2023 The creative spirit continues to flourish at CORE gallery!
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We are honored to be part of your creative community!
May
THIS AND THAT
Rob Droessler
This and That is a mix of pieces created in the last few years consisting of ceramic and mixed media work. It is literally a little bit of this and a little bit of that, it's a bit of a departure from the architectural forms I had been making.
During the pandemic, as an instructor, I was stuck at home and began working with alternative materials and was inspired to create work that felt different. Some pieces are inspired by the isolation of the pandemic. Some are all about exploring something new. I started experimenting with basket weaving reed to create sculptural forms that continued the architectural imagery but with a different medium. Most recently I have been exploring iconic bust forms inspired by historical classical Greek and Roman busts. I'm exploring the figure but with a twist. Clay is so versatile, I wanted to incorporate its ability to look like other materials. I am inspired by one of my favorite artists Marilynn Levine and her Trompe-l’oeil sculptures.
When I am asked “what does your work mean?” or “what are you trying to say with your art?” I hesitate to answer. Honestly, I make work that is exciting to me. I'm fascinated by texture, color, light, and shadows. I'm not interested in making a statement. I prefer the quiet. Not all art needs to be about making a statement. Sometimes we like things because we like them. There's no need to dissect and analyze the reason why. Just enjoy it.
May
LIMINAL
John Leahy
Liminal means to occupy a position at or on both sides. For me this is a lot of what this body of work is about, a liminal state in between the conscious and the subconscious.
There is a famous story (perhaps apocryphal) about Salvador Dali trying to paint when in this state by drifting off to sleep with a spoon on his nose, so that when it drops, he wakes up and can paint in that close to subconscious state. For me it is more about tuning in and opening up to a process of painting that invites my mind to find the flow state. To turn off the inner critic and ambassador to imposter syndrome and just let myself be creative in dialogue with my muse instead of my doubts. Exhibiting the work is a process of curating these moments. It feels both necessary and vulnerable to share, and I appreciate you taking the time to participate by looking at the work and reading this statement. Thank you!
April
IN DARKNESS
Amanda Hood
In creating a sublime emotional dreamscape, dark needs light.
During the Romantic era In historical landscape painting, the sublime manifested as an exploration of the tension between intense beauty and destruction in nature, a sense of loneliness and alienation, and a nervous apprehension of rapidly changing technology brought on by the industrial revolution.
Today, post- pandemic society has brought a heightened awareness of all that is fragile and ephemeral in our lives. As we navigate the digital age, environmental loss and destruction, and increased levels of isolation, romantic topics feel as relevant as ever. Altered by technology, our visual encounters with the sublime through our environment, film and media help connect us with our own sense of identity and duality. How do we handle a world filled with extreme beauty and pain simultaneously? “Bittersweet” author and researcher Susan Cain notes that self transcendence actually increases at these heightened times of transition, ending or death. While the sadness associated with these cycles of endings and beginnings in life is often viewed negatively, allowing for the full expression of our joy and sorrow, longing and desire, or bittersweet strengthens our sense of creativity, compassion and connection with others. Through images, we are able to explore and access the dark places where language ends.
Contrasting tensions between light and dark, blurred and defined, I am interested in the ways in which dualism and the sublime presents itself in contemporary culture, and how visual imagery can inform how we identify and process complex emotional experiences in life.
April
“Bound” © 2023 Ann-Marie Stillion / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Defying the Male Nudity Stigma
Link to Artists Up Close interview and
artist talk with Ann-Marie Stillion.
Part 2 of this conversation, a free event
happening Saturday, April 22nd, 3pm
BOUND
Ann-Marie Stillion
Photographic works on silk and aluminum exploring moments of covering, unwrapping and struggles to be free of society’s constraints. Bound began as a series responding to censorship of male nudity in art and society.
When I started photographing the nude figure in 2013 there was little contemporary art showcasing nudity but I was not prepared for how relentlessly we have turned our backs on our own bodies, especially images of men.
Women’s bodies are uncovered everywhere but when we see men we rush to cover them up, make a joke or, worse, turn away calling it porn or caging it as merely “for homosexual” viewing.
