BLOOM
Curated by Rula Jones
Friday, June 18th, 2021 - Sunday, September 5th, 2021
Opening Reception:
Saturday, July 10th, 2021
7 pm to 9 pm
Online Artist Zoom Talk:
Sunday, August 8th, 2021
1 pm to 2 pm
115 E Church St, Frederick, MD 21701
Participating Artists
Karin Birch
Roberto Bocci
Craig Cavin
Travis Childers
Nicole Cohen
Gay P. Cox
Stephen Dill
Jennie Gallaine
Weina Li
Sheryl Massaro
Jessye McDowell
Tim McLoraine
Patricia O'Brien
Lisa Sheirer
David Straange
Katherine Verdickt
Cathy Wilkin
“Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you.”
― Walt Whitman
Nature is a timeless and global theme, present in all of the arts and indeed our lives for as long as humans have inhabited the planet. As the seasons and ages pass, all elements in nature are born, quicken, then die and then are born again, a relentless and persistent cycle, indifferent to the tragedies and joys of humans.
Yet, it is quite clear that we, as humans, acknowledge that we share this mysterious cycle with the planet and the universe. We see this not just in our own mortality but also in relationships, in projects, in places and empires. It surrounds us and we are beholden to it. And yet, there is always the bloom, the promise of rebirth and hope, whether perceived in our present reality or not. It is always there, even in the darkest “winters” of our lives, not because we are naive fantasists but because, very simply, nature tells us it is so.
We draw from nature, as it draws from us, not just because we see ourselves as an analogy to it, as if it was some separate entity, a shadowy imposition, to be culled, calculated and controlled as some of us perceive, but because we are a part of it, inseparable and entirely.
The artists in this exhibition have a kinship to nature and express it through a variety of ways. They recreate it through direct observation or memory, utilize it as a metaphor for narratives of the present and past, declare their absolute oneness with it, know it as a spiritual pathway or convey it through artifice to allude to our species’ superficiality.
Rather than go into an analysis about the artists’ work, I allow the artists to speak for themselves in the following pages. I leave the criticism to the critic and exist as a benevolent medium that simply seeks to bring together and amplify the creative voice of others.
- Rula Jones, May 30th, 2021
“The Incompleteness of Everything”
Karin Birch
Hand embroidery, beadwork and acrylic paint on linen
2018
14" x 17"
$5000
“Down the Rabbit Hole with a Typhoon”
Karin Birch
Hand embroidery, beadwork and acrylic paint on linen
2018
30" x 30"
$6,000
“Flower forms are used as symbols of hope, fragility and impermanence.”
- Karin Birch
“Coronam Florem 5/23”
Roberto Bocci
Photograph
2020
20” x 20"
$800
“Coronam Florem 5/06”
Roberto Bocci
Photograph,
2020,
8” x 8"
$250
“In Corona Florem, flowers buds and blooms are shot underwater and left to decay. The camera is used to document the biological process of decay and transformation that the flowers undergo over time. The title of the work is the date when the image was shot and the flower type. As other works of mine Florem explores sexuality, cycles of birth, growth, decay and the effects of the elements on biological life.”
-Roberto Bocci
“New Orange Orchids”
Craig Cavin
2020
48” x 48”
Oil on Canvas
$800
“Appalachian Springs”
Craig Cavin
Acrylic on Canvas
2020
48" X 48"
$750
“The paintings reflect opening and blooming, the rebirth of beauty in nature from the darkness of winter.”
- Craig Cavin
“Vegetation 3”
Travis Childers
Stretched and shaped cotton sheet, images of plant life cut out of newspaper, gel medium.
2021
7" x 3" x 3"
$500
“Vegetation 4”
Travis Childers
Stretched cotton over wood structure, images of plant life cut out of newspapers, gel medium.
2021
16" x 12" x 3"
$600
“It Always Grows”
Travis Childers
Architectural tree, styrofoam ball, paint, filament wire.
