through this Saturday. Crutchfield’s script re-imagines the biblical story Ruth in a modern-day, Western NC setting.
Temple, who also plays the title role in RUTH, has lived in Asheville since 1999. She works out of her studio in the Wedge building, where she makes oil paintings, palindrome-based text pieces, and portrait commissions.
As she was preparing for the role of Ruth, Kathryn noticed a resonance between some of her recent work and Crutchfield’s script. The text and set of the play are rich with images and references that resonate with Temple’s work. As the rehearsal process progressed, Temple found images from the script emerging onto sketchbook pages and canvases in her studio.
Temple’s new paintings will be on display at North Carolina Stage Company through the end of July. A reception will take place on Friday, July 9th between 5:30 and 7:30. The reception will be followed immediately by a production of RUTH, directed by Steven Samuels and produced by the Magnetic Theatre. The NC Stage Chase Gallery is open Monday through Friday, 10am to 5pm.