Exhibition Statement

Line, the ultimate human invention, lets us describe our environment, express our inner landscape, and allows us to preserve knowledge for the generations beyond.

Crucial part of my practice is touch, handling materials with my own hands, therefore I chose tactile yarn, rope, and cord as line. My creative practice is a continuously evolving conversation with material. The manifestations of these collaborations are presented to the viewers with an invitation to read them as suited by their own vision, but also perhaps to contemplate how interpretation can alter meaning and intent.

In our times it is critical to think about how our eager twisting and turning of lines eventually leads to the loss of understanding and knowledge.

Artist Bio

Dora Agbas was educated as a biologist at her birthplace, Hungary. After landing in Kansas City, she worked for decades as a research scientist. She recently earned her MFA in Visual arts from the University of Kansas.

Exhibition Statement

Echoes is an exhibition of fiber art by artist Rena Wood. Employing vintage textiles and hand embroidery, Wood creates artwork that honors textile histories and past makers. Over the last 8 years, each piece has been made, added to, and re-made (in some instances) to investigate the essential role that memory plays in life. ‘Echoes’ relates to the textiles and patterns, reminding us of people and places that we may have forgotten. It refers to the reimagining of the handwork process, over and over again, to try and find meaning through obsessive making.

Artist Statement

My work gives physical form to the ephemeral sense of memory. The time I spend working is marked by each stitch, each knot, and each repetitive act of my hands. The result of my slow and repetitious handwork connects my process to the biological phenomena occurring all the time, gradually growing, multiplying, or deteriorating. I use stitching to create drawings on the surface of cloth to show a suspension between formation and falling apart, tangling and unraveling, the acts of remembering and forgetting, and to represent time passing and time stopped. I am intrigued by ideas about the visual aspects of how memories might appear in our brain and the changes that occur as memories are lost.

Artist Bio

Fiber artist Rena Wood received her BFA in Fibers from the Kansas City Art Institute and MFA from the Department of Craft/Material Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. She is an Assistant Professor of Fiber Art at Tennessee Tech University’s Appalachian Center for Craft. As a Fiber Arts educator, she has taught workshops on embroidery and fiber processes at art centers and craft schools throughout the country. Previously, she was a Visiting Instructor at Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania and a Visiting Assistant Professor at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY. Rena has been an Artist in Residence at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft in Houston, TX, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, TN, and at the Craft Alliance in St. Louis, MO. Her work has been shown nationally in solo and group exhibitions. She was awarded a Tennessee Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowship in Craft for 2023.

THANK YOU FOR EXPLORING x HEARTLAND, a collaboration between Rosin Preservation and
Accidentally Wes Anderson, is now LIVE for in-person and on-line viewing. This curated exhibit
of photographs pays homage to the small and meaningful places found throughout the Central
United States.

Elizabeth Rosin, CEO of Rosin Preservation, and Amanda & Wally Koval, founders of the
Instagram platform and New York Times bestselling book, Accidentally Wes Anderson invited
photographers from around the world to share their favorite Heartland photos shot in the style
of filmmaker Wes Anderson (“Moonrise Kingdom”, “Grand Budapest Hotel”, and others). More
than 50 photographers responded with over 200 photos. The 49 chosen for display represent
the work of 30 photographers from 13 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces.
The selected images showcase a variety, beauty, and depth of community that will help you
appreciate the HEARTLAND through fresh eyes.

The exhibit will be open for public viewing during First Fridays in September, and
October. Visit this link for more details about open hours and a preview of the gallery.

This exhibit can be viewed on these dates:

First Fridays, 5:30 – 9:00pm:

August 5

September 2

Artist Talk:

Sunday, August 14, 2:00 – 4:00pm

Open Hours:

Saturdays, 2:00 – 4:00pm

August 6 

August 13

August 20

September 10 

September 17 

September 24 

October 1

Thursdays, 6:00 – 8:00pm

August 11

September 15

About the exhibit:

This series of paintings is based on the structures that lay below maps. Latitudinal and longitudinal lines form a grid, and this grid has had many uses throughout history. To the Flemish geographer and cartographer Gerardus Mercator, a rectilinear grid aided in the making of maps for ship navigation. These sorts of tools have helped define me on my journey as an immigrant in America. For generations, various peoples have used these means to form their understanding of place and belonging. My variations on maps and globes provide alternatives that leave room for those of us who have not been included in these histories and images.

Maps have carried many interpretations and meanings throughout history. Beyond the physical, they can communicate a mental or spiritual journey. These works are more than an exercise in geography. The paintings in this body of work take on a northward orientation, expressing a sense of northward longing that is present in certain immigrant communities, particularly the idea that migration in a certain direction delivers a promise for a better life. My work is not unlike conventional maps in this way — maps can reveal as much about the maker as they do about the geography they depict.

About the artist:

Cesar E. Lopez (B. 1991, Guatemala; Kansas City — based) uses geographic language such as flags, maps and globes to make visual and culturally significant works. Merging formal elements of painting and personal history. Cesar’s work explores the 3rd space through showcasing fictitious flags and manipulating them into personal narratives. His sampling of geographic symbols indicates meaning while retaining abstract form, which touches on the duality of his practice and identity.

www.lopezcesar.com 

Insta: @youngbauhaus