current exhibition
current exhibition
The KAC GFA
ONE+1
Online Exhibition
December 20, 2024 –
January, 18, 2025
The KAC Gallery of Fellow Artists’ (KAC GFA’s) ONE+1 exhibition invites artists to showcase one of their artworks and then provide some editorial background to that piece, whether it be inspirational or experimental or creative or deeply personal.
EXHIBITION
Weak Is The New Strong
digital collage on aluminium
85cm x 85cm
Sharon
GERSHMAN
I am an abstract and digital collage artist, based in a small city near Tel Aviv.
Weak Is The New Strong artwork portrays two women in black and white, embodying the harmony of opposites. It reflects the duality within us, the ability to be both vulnerable and strong at the same time. As I allowed myself to reveal my vulnerabilities, I discovered my true power.
This piece is part of a collection that shares my process of growth from a shy girl to woman who leaves her mark. The work on this collection born from a desire to empower women to raise their voice and be authentic.
IG: sharons_art12
Drowning in a see
of lies
mixed media
24cm x 24cm
Sian
PAMPELLONNE
For this piece I was processing the Iceberg Model. What’s seen above the surface is so minuscule to what’s actually below.
Some days I feel as if I am watching the water rise around me and I am struggling to breathe. We are so side tracked by the flash and sparkles around us that we “don’t see” / “ignore” / “refuse to look” at the way we are being manipulated into ignoring the trauma, disruption and upheaval that surrounds us.
I don’t know how to separate the two and it’s a struggle to keep my head above that rising water and not completely sink into the depths with all the hidden truths.
What keeps my head above the water are reminders that there are good, compassionate and kind people out there. Who in our time of need will be there to hold our heads up when we get too tired to swim. Find them and keep them close.
Artifacte: Scissors
stoneware, carved to achieve a relief surface, fired in a salt kiln and then fired again with gold luster
Carol
GROCKI LEWIS
While growing up I was surrounded by many needle artists, aka, my mother and grandmother and sisters. At the time we made almost all of our clothes. It was before ready-to-wear clothes were widely available or inexpensive. All of our clothes were unique. We went on special shopping trips to find just the right fabrics and patterns.
I grew up using my hands to make art, painting, drawing, knitting, sewing, etc. I became an art teacher and along the way discovered how much I loved working with clay, and still do.
During the pandemic I worked with young students online, many of whom had little access to art materials. A project I introduced was "Artifacts”. I asked the students to find an artifact that had special person meaning to them. They drew their artifacts, animated them, in some cases, and wrote stories and poems. The project was interesting for me too and made me think of all kinds of artifacts from scissors, to rolling pins, to stencils and broaches. While working on a simple vessels I looked for ways to make it unique, carving pairs of scissors, spools of threads and needles. When completed it seemed the perfect vessel to store scissors. I decided to make a setting with other artifacts, including spools of silk thread that belonged to my grandmother, then my mother, and now me.
MGH ED, Midnight
acrylic paints on paper
11in x 17in
Charles
HUSCHLE
I really began painting only in 2016 while a contemplative religions student at Naropa University in Boulder, CO. Every Thursday afternoon, the graduate students in the psychology department’s art therapy program offered a drop-in session for any students who wanted to mess around with paints and talk about what we made.
MGH ED, Midnight, was one of my first paintings. I knew what I wanted to paint when I began, but I had no idea what colors I would use or how the picture would be composed. The only “concrete” thing that I put in the picture is what looks to me like a body under a white sheet on a stretcher.
I still remember the final brush strokes, coming out of nowhere: Brush in my hand, I dipped it in white paint, and then I made the mark you see in the upper left of the painting, a kind of white cross or star or just burst.
The painting came out of an experience I had as a fledgling hospital chaplain during the week following the 2013 bombing of the Boston Marathon. On duty overnight, I was called to attend to the MIT police officer who had been just shot by the bombers during their escape. The experiences of that night remains, untethered, rattling through my body and mind. This painting was one way to begin crawling out from the weight of trauma. I will always be grateful to the processes of art therapy that I learned at Naropa in 2016.
Icing on the Cake
Sylvie
LAUZON
I draw my inspiration from my studio, where my curiosity guides my process as I explore materials and their multiple possibilities. My creativity and energy come from the world around me, where I take the time to notice what catches my eye: colors, shapes, contrasts. My work is mainly born of experimentation and my previous work, which in turn nourishes and informs my current work.
I work intuitively without a predefined plan, reacting to the present moment, where each mark, each brushstroke inspires another. The work may take a moment before emerging, through multiple layers, creating a rich surface, alternating between precise, restrained brushstrokes and freer ones. I combine acrylics with other media, such as pencil and graphite, and often include collages, sometimes buried beneath the paint, adding texture and depth to my work.
I amuse myself by introducing differences in both value contrasts and shapes, to create tension in my work. I generate a sense of space, a key element for me, while surprising people with the simplicity of my work. This feeling of space is generated by a simple composition based on the use of large forms, combined with graphic work that can be obliterated to appropriate or liberate the space.