The Fleisher Art Memorial's Wind Challenge 2, the second installment of the 37th Annual Wind Challenge Exhibition Series, will open at Fleisher in Philadelphia with a public reception Friday, December 5, beginning at 6:00 p.m.
The exhibition features work by Jesse Engaard, Mami Kato, and Theresa Rose, and will be on view through February 7, 2015, in Fleisher's main galleries, located at 719 Catharine Street, Philadelphia.
Those who attend the opening are invited to stay for Fleisher Live, Fleisher's bimonthly music series in the historic sanctuary, featuring Northern Arms and Drew Nugent and the Midnight Society. Named best band of 2014 by Philadelphia Magazine, Northern Arms combines a haunting atmosphere that draws comparisons to Black Heart Procession and The Handsome Family with the casual tension of Roxy Music and Brian Eno.
Their debut album was released to wide acclaim in June of this year. The video for "Beneath the Pines" was also shot, in part, in Fleisher's Sanctuary. Admission to Fleisher Live is $8 and the doors will open at 8:00 p.m.
ABOUT THE WIND CHALLENGE EXHIBITION SERIES
Since 1978, the series has introduced regional contemporary art from over 300 artists to a broad audience and has helped emerging artists advance their professional careers. Each series features nine artists to be featured in one of three three-artist exhibitions. Past Wind Challenge artists include photographer Robert Asman and sculptor Syd Carpenter, both of whom were later awarded a Pew Fellowship in the Arts; beloved Fleisher teaching artist Charlotte Yudis; and brothers Billy and Stephen Dufala, winners of the 2009 West Prize.
The Wind Challenge Exhibition Series is made possible with thanks to generous support from the Wind family, the National Endowment for the Arts, and through Fleisher members.
A panel of five jurors chose this year's Wind Challenge Artists from a field of hundreds of applicants. The jury, composed of local artists and curators, included John Dowell, Maixa Hixson, Miguel Horn, Katie Johnson, and Jennifer Levonian.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Jesse Gorham Engaard uses video installations and public performance to explore improvised community, instinctual mythology, and forgotten stories. Engaard likes to make up the parts of history and legend that he believes have been removed and changing the common knowledge that does not make sense to him. He represents motion and form in his videos using antiquated and often obsolete techniques, sometimes borrowed from other disciplines.
Mami Kato's work revolves around examining and reconnecting with her early life. An example of this tendency is her use of rice stalks as a material for her sculptures, something that has a close connection to her childhood surroundings and a historical and symbolic implication of Japanese culture. The forms of the pieces might be loose references to Japanese daily commodities, metaphors of home, and the use of traditional Japanese craft techniques as a way to connect to the root of that culture. As her personal life in the United States has changed, Kato's most recent work - influenced by Japanese Buddhism - has shifted to presenting intangible energy or order throughout nature and the universe.
For Theresa Rose, the city is a magical place that offers a multitude of shape, light, color, texture, and intrigue. Abandoned warehouses, empty parking lots, a neighbor's front stoop, the bustling marketplace, each tell a story, each elicit a response, each evoke meaning. She attempts to create something new, something curious, something formal, by pairing her photographed images with mono-printed color forms.
The Fleisher Art Memorial was founded by industrialist Samuel S. Fleisher in 1898 and is renowned for its mission of making art accessible to everyone regardless of economic means, background or artistic experience. Fleisher Art Memorial is one of the nation's first community-based art centers, providing free and low-cost studio art classes along with opportunities for beginning and seasoned artists to exhibit their work in a professional gallery setting. Fleisher's arts education programming reaches deeply into local schools and community centers, and has brought the organization national recognition and powerful opportunities to advocate for and shape arts education initiatives throughout the region and the country.
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