FLUID

FLUID: Rhythms, Transitions, & Connections

Featuring artwork by Lisa Hill, Francie Hester and Rebecca Kamen.

4/13/2012 – 6/9/2012
Opening reception: Friday, Apr. 13, 7-9pm
Artist’s Talk: Saturday, May 12, 3:30pm

FLUID tackles the oft-unexplored complexities of human existence and visually ponders questions  relating to loss, memory, and our connections to nature and one another.

In this exhibition I explore the nature of human existence as represented in one of the most intimate expressions of it — a signature. The work charts the signatures of family members over the course of their lives and shows how identity is formed and altered by life’s events and the ravages of time and health.

This body of work started by creating handmade paper that is conceptually integral to my work by incorporating shredded personal documents from my subjects. These newly formed sheets serve as the surface to document the subtle and not so subtle shifts in the transitions of the human condition with a series of printed signatures found in documents discovered during my research.

The installation forms timelines giving the viewer a specific vision into lives at a particular moment and hinting at the unseen things that have transitioned in between the signatures that mark points in time.

 

FLUID features WORDS AS LEGACY – A Leaf of Knowledge

This installation is a unique collaborative project by Francie Hester, Lisa Hill, Brendan Ogg, Mattson Ogg, Jackie Ogg and a community. It was inspired by the words left behind by Brendan Ogg, a young poet who passed away from brain cancer at age 20.

It is comprised of word columns, a digital projection, a musical composition, and knitted panels wrapped around each other in concentric circles.

The knitting project, which began among Brendan’s circle of family and friends after his death as a way to mourn him. The project expanded over time to include knitters from across the country who learned of Brendan’s story from our website WordsAsLegacy.com, and who were inspired to participate in this community remembrance. More than 150 knitters created these panels over the past year and one-half. The panels serve as a symbol of how we nurture, learn and heal together.

FLUID will feature the following events:

– Writing Workshop: “Finding our Voices, Telling our Stories”
with Kathleen Staudt, Saturday, April 28, 10am-3pm

– Literary Art Tour, presented by Cross-Pollinate and featuring local
poets written responses to FLUID, Thursday, May 17, 7-8:30pm

 Learn more & to RSVP at www.smithcenter.org/gallery.

JOAN HISAOKA HEALING ARTS GALLERY
at the Smith Center for Healing and the Arts

1632 U Street, NW, Washington, DC 20009 | P 202.483.8600

Gallery Hours: Wed. to Fri., 11am-5pm, Sat., 11am-3pm, and by appointment.