C4W:2020 Artist Talk
Featuring C4W:2020 Artists: Kelsi Sharp, Lora Hlavsa, Philipo Dyauli, Reid Olson, Alejandro Zhang, Merick Reed, S. Catrin Magnusson, Russ White, Nicole Thomas & Jessica Kitzman.
This is not your typical artist talk. This talk will be a Q&A Chain — a method where the curator begins by selecting a piece that intrigues them and asks the artist a couple questions. From there, each chosen artist picks the next one, opening up the dialogue and inviting the artists to respond to each other. There will be ten artists, each having the opportunity to speak about their piece for approximately 5 minutes, and will conclude with closing remarks from the curator, Katie Garrett and Gamut’s director, Cassie Garner.
Katie Garrett has kicked on the chain by asking Kelsi Sharp & Kelsi has chosen Lora Hlavsa, Lora has chosen Philipo Dyauli, Philipo has chosen Ried Olson, Reid has chosen Alejandro Zhang, Alejandro has chosen Merick Reed, Merick has chosen Catrin Magnusson, Catrin has chosen Russ White, Russ has chosen Nicole Thomas and Nicole has chosen Jessica Kitzman.
ARTIST TALK – Q & A Chain
Wednesday the Nov 11th, 2020 7-8pm
Moderated by Katie Garrett
Hosted on Mplsart.com
Shop the Entire C4W:2020 Collection!
About C4W:2020 – Lush Future
Gamut Gallery’s annual Call-4-Work exhibition is not a show that influences what art should be. Instead, the chosen guest curator brings their unique perspective and interpretation of the submitted works ranging the full “Gamut” of visual media.
A theme emerged around ideas of projection, optimism, truth, and action – creating a wild, saturated world that breathes life into us from every angle. Revealed in a body of work by 42 artists, these elements convey a hopeful and restorative life ahead. Biological elements invite inspiration of growth through texture, material, pattern, and figure. This rich, fertile ground features jewel tones pulling everything together, welcoming wet, magnetic pieces to pull at the imagination and occupy your whole mind.
Meet the Artists:
Jessica Kitzman is an interdisciplinary artist exploring identity tensions and personal/cultural history as a queer single mother. Her bright and playful textile compositions often represent the land between mother and child: a messy and playful overlap of past, present, and future, full of impossible contradictions. “Outside Myself” is a reflection on letting go as a child grows. It’s about the physical and emotional labor of growing someone in your body, and the extreme feelings of watching them walk out into this world.
Lora Hlavsa is an artist, illustrator, and designer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her artwork is inspired largely by femininity, intersectionality, and multiculturalism. Born to an American father and a Filipino mother, Lora’s work is also an exploration of her own cultural heritage and the constant tension that arises from belonging to two worlds. Lora uses color and pattern to create detail-rich compositions that feel cluttered yet intriguing and suggest a world larger than the frame that the work is contained in.
Merick Reed is a modern minimalist sculptor, photographer and designer living and working in Saint Paul, Minnesota. His work expresses simple, graphic geometry balancing spare aesthetics with playful assertion. Influenced by graphic and architectural design, his sculptural wall paintings are gestural arrangements; an interplay of dimensional facets and saturated monochromatic panels.
Alejandro Junyao Zhang is a Chinese interdisciplinary artist who builds relations between performance, 3D animation, video, electronic music, experimental images, and installation, currently based in Minneapolis, MN. His art practice focuses on the visibility of the Chinese queer identity and the composition of the physical or virtual identity habitats by utilizing the space, architectural props, and virtual reality through post-club aesthetics.
Philipo Dyauli is a painter, illustrator and draftsman from Tanzania and currently resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He works from the Northrup King Building as a part of the Studio 400 program. His work is inspired by pop art, film, illustration and graphic design creating a body of work that reflects his life between his two homes in the United States and East Africa. Often Philipo’s work ivolves depictions of his favorite family traditions, friends and personal heroes.
Catrin Magnuson is a multidisciplinary artist currently working with sculptural forms in clay and industrial felt. Using the iconography of geology as a starting place, she utilizes a muted color palette that suggests earth, metal, charcoal. Catrin is drawn to the quiet remnants of violent movement, connecting deep time and macro processes to a personal timeline. She holds a MFA from Minneapolis College of Art and Design, a BFA from CU Boulder and filmmaking/screenwriting degrees from MCTC.
Russ White is an artist and writer living in Minneapolis and working out of his studio in the Casket Arts Building. Focusing mainly on figurative colored pencil drawings and mixed media collages, White uses a brightly colored, almost cartoonish realism to address complicated personal and political themes. He also works as a writer and editor for MPLSART.COM.
Reid Olson is a painter currently living in Minneapolis. His work spans a wide range of media including painting, drawing, collage, printmaking, photo transfer and fashion in a distinctive style that is all his own. What began as a passion project for Reid has now become a self-sustaining enterprise focused on portrayal of the mystery of the human condition.
Nicole Thomas is a second generation Vietnamese American practicing interdisciplinary arts, curation, and writing in Minneapolis. Her visual arts practice centers the Southeast Asian diaspora experience in the United States and mental health effects of generational trauma. In response to unresolved, dysfunctional behavioral habits, Nicole creates in series and collections to describe patterns and a continuation of unhealed wounds. The dynamics between loss/longing and memory/resilience are common themes throughout her studio practice.
Kelsi Sharp aka Kelsi Sharp is an African American artist and sign maker. Growing up in the American Southwest, Kelsi is strongly influenced by the signage, gas stations, and other relics found on the historic Route 66 highway. After studying construction methods, earning certifications in fabrication technologies, and apprenticing in an iconic Santa Fe sign shop, Kelsi started Sharp Design Co., a signage and environmental design company based in the Midwest.