With traditional hand papermaking at its core, Pulped Under Pressure underscores important contemporary issues steeped in history and craft. Enticed through touch, these works encourage a contemplative slowing down even as they urge acknowledgement of some of the most pressing issues (environmental crisis to global marginalization) facing civilization today. Each of the artists, Jillian Bruschera, Julia Goodman, Reni Gower, Trisha Oralie Martin, Melissa Potter, Marilyn Propp, Maggie Puckett, starts simply with a foundation of pulp made from natural fibers. Their multifaceted results incorporate a rich range of printmaking, letterpress, papercutting, and installation with a diversity of recycled disposable materials (junk mail, egg cartons, old cotton t-shirts, ripped denim jeans) as well as old bedsheets, beetroot, heirloom plants, and illuminated el wires. In very unique ways, these artists consider paper beyond its most common function as a passive surface of record or craft. Instead, the material is transformed and imbedded with content that turns communication into a public practice. By challenging assumptions, the artists of Pulped Under Pressure create artworks that are both beautiful and brave.
California native, Jillian Bruschera is an interdisciplinary artist who recycles discarded materials. By combining bits of broken technology (tv remotes, cassette tape, and cds) with waste paper and trash cardboard, the artist questions built-in obsolescence, over consumption, and identity.
Based in Oakland, CA, independent artist, Julia Goodman makes cast paper works from discarded bedsheets and with papyrus pulped from beets. Loosely based on the history of rag paper, her biographical and biological approach produces works that are both fragile and strong.
Professor in the Painting and Printmaking Department at Virginia Commonwealth University, Reni Gower incorporates sacred geometry in her spray pulped paintings and papercuts to reveal universal cross-cultural connections.
Inspired by her heritage, Chicago artist Trisha Oralie Martin includes native Filipino tattoo designs and textile motifs in her highly patterned works. By archiving a practice that reflects a native people’s symbiotic relationship to the environment, the artist invites her audience to look, learn, and communicate despite differences.
Influenced by crafters, feminists, and Quaker activists, Columbia College Chicago Associate Professor, Melissa Potter considers the radical history of women through traditional handicrafts, gender rituals, and untold personal histories.
Chicago artist and co-founder of Anchor Graphics, Marilyn Propp examines the coexistence and clash between the industrial and the natural worlds. By combining luminous color with the materiality of handmade paper and graphic images, the artist entangles marine life with industrial debris in provocative reflections on destruction.
Based in Chicago, interdisciplinary artist Maggie Puckett uses the seductive tactility of handmade paper in concert with rich organic color to foretell the dire effects of climate change. By working collaboratively, her work triggers environmental awareness that imbues socially engaged local actions with the power to impact the global.
Digital Prospectus: Includes Checklist / Images
Size: Approximately 250 running feet. Exhibition may be sized to suit your gallery specifications
Number of Works: 24 wall mounted works (6 with multiple parts) / 1 video / 3 installation variable works (2 installed on pedestals, shelves or in cases / 1 installed on the floor and/or against the wall) / 3 books installed on pedestals / 1 optional interactive installation available upon request
- Pedestals, shelves, or cases provided by the venue. Pedestal bonnets preferred.
- Checklist
- Condition Report with detailed installation instructions travels with exhibition
- Special installation hardware travels with exhibition
- Other required hardware itemized on Checklist / Installation Instruction Sheet
Additional Support Material Provided by Venue:
- Confirmation letter / contract to exhibition coordinator
- Invitations, mailing, e-vite
- Gallery signage and labels
- Press material to appropriate media list
- Reception
- $1,000 rental fee
Transport: Packed in reusable museum quality boxes / crates for freight climate controlled transport (53′ cab / truck) or FedEx Ground.
- Each venue to provide one way shipping to the next venue
- Free Shipping Estimates Available from TCI, International
Contact Colleen Kennelly: Colleen@shippingmadesimple.com
- Prices indicated in Prospectus are estimates per box via FedEx Ground VA – CA
Actual cost will vary by distance / FedEx Shipping Calculator
Insurance: Wall to Wall / Provided by Virginia Commonwealth University
Available on request:
- High Resolution Digital Image Files / Press Packet
- Gallery Talk / Panel presentation / workshops by artist(s) when funding permits
- Installation Assistance by artist(s) when funding permits
- Catalog under development / Available at venue expense
- Currently seeking writer for catalog essay. Writer’s fee available
- Contact Reni Gower renigower53@comcast.net with your interest.
Itinerary:
TCC Visual Arts Center, Portsmouth, VA; Jan 16 – Mar 3, 2016
Monmouth Museum, Lincroft, NJ; Mar 19 – May 7, 2017
Available June – December 2017
Kohler Gallery, Lawrence University, Appleton, WI; Jan 14 – Mar 17, 2018
Available April 15 – August, 2018
Visual Arts Center, Boise State University, Boise, ID; Sep – Oct, 2018.
Available November – December 2018
A.D. Gallery, University of North Carolina Pembroke, Pembroke, NC: Jan 7 – Feb 15, 2019
Available March 15, 2019 and beyond
PRESS: Interview with the Curators: Gower and Potter
SPONSORS: Sponsored in part by Virginia Commonwealth University, VCUarts, Painting and Printmaking Department
For More Information / schedule booking:
Contact Reni Gower: renigower53@comcast.net
Categories: Traveling Exhibitions