MERGE: recent works

June 12, 2009 The Midwives Collective will be opening their doors and welcoming one and all as they host an exhibition of their own members’ works in MERGE: RECENT WORKS. This exhibition will be showcasing a multitude of two-dimensional and three-dimensional pieces. These artworks extend from dynamic illustrations, ceramic pieces to delicate hand sewn and dyed fabrics, as well as, intricately constructed and scripted books, and much more that will enchant and/or engross viewers. MERGE will open to the public Friday, June 12, 2009 with an opening reception from 6 P.M. till 10 P.M. and run through Saturday, June 27, 2009. The Gallery will be open Saturdays from 12 P.M. till 5 P.M. or by appointment. There is no admission fee to enjoy this annual show as well as the debauchery that may ensue.

The women of the Midwives Collective and Gallery have gathered together to promote themselves as individual artists and as their Collective, and will once more leave a lasting impression on the thriving art community of Philadelphia as they have previously accomplished with past exhibitions. MERGE consists of a myriad of personalities, explorations, the marriage of Science, Dreams, and Art.

Artists

Carol Deutsch is inspired by a passionate curiosity for molecular mechanisms, poetry, music of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the Japanese aesthetic, handwritten texts, Latin rhythms, and the sea. Her work explores the worlds of #68863f;">sumi e brush painting, #68863f;">western calligraphy, manuscript illumination, and fantastic creatures conjured by magic.

Carol was trained as a scientist (Ph.D., #68863f;">Yale University). She currently resides in #68863f;">Philadelphia, teaching and doing research as a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Carol has been studying lute for more than 20 years. She has been doing art all of her life.

Erin Filson, more than anything, wants to tell stories. She dabbles in different medium and styles but describes all her work as both epic and quirky. Erin sites literary works of science fiction and fantasy, comic books, and cartoons of the 80's and 90's as her main influences. She is currently working on a book series, which exists in a symbiotic relationship with her art; the two continually inspire and shape one another.

Erin Filson's work for the June 2009 Midwives Collective Members Show concerns her struggle with the June 2009 Midwives Collective Members Show and an overwhelming artists' block that would have killed a lesser man. After months of brainstorms, false starts, and questioning everything she believes in, Erin's breakthrough came with six ink drawings. Since she had been stuck in the planning stage with half-formed and quickly abandoned ideas, Erin chose a medium that would be messy and unpredictable. She was immediately taken with the lively, otherworldly quality of the spreading ink. Its vein-like marks sparked her imagination and she was finally able to create again. The images she worked in to and on top of the ink stains deal specifically with the issues of faith and frustration that Erin encountered during her period of stress. Thanks to this recent bout with bad juju, Erin has decided to take a more proactive stance against the ever-present antagonists of anxiety and fearfulness. Usually, Erin's mother is the one to quell her daughter's worries. In an attempt to recreate and harness her mother's soothing energies, Erin recorded herself reading one of many emails the two women have exchanged on this subject. She then used this recording as inspiration for a tension-taming animation involving silly fantasy images and therapeutic free thought doodles. Erin hopes the encouraging words and cozy environment she has created to view this animation will also aid in calming and uplifting her audience.

Erin holds a BFA in Animation from University of the Arts in Philadelphia and an Associate's Degree in Graphic Design from Bucks County Community College. She currently resides in Philadelphia.

Sarah Hunt was born in Pennsylvania and has lived there all of her life.  She attended Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia and graduated in 2003 with a BFA in 2D Fine Arts and a minor in Art History. Recent creative ventures include founding the grassroots community theater project, Project Theater Project, and acting in their production of March of the Falsettos and selling her collection of handsewn accessories and vintage wares in her Etsy store, Mouse Trap Vintage.

Sarah finds impetus for her art in many places: in Paula Rego's Dog Women drawings; in the titillating pages of Guillaume
Apollinaire's erotica; in Goya's Follies; in the heavy volume, The Compleat Guide to Practical Joking. But always, the process of drawing - the impulsive and immediate nature of the medium itself - dominates as the key motivation for making work.  Her most recent investigation is a series of graphite drawings inspired by the Animal Dances of the Ragtime Era, basic acting improvisational exercises, and her model Beth’s flexibility.

Nora Hiriart Litz was born in Mexico City. She came to the United States and lived in New York City. While in New York she attended the Arts Students League. After several years in New York, Ms. Hiriart Litz moved to Philadelphia where she received her BFA at Moore College of Art and Design. Since graduation, Nora has worked to create an art collaborative, which opened in Old City Philadelphia in the spring of 2005. Her present focus of work includes, printing and painting.

Her work has been exhibited at: The Keisho Art Association, Aichi Prefecture Art Center, Nagoya, Japan. The Inaugural Kimmel Center Exhibition, Philadelphia, Pa., Chinese Artist's Group Show at the Mummers Museum, Philadelphia, Pa., Da Vinci Art
Alliance, Philadelphia, Pa., Moore Galleries, Philadelphia, Pa., Rutgers University Gallery, Camden, NJ, and the Lincoln Financial Field.

Artist Statement:
The process starts simply enough. However, the process never really ends. Somewhere and somehow a tenuous balance is found. Emerging from surfaces and submerging under surfaces, images appear through the layers of colors. For the viewer, I wish a similar journey of losing and finding themselves within the labyrinths of images they discover.

Christiana Kugel was born on a moist night in Atlantic City in 1980.  She currently celebrates her birthday every year on May the
fourteenth. Christiana earned her BFA Degree at Moore College of Art and Design in 2003.  She graduated with an emphasis in painting.

Artist Statement:
I've known her since I learned there was just me inside my head.  She stays with me at all times looking like me and feeling like me.  I have become her cross to bear, as she is my salvation.  She is my relief.  She carries with her my lost love, my lost people and my lost time.  She holds my secrets, my pains, my fears and my sadness. She plays the part of me that I am sometimes glad to hand over. It's the "sometimes" that makes me doubt I might always know her. But for now with her I have a lighter life; I walk around feeling lighter.

Alicia Mino, Chilean painter, completed her art and graphic design studies at the University of Chile.
Alicia is a dedicated artist who has been painting for twenty-five years. She utilizes different techniques in her art, but focuses mainly on oil paintings. For the past few years she has developed a photo realistic style. Her work has been successfully displayed in several different countries.

Alicia will present one oil painting and three pieces of graphic designs.

Bonnie Neary has no idea what she is doing and makes no bones about it. Aside from having a knack for telling asinine stories of her childhood and adulthood, as well as inappropriate jokes, she has always had fervor for art. Art has played the role of her best friend and worst enemy throughout her life. Now as member of the Midwives Collective, she hopes to utilize this time to mend this two-fold, be it through observational works or the retelling of a memories.

Elizabeth J. Smith, recently, had the opportunity to photograph cells and tissue samples under a microscope at a UPenn lab, thus fulfilling a long-held wish. While this is only her initial attempt, the act of physically photographing these cells rather than looking at photos in a micro-photography book allowed her a more intimate understanding and appreciation of these tissues and the technology and processes involved in capturing such images.

The pieces in this show combine these images of cells with her usual methods of dyeing and stitching silks. The silks she chooses and the methods of displaying them deal with the concept of environmental mutability: light and air pass through her pieces, activating changes in them depending on the movement and light. The stitching illustrates concepts she meditates on while working: cellular relationships and changes as a metaphor for personal relationships; personal evolution; how the senses collect outside information via sound, touch, movement and sight.

Her pieces are displayed away from the wall to allow light to pass through; an extension of the light passing through a microscope slide. The edges of her pieces usually remain un-hemmed so that the boundary between the piece and it's environment is blurred.