2020
8" x 3" x 3"
$300
“These pieces deal with the way we interact with nature and document it.”
- Travis Childers
“Time Lapse”
Nicole Cohen
Video Work: “Time Lapse”, 3:00, seamless loop, sound (Classical composition, Chopin)
2015
$5,000
‘“Time Lapse” is a video work inspired by a Van Huysum’s painting, “Fruit Piece”, which he created from looking at the natural objects in front of him and then adding them into the composition. He waited for the right time of year, when they were in full bloom flowers and ripe fruit and placed them in the composition as the year progressed.
When I lived in Los Angeles I gave tours in the Education Department at the Getty (2000-3), I always loved to show the visitors this painting in their collection. I found it incredibly creative that today we look at it as a full image, however the parts were made over a year and it represents the changing and rebirth of each season. Since this was Van Huysum’s way to “photoshop” the seasons in, I have wanted to make a video for a long time using new media to show how the seasons appeared in the painting. It is a still life composition yet, it is so dynamic if you look closely you can see insects eating away at the fruit. What struck me is how it looks beautiful from a distance and then closely it appears to be decaying and molding away. It always felt like a video still to me, as I was catching the bugs in action and should shew them away!
In my video, parts of the painting will be illuminated and move (through animation and light) to bring to live the circular process of this arrangement. In addition, I am creating a video portrait of the seasons from the window in the Bronx and use this as the background from Fall to Winter to Spring. I created a video diary of the seasons. This time lapse will be in the background of the new video work. Both movements in the background and foreground will work together to activate the Dutch masterpiece.’
- Nicole Cohen
“Spring Birth of Trees”
Gay P. Cox
Oil on Canvas
2020
48” x 48”
$4,600
“This painting is a part of a series that evokes the energy and mystery of creative forces in our world. Abundance and generosity are at the heart of all of them as I imagine this world and the cosmos filled with light and life - blooming into being!”
- Gay P. Cox
“Swamp”
Stephen Dill
Forged Steel
2016
20" x 26" x 7"
$780
“Triple Day Lily”
Stephen Dill
Forged Steel
2019
30" x 11.5” x 10.5"
$330
“These works are inspired by the Mid-Atlantic swamps which bloom from Spring until Fall. ”
- Stephen Dill
“'U7”
Jennie Gallaine
Oil on linen
2020
55” x 40”
$3,600
“I am a French artist and I moved to the United States two years ago. To find inspiration again in my work, I had to establish new roots and find a new sense of place. I realized that my art had changed here and was guided by nature. Maybe because it was the first thing that came to me to link my previous life and my new life. Something essential, pure and simple. Something universal. Enveloping and reassuring. Something that we also need to preserve... And something that could help me take root and bloom again”
- Jennie Gallaine
“I will breathe like grass”
Weina Li
Sculpture
2021
10” x 10” x 10”
$350
“You are the Star/ Distance Between Us”
Weina Li
2021
Telescope stand, kaleidoscope, reducing lenses, Swarovski crystals, film papers, acrylic, lights
50” x 35”
$900
*work only available to view during the opening reception
“I give my language back to nature and let the work grow its own meaning, like flowers and trees.”
- Weina Li
“Mullein Field”
Sheryl Massaro
2014
Oil on Canvas
16” x 20”
NFS
“I endeavor to tap into and convey life’s undertow which, to me, is the unspoken, unseen energy that brings close and binds artists and their viewers.”
