AUGUST 2021

 “Gathered, Absorbed, Carried”

Womenswork.Art Gallery presents a solo exhibition by Gabriella Kirby

Please join us for the opening reception on Friday, August 6th, 2021 from 5pm - 9pm

at Womenswork.Art Gallery, 4 South Clinton St. in Poughkeepsie, New York

Gallery Hours: Friday - Saturday, 2 - 6pm and also by appointment

The show will run from August 6th - 29th, 2021

Artist Talk: Sunday, August 8th at 3pm est

* The exhibit is also available to view online below *

Exhibition

Statement

“Gathered, Absorbed, Carried” presents a collection of mixed media paintings on plaster, canvas and paper that reflect on the emotional landscape of vulnerability we traverse in order to connect with the world around us. 

Our interactions shape us. We gather, absorb and carry them within, and, through observing the intricacy of experiences, patterns emerge. At times we are able to find connection, and at other times we find ourselves guarded; between these two states is the delicate space of vulnerability. It can be found in the moments of conversation, when uncertainty threatens to hold us back, so as not to risk exposing the truest parts of ourselves, but we shift and give ourselves permission to lower the walls and bring a part of ourselves out into the light. Such vulnerability is nature’s language, and we can feel it when we observe the weathered cracks of granite cliffs or piercing light reflecting off the surface of a stream. 

Kirby’s improvisational process ebbs and flows between tension and release, conflict and resolution, fear and ease. A series of fractured marks and plumes of atmospheric traces evokes the passage of an entity through space. Drawn marks scrape and carve their way into the plaster’s surface, a material whose inherent sensitivity holds dueling qualities of fragility and strength. Transparent washes of color flood and swiftly absorb into the raw canvas. Due to the nature of these exposed surfaces, nothing can hide here. Line mirrors vulnerability; both describe the distance between two points, with the ability to simultaneously separate and connect. “Gathered, Absorbed, Carried” becomes an imprint of those moments spent in this delicate space.

Artist Bio

Kirby holds a BFA from Tufts University and The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, as well as an AA with High Distinction in Apparel Design from the Art Institute of Portland. She has exhibited work at Limner Gallery, Hudson; Treat Gallery, NYC; Emerge Gallery, Saugerties; Columbia Center for the Arts, Hood River, Oregon; Splendorporium Gallery, Portland, Oregon; Art at the Cave Gallery, Vancouver, Washington; and contributed the exhibition “Preparing” at Los Angeles' Craft Contemporary Museum. Kirby designed and constructed “An Unearthening,” a public art commission at North Mountain Park Nature Center in Ashland, Oregon, and developed an environmental art education program serving schools and at-risk youth groups. She co-founded the New New Artist Collective in Portland, Oregon. Her work is held in the private collection at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Kirby lives and works in upstate New York.

Gallery Installation

Exhibition Artwork