Thought/Process

“These four artists’ work deals with dualities between hard/soft and battening down vs. breaking open,” states Samael Leopold-Sullivan, Interim Gallery Coordinator. “This exhibition flows together as a melding of parallel lines of thought and material sensibilities.” 

About the Artists

S. Catrin Magnusson

I am a multi-disciplinary artist currently working with sculptural forms, drawing on the iconography of geology as a starting place. As the earth's tectonic forces separate and compact, it creates stress and pressure to move. While the work appears abstract, it has a specific reference to the physical world. My family emigrated from Sweden when I was young, and I became intensely aware of movement and displacement. I am drawn to the quiet remnants of violent movement and the creation of a landscape from what is left behind, connecting deep time and macro processes to a personal timeline

Susan Hensel

I am a multidisciplinary artist, with a 50+ year career, who combines a mixed media practice with embroidery across digital and manual platforms. I make sculpture and wall art using the colors and techniques of commercial embroidery, designed in the computer, and stitched out on the computer-aided embroidery machine with the aim to create an experience for the viewer that overwhelms with color, transcends the quotidian and encourages one, for even a few seconds, to step outside the narrative of the ego into a place of pure sensation.

In this chaotic time, digital textiles seem like a way to begin to bring order to the world. Order is, however, always unstable, a glimmer of a hope, cut off by random acts of chance or intent. It is no different in digital embroidery. In the computer, all things seem orderly, put together, and logical, as though the human propensity for chaos did not exist. In production, chance operates: human error, flawed thread, broken needles, run out bobbins, high humidity, low humidity, fabric popping out of hoops and the panicked phone call from a friend. Repair savvy, canny attention, and a spirit of wabi sabi is essential.

Kim Matthews

I’m interested in the ineffable qualities of “objectness”—what is sometimes called aura—as well as materiality and process as vehicles for spiritual engagement. My work is rooted in a long-term medita[1]tion practice; making drawings and sculptures is a complementary discipline of devotion. I use tactility to draw the viewer into the work and toward introspection through the seduction of intense looking. As a meditator-artist, I’m interested in the tension between dualities, as it’s these pairs of opposites that hold the material world together and, in yogic terms, bind us to it. Formally, this manifests in various kinds of contrast: solid and void, textural or surface contrasts, organic and geometric forms and shapes. Recently I’ve been exploring the duality of fluorescent/neutral palettes as well. In addition to my interest in process and materials, an appreciation of wabi-sabi, which embraces the imperfect and the accidental, has been a constant in my work over the past two decades.

Marjorie Fedyszyn

My work emerges from the intersection of identity and emotional histories; a way of childhood salvation established by transforming the volatile chaos that surrounded me at home into worlds I could control. Through abstract sculpture and installations, I explore notions of loss, power, love, and vulnerability to express the emotional memories of my life experiences.

From situations in my past where I had little agency over my life, my inherent need to control situations remains strong. As I work through the tensions of my desire for control, I embrace the tenderness and vulnerability of knowing we only have influence over ourselves. The narratives of my work often expose unspoken experiences, opening an avenue for me to connect with others through the work. By looking back, I make sense of the present.

My background as a scenic artist and designer for the theater influences every aspect of my creative practice as a fine artist, from my love of engaging with the public, my inherent curiosity of both processes and materials, the telling of narratives and my intuitive spatial instincts. The physicality and repetitive nature in the process of paper making hand-stitching and wet felting bring me back to my body. I use these traditional craft techniques as a meditative means to unpack my emotional past.

Current Gallery Hours:

Monday – Friday: 8:00 am – 10:00 pm

Saturdays: 9:00 am – 10:00 pm

Sundays: 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm

Due to Covid-19 Masks are encouraged. The reception is FREE and open to all.