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The ArtWorks Center will open a new exhibit starting this Saturday featuring Minneapolis-based artist Peyton Scott Russell. The show will  close Friday, May 20. 

The public is welcome to attend the free opening reception from 5-7 p.m. Saturday at the Center. Russell, along with Rochester artist Beth Seivers, Artists will be present to discuss their work and light refreshments are provided. 

Sievers works in encaustic, creating images on locally salvaged wood with a mixture of beeswax, tree resin and pigment that must be manipulated with heat to create images. Sievers is a current member of Threshold Arts and curates the 125 Live art gallery spaces. 

The “Process of Elimination” exhibit explores the abstract aesthetics of graffiti art, and the elimination of it, on canvas. It was inspired by public walls that have been painted repeatedly with mismatched paint to cover unwanted graffiti markings. Known as “The Buff,” a term coined in

the 1983 documentary film, “Style Wars,” the walls resemble abstract paintings and returned Russell to studying a favorite fine art movement: abstract expressionism. 

Russell has a BFA from the School of the Arts Institute of Chicago and for over three decades has been a professional artist and arts instructor. Today, through assistance from a Bush Foundation Fellowship (2012-2014), Peyton is focused on his arts program, SPRAYFINGER. He is dedicated to teaching, studying, and practicing Graffiti: The Art of Creative Lettering. His mission is to increase awareness of graffiti as a teachable art form by working with schools, teachers, and artists on curriculum design, outlines, and lesson plans to deepen the understanding of a long-misunderstood art form. 

Russell presented his SPRAYFINGER concept at the 2021 Austin ArtWorks Festival with festival goers participating in artmaking dubbed “Spray and Take.” 

After the “Process of Elimination” exhibit closes, there will be two additional opportunities to engage in aerosol arts with Russell: a Quikut and Sprallage Workshop from 1-3 p.m. on Saturday, May 21 and SPRAYFINGER Graffiti Camp for Youth from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on June 20 and June 24. Both will take place at the Austin ArtWorks Center and are geared toward ages 8-18. 

Russell’s exhibit, class and camp is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts & cultural heritage fund.