Graphically designed: Artist couple to have more than 2 dozen pieces at UTC gallery

"And Yet" was done in 2011 using multiple layers of wax and acrylic.

A canvas banner with zippers, "I Deal," is from the artists' 2014 Divided series.

A canvas banner with zippers, "Pre Tender," is from the artists' 2014 Divided series.

Keetra Dean Dixon, left, and J.K. Keller will present their graphic design works featuring multiple mediums beginning Tuesday at Cress Gallery of Art at UTC.

They share the same studio, use the same materials, have a similar education background and are a couple, but that doesn't mean Keetra Dean Dixon and J.K. Keller are joined at the hip when it comes to their artwork.

"We work in parallel, so our pieces have this forward progression that emerges from our conversations," Keller says.

Trained as graphic designers, the pair will have more than two dozen pieces of their art on display in the Cress Gallery of Art at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga starting Tuesday.

"The title (of the exhibit) is 'We Keep Having This Conversation,'" Keller says, "so the theme is the fact that both Keetra and I work together though we are not collaborators."

Working out of the same studio in Homer, Alaska, Dixon and J.K. Keller create individual pieces, but both focus on mixing art and their design training, he says. They combine disciplines in their works, utilizing sculpture, painting and craft while never straying too far from their design roots. Their pieces are sometimes created using everyday materials from found objects to office supplies and then combined with traditional typography.

And, while Keller doesn't believe their work is groundbreaking as far as combining art and graphic design, "we are merging the two worlds in a unique way that gives it our own personality," he adds.

Aggie Toppins, assistant professor of graphic design at UTC, describes the pair as "unusual within the field of design because their practice skillfully crosses disciplinary boundaries -- their work is graphic design, product design, digital design and fine art.

"Another thing that makes them special is that they invent unique processes which enable them to create inventive forms. As a result, their work doesn't look like anyone else's work," she says.

For example, "And Yet" from 2011 is a four-foot long, 300-pound piece composed of layers of countless single pours of molten wax, each mixed with acrylic paint in dozens of colors. The wax is poured over a relief of the capital letters of the work's title of the work which, when removed, reveals them.

"This laborious process contributes to the interpretation of the work, as despite our investment of time and energy in producing the present, the future is always qualified by what we cannot control," according to a news release from the gallery.

The piece was selected for inclusion in Graphic Design: Now in Production, a major international exhibition co-organized in 2012 by the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum in New York and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.

The two also will be present for an opening reception and lecture at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday as part of the Diane Marek Visiting Artist Series, which was created in 2006 to showcase visual arts through exhibits, lectures and activities designed for UTC students and the general public.

Cress Gallery of Art director and curator Ruth Grover says the Dixon/Keller exhibit was chosen because of its relevance to the curriculum within the UTC Art Department as well as to the campus and community as a whole.

"I think in terms of graphic design, many think it is just logos, letterheads and layouts, and they are part of a new movement in graphic design," she says. "They create an environment of information rather than something that is static."

Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.