I discovered that challenging the idealized notion of the male hero in particular – armored and invincible – and even suggesting the importance of vulnerability is a crack in the armor that many people are not prepared to confront.
We speak of being naked when we are found out in a conversation. We hold ourselves close in our coats, blankets and towels when we feel too seen or too vulnerable. We steer the conversation away from difficult realities with invisible walls, paths not taken.
Bound explores these seemingly infinite moments of covering, unwrapping or struggling to be free of invisible constraints. These images conjure birth, wedding, being held, holding. The womb. A shroud.
Bound consists of 8 works, four are archival prints with velvet lamination on aluminum and four are dye sublimation on art silk all available as editioned to 25 plus one AP.
March
Light Hours: Solstice Series
Andrea K. Lawson
My Light Hours: Solstice Series chronicles atmospheric rhythms, seasonal cycles, and luminous patterns. The Light Hours records observations of changing light over time, from dawn to dusk and over changing seasons. Painting from first to last light at each equinox and solstice for several years, I traced changes in sea and sky, from dawn to dusk. I set my brush to a new canvas every hour to express the light, color, gesture and movement of Port Townsend Bay on the Olympic Peninsula. Waking early to nature’s sounds, smells and light, bundled against the sunrise chill - and ending the day in the same way, sunset colors combatting the numbness gripping my fingers.
This meditative series of 8 x 10” paintings will be exhibited at Core gallery in Seattle in 2023, as an installation grouped by vernal, autumnal equinox, summer and winter solstices, exploring time, light and change. The multi-panel groupings combine to create single artworks composed of multiple images. As they are created on individual boards, different configurations of the panels are possible. Also on view are related individual landscape/seascapes expressing northwest light.
Fascinated by nature, my art explores the magical world around me, of sea, sky, latescent light through foliage, from the majestic tableaus of vibrant sunsets to the microworld of tenacious lichen. My creative process dances between figurative imagery and abstract material processes that propel my forms into a world of the unexpected.
March
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WATER + SALT
Tara McDermott
I stumbled upon the incredible landscape of the Great Salt Lake almost 10 years ago and have been consumed with returning ever since. In 2021 I finally made it back, going on a road trip to investigate all the back roads and access points I could imagine to truly explore this vast body of water. I was legit obsessed and went back an additional 2 times in 2022 to see the lake and surrounding areas during differing weather conditions. Out of those trips circumnavigating the lake was born this series of images, all revolving around the elements of water and salt.
Human exploitation, overuse, and global warming are having a devastating effect on the lake, and many consider it a time of crisis. It is widely believed that we have reached the tipping point where the lake’s diminishing water levels cannot be reversed. I am thankful I’ve been able to capture such an important and magical place at such a crucial time in history.
All photographs are taken with film, a vintage Hasselblad camera and a plastic Holga toy camera.
February
BREATHING SPACE
Liz Ophoven
As a multi-disciplinary artist it is a challenge to choose my favorite medium, however, photography was my first love and will always remain dear to my heart. For this body of work I am delighted to show imagery from across the last 20 years, some captured with film, others digital and all combined here to show as high resolution digital giclée prints.
The magical liberation of the imagination manifested through travel unlocks an emotional landscape in me and a drive to capture and cultivate the mood in a tangible and cathartic image. Mystery in the weather, drama in the land, history embedded in the geography, desire floating in the air, I can feel the impartial longing on the horizon. Each of these images were shot during a pivotal and embodied moment, a crossroads if you will, a time of reflection.
February
RELEASE
Uyen Tran Gjerde
My work expresses the vulnerable parts inside me and embraces the emptiness and void that ceases to relent. There’s something magical about seeing the beauty in darkness.
January
CORE Group Exhibition
celebrate the creative vision of the CORE 2023 artists
The creative spirit continues to flourish at CORE gallery! Celebrate with us as we showcase our 2023 gallery artists in our annual Group Exhibition! We are thrilled to present another year of colors, textures, stories, and ideas within which to find inspiration.
Exhibition on view: January 4 - 28th, 2023
Pioneer Square Art Walk and Artist Reception: January 5th, 6-8pm
Ceramic sculpture by Rob Droessler
