“We are Stardust. We are golden. And we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden.”
-Joni Mitchell
Kenise Barnes Fine Art is pleased to present a summer exhibition of flowers, fantasy and beauty inspired by nature and executed in a variety of unusual materials such as fabric, ceramic and cut mylar.
Visualizing the whimsical possibilities of the events like conversations between birds and the cellular structure of plant life, Gabe Brown’s oil paintings are highly personal and universal. The magical layering of paint and narrative create explore the complexities of natural world. Brown earned degrees from Cooper Union, NY (BFA), University of California at Davis, CA (MFA), teaches at Marist College, SUNY Poughkeepsie, NY and Fordham University, NY. Her work is in the collections of Bank of America, Saks Fifth Avenue and Time Warner Cable, to name a few.
Amy Gross’s work is hand sewn natural specimens exhibited here, in shadow boxes. She mixes anxieties and secrets, physical symptoms and the love and fear of being mortal with fabricated roots, pods, insects and blooms. Sewing and embellishing moss, fabric and the like, Gross recreates nature but through the act of fabrication and transformation makes fantastic new hybrids. The artist Graduated from Cooper Union, NY. Her work has been featured in Fiber Arts Magazine and Visual Overtones. She lives in Florida and exhibits widely in the Unites States.
Artist Jill Parisi focus is the creation of invented botanical and zoological species. The individual elements that comprise her work begin as two dimensional prints and drawings. Precise hand cutting, hand coloring and pyrographic techniques are employed; then the work is transformed sculpturally. The artist has developed an exceedingly delicate method of printing very ornate designs on Nepalese Loktah paper, made from the Daphne plant. Parisi earned her BFA and her MFA at SUNY New Paltz, NY where she also teaches.
Imi Hwangbo works in series of three-dimensional hand-cut Mylar drawings based on the imagery and symbolism of Korean decorative arts. These pieces are based on the intense patterns and vibrant color schemes of Korean wrapping cloths, called pojagi. The significant patterns and colors of pojagi cloths recall a tradition of folk beliefs in a living and powerful landscape. The iconography features flowers, animals, and features of the natural landscape that is associated with protection from harm and desires for wealth, longevity, and fertility. Printed on translucent Mylar, the pieces have the sheen and semi-transparency of silk. During the installation process, the pieces, which are composed of up to thirty layers, are aligned to create form, shape, and depth. The artist is a professor at Georgetown University. Hwangbo earned her BFA at Dartmouth, MA and her MFA at Stanford, CA. Reviews of her work have appeared in Art In America, Sculpture Magazine, The Boston Globe and others.
Mary Judge continues to use loose powered pigment to create super-saturated, visually stunning colored works with a pop art sensibility. The New York based artist and teacher creates this vibrant body of work in two formats, 30 x 30 inches and 14 x 14 inches. Both will be included in the exhibition along side an earlier laser cut screen print printed on hand made paper. The artist had a solo show at The Aldrich Museum of Art, is included in the permanent collections of The American Embassy, Kazakhstan, The Fogg Museum, Harvard University, MA, The Victoria and Albert Museum, London and others.
Leigh Taylor Mickelson describes her ceramic sculpture as explorations of the components of self, sexuality and family, and how these parts relate and conflict with one another. The artist uses forms from nature, especially ones found in plant life, as a means of expressing these components. Being full of dichotomy, the elements of natural forms act as a metaphor for the spiritual, emotional and physical extremes that exist within our selves, our love relationships and our family units. The artist will have an important solo show in Columbus Ohio later this summer. Her work has been included in Ceramics Monthly and other publications. Mickelson received her BFA from Hamilton College, NY and her MFA from Rochester Institute of Technology, NY. She exhibits widely throughout the United States and is the director of the Clay Art Center in Port Chester, NY.
