Handle with Care: Fragile Materials for Fragile Times // 5:00pm-9:00pm

Feb 11
2 min read

Updated: Feb 18

Friday, March 6th, 5:00pm-9:00pm

EONTA SPACE 34 Dekalb Ave, Jersey City, NJ 07306

Glass shatters, ceramics break, miniatures are fragile and thread snags, snaps and unravels. Material use reflects the risks involved in creating art. The inherent nature of the materials determine the parameters under which the art is formed. In the same way, the choices made by society to use materials, natural resources and energy determine the limitations, risks and outcomes of using those same elements.

MEGAN KLIM uses fire to make porcelain embellished wall pieces that defy tradition. Added wire and other elements in fired clay flirts with potential disaster in the kiln. Her white work speaks of transition, risk and ultimately a calm, ethereal beauty.

GRETCHEN van DYK challenges the literal structure of her clay masks, heads and hanging elements to resist outside forces. Strike or kick a ceramic piece? We are asked to believe that they can be moved around and shaken, loose additions inside make for sounds that mimic nature and echo ancient ritual.

DAN PEYTON explores the nature of glass with pieced, leaded panels and fused pictorial slabs. Glass represents a challenging medium where cuts, burns and fractures are part of its everyday language. Ultimately the transmission of light through and onto glass takes us to a contemplative place filled with lambent, historical memories.

ASHI DIAMON recreates her living spaces with witty miniatures that represent her everyday reality. One piece recalls a barbecue that got out of control and remains a moment of deep embarrassment. Are they memories of Ashi’s now or a method of recording, a means of understanding the forces affecting the artist.

BAYARD fears neither color or scale. His enormous crochet piece using lace-weight mohair becomes a refuge under it’s textured canopy. A giant, ephemeral grid of Granny squares, separated in light years by hook size, thread weight and intention from the ‘Grannies’ we once knew. The panels sway, drape and droop asking for interaction. Touch, move within, see how colors overlap and create constantly changing perspectives.

THE 16th ANTI-NUCLEAR POWER ARTISTS GROUP represents the response to the Fukushima earthquake, tsunami and nuclear core meltdown by Japanese artists working in the USA. March 11th is the anniversary of this disaster which profoundly affected Japan and indeed the entire world. Twenty-one artists show work that comments on this event. As a society do we risk all to maintain our current levels of development? Do we remain calm and acquiescent as Tepco, the

Japanese utility turns the nuclear reactors back on?

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