@INSURANCE: Morgan Rose Free, In Memory of Nothing Yet
In Memory Of Nothing Yet is both the funeral and the after party, where moments of mourning mingle with a celebration of life. An amalgamation of the artist's own romanticization of the natural world and her ever-present climate anxiety, each work holds up a mirror to the transitional moment in which we live, caught between the nostalgia of what was and a seemingly bleak future. Dead spiders become flower vases and candelabras, ceramic shrines to a disappearing population of creepy crawly things we need to learn to love. Inlaid woven portals provide a means of escape or a glimmer of hope; depicting idyllic landscapes that are just out of reach. These portals take on a pixelated, screen-like quality, while the slow and laborious process of hand weaving directly contradicts the instant gratification of the internet age. Meanwhile, their surrounding frames and sculptures mimic stone monuments or mausoleums masquerading as furniture, and consumer goods are sprinkled throughout, taking on new narratives as they contrast these handmade facsimiles. The resulting installation both indulges in and criticizes the absurdities of contemporary creature comforts and our inane social and economic systems. Through an ultimate desire to continuously review and confront our world in all its beauty and imperfections, In Memory Of Nothing Yet invites us to embrace our fraught relationship with the earth, and raise a glass.
@GREASE: Lindsey Stouffer & Joanna Mendoza, Beasts
Over the last several years, sculptor Lindsey Stouffer has been exploring ideas of “beasts” in both a physical and metaphysical context: fears; unknown entities; imbalanced power structures; and the plight of large marine mammals - especially whales - and storms. Meanwhile, Joanna Mendoza has been interested in exploring vibration and how human beings seek vibration and resonance, both within and outside ourselves; how certain things, ideas, sounds, or creatures resonate with us. Through their friendship and mutual respect as artists, Stouffer and Mendoza have collaborated to create an interactive, layered environment that unfolds as the viewer navigates through it. Both the physical environment and sound world examine the many different yet related perceptions of beasts, otherness, and strangeness inviting the viewer into this world through a full body sensory experience.
@DOMESTIC: Sarah Paulsen and Natalie Baldeón, Nature/Nurture
Nature/Nurture is a collaboration between Natalie Baldeón and Sarah Paulsen, two artists that became first time mothers in August of 2018, and have since developed a friendship supporting one another through the evolving stages of both motherhood and artmaking practices. Their collaboration speaks to the importance of having a sounding board and support systems while navigating the complexities of caretaking. Their works reveal the paradoxes of parenthood; how caring and tending for someone else is a joyful, enriching adventure, while simultaneously a thankless and isolating experience. They focus on the interconnectedness of all aspects of life, caretaking, self and child; where the daily mundane is the universal, the spiritual, the magic, and the ecstatic. The natural world becomes a refuge and metaphor for the body, while references to fairy tales and folktales suggest the metamorphosis of becoming a mother and the psychological states it may lead us through.
+++ for one night only! +++
@ IN/OUT: Granite City Pop-Up and Blow-Out
(You don’t have to take it home, but it can’t stay here!)
Organized by Sage Dawson and her students at Washington University. The shop will feature printed wares for exhibit and sale that explore the history of Granite City. Work by Andrew Bass, Grace Bristow, Wolf Chen, Shaelee Comettant, Sophie Devincenti, Sophie Dinitz, Alex Evets, Ava Feinstein, Lucinda Gillespie, Kay Ingulli, Logan Krohn, Lily Leonard, Shannon Levin, Claire McLoughlin, Bo Schmit, Breanne Trammell, Josie Zimmerman.
@ IN/OUT: Projected City
Projected City is an exhibition of projection-mapped-based artworks that respond to the social and architectural history in and around the Granite City Art and Design District. The exhibiting artists include Kade Becker, Mary Kate Charles, Zach Cohn, Shaelee Comettant, Lena Cramer, Bonnie Dana, Andrew Guevara, Avery Johnson, Maddy Kish, David Luo.
@ NEON TRAILER: Noble Gas & Glass
This pop up trailer (courtesy of Nina Ganci and Deborah Katon) will feature sampling of neon works from Tom Carr/Doc Atomic, Cameron Fuller, Nina Ganci, Laurel Goen, Ann Johnson, Deborah Katon, Greg Kramer, Chris Star, and Corey Weiser.
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ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Morgan Rose Free is a Canadian artist predominantly working in sculptural assemblage. Her conceptual interests lie in human engagement with the outside world, often grappling with ideas around our current climate crisis, engagement with public spaces (both natural and human made), and how the digital age has affected these relationships. Based in Columbus OH, she is a cofounder of Dream Clinic Project Space and has participated in exhibitions across North America. She has attended residencies at Prairie Ronde, the Vermont Studio Center, Bunker Projects, Terrain Exhibitions at Enos Park, and ACRE Projects. In 2019 she was awarded a Research and Creation Grant from The Canada Council for the Arts. She received her MFA in Sculpture/Dimensional Studies at Alfred University and her BFA in Fibre from the Alberta College of Art and Design with honors.
Sarah Paulsen is an artist, filmmaker, and community organizer. With art projects ranging from experimental animations, social justice documentaries and portrait painting to parades and happenings, she has been inspired by the communities she has encountered. A Spanish speaker, her trips around the world, to places like Spain, Mexico, and South America have informed her work with a love for storytelling, folk art, pageantry, and community ritual.
Natalie Baldeón is a Visual Artist, Mother and Educator living in Saint Louis, MO. She received her Bachelors of Fine Arts from The University of Central Florida in 2008, and her Masters of Fine Arts from Washington University in 2012. She has exhibited her work locally, regionally and nationally. She currently works as an Adjunct Professor at Webster University and St Louis Community College.