Landscapes of Memory…and Things that Remain
work by Walter Kopec and Melissa Shook
April 4 – 25, 2017
Walter Kopec’s work, … And Things That Remain, is a response to the volatile world of contemporary politics and social turmoil. The work explores our personal relationship with public symbols and our ability to express ourselves through them. Using visual and verbal references, Kopec probes our reliance on shared symbols to reflect our common bonds and our ability to communicate using them in this uncertain world. While some pieces may read as haunting visual poems, others unveil a tinge of humor… some toe the very thin line between the two. Using the simplest of concept-appropriate materials and the strategies of linguistic puzzle-making and myth-construction, the sculptures and drawings deconstruct and reconstruct the meaning of the “things that remain.”
Melissa Shook’s Landscape of Memory chronicles the seasonal changes of flowers grown in a community garden plot, from bare earth to seedlings, first flowering, late summer abundance, frost and snow. This multi-media installation uses large sequential color photographs of zinnias, sunflowers, cosmos and marigolds, small pastel and ink drawings, watercolor and acrylic paintings of flowers along with text and video to pay homage to the grandfather who so unexpectedly produced a mass of flowers in a backyard garden when Melissa Shook was thirteen.
Opening Reception: Saturday, April 1, 6-9PM
Third Thursday Reception and Artist Talks: Thursday, April 20, 6-9PM
Gallery Hours: Saturdays and Sundays, 1-5 PM or by appointment
