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Claudia Flynn employs alchemical combinations of organic materials such
as cast iron, horse hair, animal teeth, and volcanic rock to
create three-dimensional and two-dimensional works that address
metaphysics, gender, social justice, and the boundaries between
artistic creativity and mental illness. Worn patinas and dry
natural materials lend their history to her work. Flynn's recurring
motif is the self-portrait. Her archetypal self-representations,
at times autobiographical, speak wisely to the human condition.
Barbara Pagh creates a paper environment of images and forms relating
to natural cycles. Hanging from the ceiling are stitched sheets
of flax or abaca (both flax and abaca are plants whose fibers
are used to make the paper) with imagery showing the gradual
transition of fiddlehead ferns from tight spirals emerging from
the ground to full fronds. Three-dimensional forms resembling
pods or vessels made from flax are scattered on the floor. The
sequence of ferns and the pods are symbols for potential, growth
and change. The installation is not a representational space
but one that evokes the feeling of entering a natural environment
surrounded by trees and plants and calls for contemplation. |