- Sheryl Massaro
“Future Sets Series:
After Huysum”
Jessye McDowell,
Digital print of 3D modeled image
2021
32.5" x 39"
$2,500
“Future Sets Series:
Between Small Creatures Lie Vast Distances”
Jessye McDowell
Digital print of 3D modeled image
31.5" x 40"
2018
$2,500
“Future Sets uses CGI technology to draw connections between 17th Century Dutch flower painting and contemporary cultural questions surrounding technology and representation. The “original” paintings ostensibly captured bouquets of flowers at the height of their beauty; moments later, the blooms would fade with all the weighty moral implications of the vanitas, foreshadowed by the tiny dramas of destruction played out by insect inhabitants. The works in Future Sets extend the problems of still life into the virtual Anthropocene. The artifice involved in the illusion is on display, but the ambiguity that infuses the image reflects the increasing fluidity of cultural categories of representation: Is it real or fake? Is it beautiful, banal, or horrible? Is it in full bloom or in decline?”
-Jessye McDowell
“Cinderbiter”
Tim McLoraine
Single channel video loop.
2019
$1,600
“Cinderbiter speaks to the time before the bloom - the time of dormancy or unseen work. The possibility of the bloom is alluded to through the movement and colors of the pixels. Starkad, an 11th century cinderbiter, spent many years in the ashes. When finally called to expedition, he cleaned himself up and became a powerful warrior and poet who was remembered through the sagas of old.”
-Tim McLoraine
“A Good Day”
Patricia O'Brien
Oil on Canvas
20" x 16"
2021
$365
‘In “A Good Day,” flowers are created as a means to interpret the range of emotions and musings which bloom and weave through the mind during the course of a day. They are brilliant, withered, exuberant, dwarfed and more. Like our thoughts, they link together as their colors burst and fade into each other; animating the unseen.’
- Patricia O'Brien
“Stratum #34”
Lisa Sheirer
Ink Painting on Yupo 36" x 26"
2021
$950
“Stratum #25”
Lisa Sheirer
Ink Painting on Yupo
30” x 36.5”
2021
$600
“The Stratum Series is new in 2021. Paintings are executed with alcohol inks on Yupo. These inks have helped me to loosen up. The inks bloom and move making them hard to control - just what I needed to take the anxiety out of beginning to paint again after 35 years.
The Covid Pandemic has caused me to be hiking and walking in the surrounding woods more than ever. I'm walking in and looking at the landscapes of Western Maryland. The scenery is imprinted upon my memory and the paintings are executed from these memories.”
- Lisa Sheirer
“Crystal”
David Straange
Acrylic/rocks on canvas,
16” x 20”
2020
Price on Request
“Cycle”
David Straange
Acrylic/rocks on canvas, 2020
16” x 20”
Price on Request
“The work explores the life cycle using earth materials. The bloom is in the alchemy.”
- David Straange
“Funeral Wreath”
Katherine Verdickt
Graphite on Paper
2021
60” x 38"
“Flowers are the ultimate vanitas. Blooming flowers reminds us of the fragile and transient nature of life. Funeral Wreath is a gesture of sympathy and condolence for those in mourning. We are still in this pandemic and we are all grieving. This drawing is a reaction to product images on 1800flowers.com. American floral aesthetics are impersonal and commercial. Oversaturated stock photos and cliché titles feign sincerity: Healing Tears, Sincerest Sorrow, Heartfelt Farewell, and Cherished Memories. In order to create a unique wreath with integrity and symbolic meaning, I collaborated with florist Nicole Absher and drew from her creation.”
-Katherine Verdickt
“Another Bourbon Please”
Cathy Wilkin
Mixed Media
2020
30" x 34"
$1500
“June Nights”
Cathy Wilkin
Mixed Media: papers, paints, inks and gloss
36" x 50"
$1,800
“Another Bourbon is all about the lightness of spirit and the giddiness of spring. It's one of those treasured memories when the world is mellow, perfumed and filled with giggles.
June Nights speaks to the phrase, "It doesn't get any better than this." It's one of those magical moments in life when everything is kaleidoscopic, lush and delicious and you wish it would never end.”
- Cathy Wilkin
“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.”
― Albert Camus
Gallery 115, Y Arts Center
YMCA OF FREDERICK COUNTY
115 E Church St, Frederick, MD 21701