May 4th – May 31st, 2013

Unframed: Five Artists

Amanda Knowles
Barbara Robertson
Gene Gentry McMahon
Harriet Sanderson
Ingrid Lahti

Closing Reception
Friday May 4th, 6:00-8:00 PM

By Appointment
aprojectspace@gmail.com

This month a project space presents the work-in-progress of five artists. The exhibit focuses on how ideas develop and the process of art making.

Unframed brings together work by: Amanda Knowles, Barbara Robertson, Gene Gentry McMahon, Harriet Sanderson, and Ingrid Lahti. The pieces are at various stages of development for each artist.

Gene Gentry McMahon

Barbara Robertson

Ingrid Lahti-Galaxy

Amanda Knowles

Harriet Sanderson

 

A work-in-progress can provide both answers and questions. It can lead to a resolved piece or it can remain a sketch that provides information for a larger body of work. Creating a sketch, a mock-up, or a rough draft is a place of exploration and experimentation. These investigations are transition points where detours return to discarded concepts or send ideas on a new trajectory.

Some pieces will only exist in the studio, as part of the process of making art and other pieces will be resolved for an exhibition. Unframed offers a chance to view five artists’ ideas and their work at a point between inception and completion.

Amanda Knowles work is based on structure: the stripped down structure of an idea, the structure that science lends to our understanding of the world, the infrastructure of a system or the structure of a building.

The pieces at a project space began as photographs; the materials have changed, the context is obscured and images have become three-dimensional layers. The original references are abstracted to focus on ideas of the structural form itself.

Barbara Robertson creates mixed media work that incorporates digitally generated imagery with traditional methods of drawing, painting and printmaking. Inspired by recent scientific inquiry in the fields of physics and astronomy, her current work explores her imagery through animation and sound and provides opportunities for Robertson to collaborate with artists of diverse disciplines.

Inspired by maps and systems of navigation, Adrift is a video animation made from scans of Robertson’s drawings and prints. The sound score was created in collaboration with sound designer Johanna Melamed.  Click Vimeo to see a clip of the piece

Gene Gentry McMahon’s work is informed and fueled by the evolving cultural, social and political milieu of our times, with a specific interest in fashion, costuming and masking, and in how we choose to ‘present’ ourselves. More recently, her focus has expanded to include a passionate interest in, and concern for our present environment resulting from the manners, mores and politics of our culture.

McMahon states: “These collage works began as an attempt to bring some order to a collection of random scraps by creating an encyclopedia of my favorite poses, for use in drawing and painting. However, I became obsessed immediately with the process of altering and reassembling the images to make new more layered narratives.”

Harriet Sanderson’s work addresses the physical body as the primary maker of experience and identity; and the powerful influence of chronic illness, aging and disability on self-identity.

From Sanderson: ”The pieces in Unframed employ non-traditional printmaking methods and come from experiences of being bedridden for long stretches. The work speaks to the real fact that being imperfect is no fun, but a propensity for play can make it more tolerable.”

Ingrid Lahti employs common materials, both natural and man-made, whose histories inform the artworks.
Lahti says of her work: “My installations bring viewers’ attention to the way perception is embodied, rather than restricted to vision and the intellect. Galaxy, is composed of map pins attached directly to the wall; shadows and reflections add a sense of layering and depth. The natural metaphors, that underlie Galaxy operate to elicit a fuller perceptual response from viewers creating an experience of the work that is transient, yet unique and mutable.”

There is a ‘Storefronts Seattle‘ project by Ingrid Lahti  in Belltown at One Pacific Tower, 2006 First Ave through June 2013