#hoodmuseum

Confusing Thompson’s subtlety with simplemindedness would be a mistake.  The Alchemy of Design doesn’t push a political or cultural agenda as much as it whispers a tale of whimsy.  With a few notable exceptions, Thompson’s work is largely non-referential, at least in the traditional sense, relying instead on texture, color and pattern to convey her point.  It is the blurred space where man and the natural world collide, a space as indefinable as it is fleeting, that seems to preoccupy Thompson and the exhibit as a whole.

The organic changes in design elements that occur throughout the progression of the exhibit are palpable.  Each piece reflects the creative influences that Thompson has encountered and surrounded herself with: a trip to Morocco, the Book of Kells, her beloved garden, 19th century artist Edouard Vuillard, Renaissance masters.  Viewing her work conveys a sense of scrapbook of all that Thompson holds dear, or at least that inspires her. 

If Thompson’s The Alchemy of Design doesn’t cause shock waves to reverberate throughout the art world, it certainly is not for lack of artistry.  Thompson’s technical skills are on full display.  Her work is so detailed that it is only upon close inspection that one realizes that much of her work is not assembled from fabric, but hand-painted.  Examining each piece within The Alchemy of Design is a case study in patience.  Meandering through the exhibit, one cannot help but imagine the number of pain-staking hours it took her to assemble the intricate individual components of each work.

She doesn’t work in miniature, either.  Besides her love of bright colors, the grand scale of much of Thompson’s work is perhaps the only aggressive thing about it.  She slips as easily between colors and mediums as a snake sheds its skin, an appropriate metaphor when referencing the wall art that dominates the latter portion of the collection.  One amphibian-like piece, Djellaba, is the crown jewel of The Alchemy of Design.  Situated dramatically at the back of the exhibit, the work is a three-dimensional installation comprised of 57 acrylic hand-painted metal pieces arranged in a symmetrical pattern across the entire back wall.  Each piece is a stand-alone work of its own, with influences as varied as Egyptian motifs and flowers to cryptic ancient alphabets.

While Dartmouth itself might not be an overt inspiration for the collection, hints of its pervasive influence on Thompson’s life and career reveal themselves throughout the exhibit.   Portal is an homage to the 17th century Ottoman ceramic panel that is one of the highlights of Dartmouth’s own permanent collection, and which represents a leap into ceramics for Thompson.  The Alchemy of Design seems positioned as a magnum opus of sorts for Thompson, a testament to a professor who has taught at Dartmouth for over 30 years and spent a sizable portion of her adult life molding young students into artists.  The exhibit is lovely on its own—no justification for such a tribute is necessary as its quality speaks for itself—but it is with the realization of Thompson’s contributions to Dartmouth that the exhibit truly comes alive.

Whether or not you appreciate Thompson’s thought process is a moot point.  Perhaps the most refreshing thing about Esmé Thompson’s The Alchemy of Design is that it doesn’t attempt to be anything that it isn’t.  Contextualized or not, the work is beautiful.  And in an age where art increasingly reflects the dire situation of the world, sometimes it’s nice to look at something of beauty.

Esmé Thompson

The Alchemy of Design

April 9-May 29, 2011

Hood Museum of Art