In betweenness

Artists: Tasia Shen

Dates: April 17 2023 - April 28 2023

• Artist Statement

  Tasia Shen’s work navigates a path through the ideologies collectivism and individualism, and how these philosophies shape perceptions of ourselves and understanding of society. Shen draws inspiration from being brought up in a shared culture and relocating to places encouraging individuality. Rather than rejecting or embracing one modality over the other, they do not consider the cultures to be diametrically opposed. Shen addresses personal stories by imposing their marks by embellishing the material and incorporating the hand elements such as sewing, dying, and printing.

  The exhibition In Betweenness is where Shen examines their experience and wonder between the two cultures. They notice themselves often switching personas while in different environments and want to know the reason behind it. In the project dinner time, through the window, and to kiss a pillow goodbye, Shen uses mass-produced materials such as curtains, tablecloths, and pillow cases, translating and interpreting objects we already know in a new way.

  Crawling is constructed with numerous small pieces of wood charcoal at the bottom and a few large pieces hanging from the ceiling. Each piece of wood is a symbol of individuality as well as an exposure of the imbalance of social hierarchy. Whether in nature or culture, the effects of individualism and collectivism are inescapable, but Shen chooses to engage with their materials with a new awareness of their place in both.

Recapturing Nostalgia

Artists: Sarah Woodams

Dates: April 17 2023 - April 28 2023

• Artist Statement

  Sarah Woodams is a photographer and graphic designer based in Rochester, New York. She attends the University of Rochester, majoring in Studio Arts and Environmental Studies as well as minoring in Digital Media Studies, and Sustainability. She is also a Take Five Scholar studying Gendery, Sexuality and Society and will graduate in May 2024.With an academic background in the environment and a passion for the outdoors, Woodams focuses primarily on landscape photography and utilizes her graphic design skills through her marketing job with Facilities Team Green at the University. Her work has been featured in group shows in the Hartnett Gallery and AS/IS in Sage Art Center.

  Sarah Woodams’ work explores her relationship with the world around her through digital photography and graphic design. She spent her childhood exploring Rochester’s many greenspaces with her family, leading to a great appreciation of the outdoors. With a major in Environmental Studies and a longtime passion for history and the natural environment, Woodams focuses primarily on landscape photography and capturing unique perspectives. Her graphic design work takes a more informational approach, creating brochures, park posters, and incorporating text into photographs and collages. Both aspects of her practice allow Woodams to return to what she grew up with and gain a deeper appreciation and understanding of her home in Greater Rochester.

  Recapturing Nostalgia features landscape photographs of locations along the Erie Canal, a place closely tied to her childhood spent outdoors with her family, and a booklet featuring writings connected to each spot. Woodams uses a drone to capture previously unseen points of view, inaccessible with her camera on the ground. These new angles reveal shapes within the landscapes, heavily influencing her image composition and revealing that art is everywhere when you start looking for it. The booklet contextualizes the photos for the viewer, allowing them to better understand Woodams’ childhood connections and hopefully think back to their own memories.

More Beautiful Than It Was

Artists: Brooke Fiannaca

Dates: April 17 2023 - April 28 2023

• Artist Statement

  Born in Haddonfield New Jersey, Brooke Fiannaca is a visual artist and currently a senior student double-majoring in Studio Arts and Economics at the University of Rochester. Fiannaca has participated in numerous large-scale mural projects throughout her artistic career, most notably in the United Service Organizations (USO) center in the Philadelphia airport. Her work has been shown in ASIS and Frontispace galleries at the University of Rochester, along with the Markheim Arts Center in New Jersey.

  Memories shift and evolve over time, but do we have agency over what they become? Visual artist Brooke Fiannaca explores this question in her two dimensional work. She believes that experiences can be transformed into parables, elevated beyond what they were. Her practice draws upon her own memories. The process of remembering, interpreting, and producing imagery for these moments allows for a narrative to emerge. Fiannaca uses these stories to learn from her own past. An important part of living is to elevate your own experiences, to find meaning in your mistakes and grow from it. More Beautiful Than it Was is the product of that belief.

  Fiannaca uses gouache, graphite, and acrylic in her practice. She uses these mediums to embellish moments from her life. Her style draws upon a flat storybook aesthetic to establish these memories as chapters in a bigger narrative. This includes her summer spent away from home, trying to keep her houseplant alive. Another work elaborates upon a lost necklace, and an unusual injury. This show incorporates how her memory from a family trip has evolved, and also the reflective nature of a sketchbook practice. A common theme is the balance between a picturesque moment and the reality of what happened, which she explores in her final work. These pieces come together to create the cohesive narrative of More Beautiful Than it Was.

Pulling on Strings

Artists: Emma Bentley

Dates: April 17 2023 - April 28 2023

• Artist Statement

  Emma Bentley is a multidisciplinary artist whose primary focus lies in prints and textiles. The many transitions she has experienced in her life, from her time living in Florida, Hawaii, North Carolina, Alaska, and Oregon, have shaped her art practice. She is currently a senior student at the University of Rochester, where she is pursuing both a B.S. in General Biology and a B.A. in Studio Arts. Her work has been featured in exhibitions at Frontispace Gallery and ASIS Gallery at the University of Rochester.
  Emma Bentley struggles to identify as an artist. Her academic pursuits have driven her in various directions. As a results-oriented individual, she pursues experiences outside of the studio with a specific outcome in mind. In her practice, Bentley uses a multidisciplinary approach to examine her process of making art. By concentrating on the art of creation rather than the result, she is able to be present in the moment and immersed in her thoughts, something she has not found in other areas of her life. This is what gravitates her toward making art. Bentley’s works rely on materiality, frequently incorporating personal symbols and consistently invites the viewer to explore their pieces under their own interpretation.
  Pulling on Strings is motivated by Bentley’s desire to maintain control and follows her development of learning to relinquish oneself to uncertainty. Growing up as a part of a military family, she constantly moved around and had little autonomy in future transitions. She is exhausted by the overwhelming feeling of constantly needing to be in control. To reduce cognitive dissonance, she takes action to lessen the magnitude of her incessant need for order. By concentrating on the act of making rather than the end-product lends itself in Bentley’s practice of disengaging from being in a position of control. The use of strings is labor intensive and requires Bentley to focus on the process in which she surrenders oversight into the results. The various printmaking techniques Bentley uses provides her with different degrees of authority over the resulting prints. With CMYK printing, the process is highly regulated and produces identical prints which allows her to have power over the final prints. In contrast, collagraph prints are profoundly variable which provides Bentley with less regulation over the resulting print. These mixed-media works embody Bentley's introspective reflection through embedded personal information and scale. This new approach to minimize authority over the results documents her progress made in renouncing control over the outcome, both artistically and personally.

Pulling on Strings

Artists: Various Artists

Dates: March 31 2023 - April 14 2023