MSUB                         NORTHCUTT STEELE
MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY                                       GALLERY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Death in Life 
An Exhibition by Karin Calabrese
September 14-29,2015
Opening Reception: Monday, September 14 5-7pm

Karin Calabrese"s Senior BFA Capstone Exhibition is open on September 14,2015 with a free reception starting at 5pm-7pm at the Northcutt Steele Gallery on the MSUB campus located on the first level of the LA building. 

Karin Calabrese is pursuing a BFA degree after receiving an AAS in Ceramics from Rochester Institute of Technology. Karin's focus of study is working in watercolor, acrylics, and oil with incorporating printmaking to add to the narratives in her paintings.

Much of her works are taken from personal experiences. The series of work called Death in Life speaks to the journey of caring for her mother in the process of the dying. Karin catches glimpes of that experience that were profound reflections of a difficult time, exposing the pain yet beauty in the life cycle. We all face death and many fear it, Karin wants her audience to see the hope she found in painting the last four day of her mother's life. It has become moving series of healing by documenting this time and has become a memorial to her mother's memory.   


Gallery hours 8am-4pm M-F or by appointment.

Karin Calabrese,Fidelity,Watercolor on Yupo,26inx20in.

Chapter 4

           Provenance is a documentation of ownership of a work of art dated from the date of creation which helps to prove authencicity. There are exceptions creation date is unknown such in the case of archeolgical finds. A slip in ownership is common in the case of art that was confiscated during WWII when Jewish owners work was stolen and then sold in American markets  True owners were the last legimate owners. There could be many works in museum in which the museum has gotten the illegally anmmmd is or should be responsible to return art or note the ownership.

          Museum are fearful of losing reknown works after the program of 1968 when many Rembrandt were found not to be from the master but were the work of his apprentices. The study of attributes were determining the style. The Universal Leonardo Project studied processes and technique rather than seeking the authencicity of his work, The Frick Museum still claims a Rembrandt to be the masters while it is highly questionable to be the artist's due to subject and attributes of his painting.

Chapter 9
         
          The name of the American Society of Independent Artists would suggest one would consider new independent work wanting to represent new study of questioning art. In hind sight and knowing Marcel Duchamp's fountain I would most likely accept the work however the mind set in the early 1900's the artworld was being rocked by his and other artists of Dadaism, Cubism,Abstraction etc. Art is always involving as to what is acceptable and deemed aesthically pleasing or does it have to be. The key word is independent that speaks of innovation and testing the traditional thinking of art.

press release

"Death in Life"

Karin Calabrese

Sept. 15th -29th 2015

 Senior Show

at The Northcutt Steele Gallery 

at 

Montana State Unversity Billings

Opening Reception 

Sept. 15th, 2015 5pm-7pm

gallery hours 8am-4pm

Monday - Friday

"Death in Life"
Karin draws on personal experiences. Her watercolor and acrylic paintings catch the glimpses of the process of the last days of the death of her mother. Exposing the pain yet beauty in life's cycle. 
 

artist call images wouldn't post

Northcutt Steele Gallery Contemporary Portrait Sept. 6th –Oct. 5th 2015 CALL FOR EMERGING ARTISTS SUBMISSION DEADLINE JULY 31ST 2015 Applications may be submitted electronically to http://northcuttsteelegallery.com notification of acceptance will be sent out by Aug. 15th. [Event Description Heading] [To replace any tip text with your own, just click it and start typing. To replace the photo or logo with your own, right-click it and then click Change Picture. To try out different looks for this flyer, on the Design tab, check out the Themes, Colors, and Fonts galleries.] MSUB Images must be in jpeg, 300 dpi, 1 mb. Please name each image with your last name and slide # and burned to a Cd clearly labeled. Include an artist statement with concept, medium, installation requirements along with dimensions of work. Work must be gallery ready and delivered to the gallery by Aug, 31st. NSG commission fee is 25% of work sold during the show. [Add More Great Info Here!] [You Have Room for Another One Here!] NORTHCUTTSTEELE GALLERY At Msubillings http//northcuttsteelegallery.com contact Dr. Leanne Gilbertson at leanne.gilbertson@msubillings.edu

Depot ASL ART Auction

Setting up for the ASL art auction on Jan. 30th

Considerations of placing to work is always depended on the space with flow restrictions incuding the architectural aspects of the room. We had to work with pillars and how the space was going to be used for the night activities eg.the bar area. The benches were removed to allow for more space. Setting the art begins with looking at the art and placing the pieces. There is always rearranging in order to optimize the aesthetic and practical considerations. Our group decided the color coordinate the pieces with warm to cool colors. We also staggered the of pieces to keep visual balance of the space,along with mixing sculptural pieces through out. We also wanted the ceramics protected ,so they were placed by the pillars.I did notice we placed a pedestal near a door blocking it from being used if there was an emergency. As a place is being installed every safety measure needs to be considered.

