Gallery Glimpses

Award Winners

First Place

Louise Pappageorge, Aureole, Mixed media

Artist Statement:

AUREOLE, the halo, is a figurative form the size of a diminutive human. It is protective and aged. The surface of this piece has a metal patina that is worn, discolored, and beautiful in its distress It is the surface of an architectural ruin; a disembodied matriarchal guardian.

My sculptures are constructed of found laces and crochet along with newly created articles. Working across materials and classifications and moving beyond the traditional uses of lace, crochet, and weaving, conventional textiles, and textile techniques are re-purposed to create complex dimensional compositions. These forms interact with luminosity, lines, shadows, and textures. They are structural and strong while resonating with and reflecting their genesis and origins; the soft, pliable, penetrable, and organic.

Surface treatments wax, patinas, copper, rust, and metal leaf reference age and sculpture fabricated, forged, and molded through fire, heat, and hammer existing in direct opposition and incongruity to the ethereal and elegant forms constructed from the drawing of thread. These articles, relics of the past are re-animated, becoming the antithesis of their previous existence, that of obliquity and background. It is the feminized craft shifted into the role of object.

Second Place

Leah mitchell, An Allegory of the Sacred and Profane, oil on canvas, second place

Artist Statement:

The woman in this painting is a symbolic Woman, a person, yet somehow more idea than individual. From her arm sprouts an apple, malum, the root of evil. Tertullian writes that all women are an Eve, that original sin is born out of woman. Titian's painting of Sacred and Profane Love is in the background, seen through the symbol of eternal futility, the ouroboros, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Which woman is Sacred love? which is profane? The answer is opposite, but the intent remains the same.

Third Place

Ingrid hyde, Bunny Girl Heroine: The Power We Wield

acrylic, ink, spray paint, and collage

Artist Statement:

I celebrate the disruption of patriarchal order and perceived power between my subjects and their constructed environments. Blending the imaginative with the genuine, I disengage with time, place, and traditional constructs, that teeter between the abstract and the surreal. My work has often been described as colorful, brave, and playful, while also seeking balance through expressive energy. With each stroke of paint, a loose narrative develops of spoken and unspoken words, that originate from a feminine, emotional, and nostalgic connection, and are layered with environmental and political thoughts. Often, my subjects are larger than life, empowered, and conquering their environments as they navigate through their unpredictable surroundings. Bunny Girl Heroine embodies a contemporary female form that is beautiful, feminine, and powerful. Rising above the tethered warrior kites, she moves forward through the vertical space of time. Leading the way with her feminine touch and floating goldfish, releasing them from their captivity and glass ceilings.

Honorable Mention

Linda Marcus, Mending Walls, photography/mixed media

Artist Statement:

This piece was created with no photoshop. I sew directly onto the negative in the dark and then expose the film. Fiber is my partner, sometimes I work in concert with it, and other times I weave, sew and knot it into submission. I believe fiber never lets go of its’ history even as it is manipulated into surprising new forms. I’m constantly experimenting with it to tell subverted stories of domesticity, the body, identity, and memory.
I also look to other materials and processes like photography, video, and paint to see how they might interact with or act like fiber. I do this to elevate and garner attention for a material and its skillset that has often been dismissed and relegated as “woman’s work”.
My process of working with fiber is laborious but by manipulating it with weaving, winding knotting, or layering; creates a meditative mode for me, one that imbues me with the work created. It is a simultaneous act of validation and of devotion

Congratulations to all the Artists in the Exhibition!

Allison Balcanoff, Carrie Baxter, Riley Brady, Nicholas Bridge, Dan Brinkmeier, Savannah Bustillo, Amy Carani, Sara Peak Convery, Melinda Cook, David DeCesaris, Margaret Fuller, Deb Fye – Webb, Ruth Geary, Rachel Joyce, Michael Litewski, Carol Mantey, Timothy McGinnis, Jennifer McNulty, Christine B. Miller, George J Miller, Leah Mitchell, Erik Ohrn, Ann, Orlowski, Brian Petrone, Paul Pinzarrone, Elaine Rado, Andrew Rauhauser, Kimberlee Rocca, Janus Rose, Sheri Rush, Kunal Sen, Steven Tritt, Linda Vietmeyer, Mark Weller, David Williams, Amy Wolfe