Craft Alliance in the Kranzberg Arts Center: Friday, 7 June 2013
2013 Artists-in-Residence Exhibition
June 7, 2013 – August 25, 2013
Opening Reception: Friday, June 7, 6 – 8pm
The exhibition features the work of ceramicist William Archer Rimel, fiber artist Kelsey Viola Wiskirchen, and metal artists Laura Elizabeth Mullen and Bifei Ciao.
William Archer Rimel
Rimel’s work currently concentrates on “freakish” images that encourage viewers to become voyeurs into a world unknown to them. Rimel focuses on what makes us different, even strange, allowing viewers the “chance to briefly validate themselves as normal human beings.” Rimel explains, “Growing up we were told not to point or stare at things that seemed unusual to us. The idea of the freak show was to do just this. People with genetic abnormalities would be collected and put on display for people willing to pay for a taste of the bizarre.”
Kelsey Viola Wiskirchen
Wiskirchen creates delicate drawings that have been woven and stitched together, documenting stories that have been exchanged between her and others. She experiences the act of weaving and stitching as a form of learning, self-expression, and therapy, both for herself and for the women that she worked with throughout the year at the Crime Victim Advocacy Center. Symbolically, the thread serves as a representative of the women’s individual fragility and also their strength when woven into cloth. Wiskirchen uses “the materiality of thread and physical dimension of the stitched line [to] represent what is shared during times of togetherness. The result is a tactile fabric object which documents a story that at first only existed in conversation and memory.”
Laura Elizabeth Mullen
In Mullen’s most recent body of work, she has been using a blast furnace and resin bonded sand molds to cast different components in iron, and then combine them into traditional jewelry formats. Her mixed use of industrial materials such as iron and steel and precious materials like silver, diamonds and pearls, questions perceived notions of value. Mullen explains, “My goal is to evoke contemplation about scale, decoration, material values, viewer interaction, and western society’s perceived gender roles.”
Bifei Cao
Cao combines metal, wood and found objects to craft jewelry and hollowware with an infusion of both Chinese and American aesthetics. His work is both decorative and narrative, using symbols and images such as figures, texts, and buildings. He strives to create a “balance between Eastern and Western cultures and create art forms that enable a crossing of boundaries while defying conventional definitions.”
Craft Alliance’s Artist-In-Residence program operates at its Grand Center location in the Kranzberg Arts Center. The program encourages emerging and mid-career artists by providing them a work space free-of-charge, access to a built-in audience and an opportunity to exhibit and sell their work. The residencies give the public and students in Craft Alliance’s outreach and education programs the opportunity to learn about the techniques and processes involved in creating art with craft materials.
Gallery Hours: Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, 12 – 6pm / Friday, 11am – 6pm / Sunday, 12 – 5pm
June 7, 2013 – August 25, 2013
Opening Reception: Friday, June 7, 6 – 8pm
William Archer Rimel
Rimel’s work currently concentrates on “freakish” images that encourage viewers to become voyeurs into a world unknown to them. Rimel focuses on what makes us different, even strange, allowing viewers the “chance to briefly validate themselves as normal human beings.” Rimel explains, “Growing up we were told not to point or stare at things that seemed unusual to us. The idea of the freak show was to do just this. People with genetic abnormalities would be collected and put on display for people willing to pay for a taste of the bizarre.”
Kelsey Viola Wiskirchen
Wiskirchen creates delicate drawings that have been woven and stitched together, documenting stories that have been exchanged between her and others. She experiences the act of weaving and stitching as a form of learning, self-expression, and therapy, both for herself and for the women that she worked with throughout the year at the Crime Victim Advocacy Center. Symbolically, the thread serves as a representative of the women’s individual fragility and also their strength when woven into cloth. Wiskirchen uses “the materiality of thread and physical dimension of the stitched line [to] represent what is shared during times of togetherness. The result is a tactile fabric object which documents a story that at first only existed in conversation and memory.”
Laura Elizabeth Mullen
In Mullen’s most recent body of work, she has been using a blast furnace and resin bonded sand molds to cast different components in iron, and then combine them into traditional jewelry formats. Her mixed use of industrial materials such as iron and steel and precious materials like silver, diamonds and pearls, questions perceived notions of value. Mullen explains, “My goal is to evoke contemplation about scale, decoration, material values, viewer interaction, and western society’s perceived gender roles.”
Bifei Cao
Cao combines metal, wood and found objects to craft jewelry and hollowware with an infusion of both Chinese and American aesthetics. His work is both decorative and narrative, using symbols and images such as figures, texts, and buildings. He strives to create a “balance between Eastern and Western cultures and create art forms that enable a crossing of boundaries while defying conventional definitions.”
Craft Alliance’s Artist-In-Residence program operates at its Grand Center location in the Kranzberg Arts Center. The program encourages emerging and mid-career artists by providing them a work space free-of-charge, access to a built-in audience and an opportunity to exhibit and sell their work. The residencies give the public and students in Craft Alliance’s outreach and education programs the opportunity to learn about the techniques and processes involved in creating art with craft materials.
Gallery Hours: Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, 12 – 6pm / Friday, 11am – 6pm / Sunday, 12 – 5pm
Craft Alliance in the Kranzberg Arts Center
501 N. Grand
St. Louis MO 63103
314.534.7528
www.craftalliance.org
www.craftalliance.org
posted by Bill Barrett at 5:12 PM
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