Installation art

Kiki Smith sculptures call for a space that the viewer can engage with the pieces. I am familiar with with her human size sculpture and now how looked at her full room pieces. In installation pieces the artist is the one who is ultimately can decide if the space conveys how they want the work to read. Often spaces limit how and what can be shown successfully. Having the ideal is always the goal,but so often there has to be compromise unless the work is cite specific. A lot of installation work is a one time set up and documented in photograhy limiting the true experience for the few able to visit the piece. I enjoy the installation work because it does set an atmospheric feeling and creates an other world experience. Some of Kiki Smith's work being the "Singer" is set with a sculpture along with graphite drawings as her audience. Smith also has a piece called "Constellation"bringing the stars below our feet.                                                                                                                      

Smith,Kiki,Constellation.

Billa Viola focuses work on ideas of fundamental human experiences such as birth, death, and other aspects of consciousness/spirituality. He is a pioneer in video art wanting the viewer to sink into the image that surrounds them.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-V7in9LObI
Viola's Ocean without a Shore is set up in a small church in Venice Italy were his idea for the piece was birthed. He says he was empty which he considered a blessing. He took 3 strong areas being the altars of the church and set plasma screens to bring the space of the dead back to life with people who he filmed in black and white to emerge into the space with waterfalls and turn to living color. for me he invokes the Living Water who is Christ who bring eternal life. He sets it up almost to be a cleasing or baptism in a holy area of a church. The image comes forth to meet the viewer in a powerful way. Viola allowed the space to inspire his work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg19GwNCJU  Bill Viola





Jenny Holzer main focus of her work is the use of words and the idea of public space. She sends her message like advertisers would on buildings. She wants the message short and to the point so the message can resonant as the viewer think upon the flash of words they may only catch as the walk or drive by on the way to their destination. She uses the public space to bring her message to a larger base of people not just the gallery which unfortunately does get to the masses. Holzer brings her art to the streets where the "average person" lives and works.

http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/jenny-holzer

Observations of the Vanessa German's exhibition BITTER ROOT;

While being a part of the installation, I would have considered changes to the layout of the pieces. I feel there where some risk taking compared to the tradional gallery or museum setup, One being the piece you first encounter though I think it sets the tone of the show to have you engage right off. The placement could cause bottle necking if there is a large group viewing, yet consideration was discussed about the spacing allowing for room to view each piece from all sides. Knowing the artist's request to have the two larger pieces balance the space it started the process of layout. The break of the flooring is a challenge visual making the other pieces more crowed on the carpeted area.

The pieces are sturdy for the most part yet are made up of so many parts some being quite fragile. Unpacking and packing will be a challenge. Vanesse uses found objects (antiques) will processes to build the pieces whether plaster and carpentry to assemble.

While placing the hanging pieces we used the gallery standard measurement for opitimal viewing. The scuplture labeling may not be ideal with the viewer having to look for the label since they are not uniform on each pedestal.

It may be difficult for a person using a wheelchair or walker especially if there are others in the space,but I don't see major safety issues if the visitor is aware of surroundings.

The typography is bold and readable.

Vanessa German's work is a bold statement and the typography works with the work.

The visual unity is in the theme of the work with stripes of the flag, the colors she chooses, the figures that she portrays in the scuplture and the fabric pieces. German references history of the Bitter Root of the African Americans from the woman view point.

The work is remincent of Folk Art that was a popular artform during the time of slavery in this country.

The message of the show talks about the pains of a group of people in hopes of healing through understanding and restoration.

The exhibition is a whole there is not a beginning point except for the entry where you are introduce to the name and starting images on the baby shirts that is perfect in that our stories start at birth and are our roots. Vanessa didn't have a point of viewing that she asked to have the work displayed,so one could start in what ever direction they want to choose making a narrative unique to each individual.

I personally like the setup that allows one to move intimating with each piece as one in the midst of a gathering.

People under 25 can experience a time that isn't familiar and gain new understanding. The work isn't as comtempory and conceptual in which the culture is immersed and may not have an appeal to younger people without the artist's talk.

It can bring to surface some of the past feelings and prejudices a person over 25 had heard or grown up with in society or even within their homes.

I believe a person can share their experiences but words are only one type of experience face to face with art bring deeper meaning.

The floor of the gallery would be one flowing medium maybe concrete. The entry should be all windows to draw in the passerby. Right now the entry is not as inviting as it could be.