Wear and Tear
UnSmoke Systems keeps with their theme of promoting young artists and encouraging community participation in a fund-raising event and exhibition of recent works by artists Heather Powell and Gavin Kenyon. Wear and Tear is the first exhibition in the Pittsburgh region to feature a collection of works by Powell and Kenyon including cast iron sculpture, drawing, and installation. They’ve teamed up with Jeanine Hall founder of Delicious Donations for a fun fund-raising event and reception for the artists on June 20, 2009.
Inspired by the dream-like exploration of liminal states through free verse writing and object-making artist Heather Powell will present an installation of cast, carved and constructed forms that explore the personal and collective meaning of infrastructure. A casting of a snow angel taken from an original impression and intergalactic orbs, these works are a conduit between the periphery and core, the subjective and objective, the tangible and intangible; they are essential.
For a little boy growing up in rural upstate New York any stick can be a sword or a gun. In this recent series of works Gavin Kenyon sets out to explore the world with a repertoire of imagery from his childhood. From taxonomic drawings and velvet panels displaying intuitively produced wooden toy swords to a darker series of works called Flaccid Axes, each work is a meditation on our place in the world. None of these objects are functiononal and they fail at their purpose, yet they’re seductive with their lushly painted surfaces and simplified gestures. Roughly hewn knives are packed together cheek by jowl, and cast iron axes become bodies with all the frailties of flesh.
This spring Jeanine Hall, recent arts management graduate from CMU, initiated Delicious Donations, a peer-selected mini grant for art projects, to support and encourage new ideas by local talent. Artists from the region are encouraged to submit proposals through an open call for artists that can range from plans for creative urban gardens to the fabrication of life-size puppets of city council persons. For a small donation participants attending the upcoming event can indulge in a Dave and Andy’s ice cream cone and vote for their favorite proposal. The artist with the most votes at the conclusion of the event will receive eighty percent of the proceeds from the evening. Treat yourself to a Delicious Donation!
Wear and Tear runs from June 15, 2009 through June 27, 2009. The space is open by appointment only. Please contact Jeanine Hall at unsmoke@gmail.com.
Inspired by the dream-like exploration of liminal states through free verse writing and object-making artist Heather Powell will present an installation of cast, carved and constructed forms that explore the personal and collective meaning of infrastructure. A casting of a snow angel taken from an original impression and intergalactic orbs, these works are a conduit between the periphery and core, the subjective and objective, the tangible and intangible; they are essential.
For a little boy growing up in rural upstate New York any stick can be a sword or a gun. In this recent series of works Gavin Kenyon sets out to explore the world with a repertoire of imagery from his childhood. From taxonomic drawings and velvet panels displaying intuitively produced wooden toy swords to a darker series of works called Flaccid Axes, each work is a meditation on our place in the world. None of these objects are functiononal and they fail at their purpose, yet they’re seductive with their lushly painted surfaces and simplified gestures. Roughly hewn knives are packed together cheek by jowl, and cast iron axes become bodies with all the frailties of flesh.
This spring Jeanine Hall, recent arts management graduate from CMU, initiated Delicious Donations, a peer-selected mini grant for art projects, to support and encourage new ideas by local talent. Artists from the region are encouraged to submit proposals through an open call for artists that can range from plans for creative urban gardens to the fabrication of life-size puppets of city council persons. For a small donation participants attending the upcoming event can indulge in a Dave and Andy’s ice cream cone and vote for their favorite proposal. The artist with the most votes at the conclusion of the event will receive eighty percent of the proceeds from the evening. Treat yourself to a Delicious Donation!
Wear and Tear runs from June 15, 2009 through June 27, 2009. The space is open by appointment only. Please contact Jeanine Hall at unsmoke@gmail.com.
