Sparks Gallery is pleased to announce San Diego artist Kathleen Kane-Murrell’s solo exhibition, “Wayfinding in Suspended Times”, opening on May 7, 2023 in conjunction with Sparks Gallery’s once-a-year modest performs present, “minis 2023”.
The small is effective exhibition will element more than 60 performs that are 12×12 inches and under every single are $500 retail or much less. This exhibition is a opportunity to obtain a smaller work of artwork from the two notable and emerging artists from California. Down below is a preview of many modest operates that have been picked for the exhibition.
Kane-Murrell’s work is impressed by her observation of the interconnectivity involving individuals and character, and her longing to reconnect following isolation all through the pandemic. Her solo exhibition delivers her perceptions and musings to lifestyle via her remarkably textured collage methods. A lot of of her will work current on their own like a miniature ecosystem reverse-painted plexiglass panel is positioned involving the viewer and the textural backdrop of the get the job done. Very detailed renderings of butterflies, gingko leaves, and other organic and natural components painted on the transparent plexiglass seem to float above the materials affixed to the layer driving. Kane-Murrell’s distinct type of mixed media collage both unites and contrasts common icons of nature with abstraction and human-created composition.
She reflects “My get the job done is abstractly narrative. I purpose concerning spontaneous and controlled…patinas of layered mark-creating replicate my notion of light, colour, and seem. When a viewer reaches to contact my operate to have an understanding of what is observed, I have obtained an elusive target.”
Kane-Murrell’s function investigates the human encounter as but a single component of the pure entire world. With function impressed by wondrous pure phenomena that experts are only beginning to comprehend, the artist explores the thought of our place in this interconnected world wide web of existence. The plan that everything is intertwined, even in strategies we could not anticipate or be knowledgeable of, also introduced Kane-Murrell comfort through the isolating time of the pandemic. Kane-Murrell holds reverence for the mycorrhizal network (in which trees talk with just about every other by way of their underground root methods), the migration patterns of monarch butterflies, and starling “murmurations” – birds that fly alongside one another collectively in groups of seven.
This philosophy is visually explored in the repeating motifs inside of each work the artist repeats butterflies, leaves, or reduce paper styles throughout the piece, drawing notice to their similarities and mass as a group. Delicate variations in these repetitions, this sort of as exclusive colors or placement, differentiate particular person elements from just about every other. But the abstract function is undoubtedly unified, communicating the connectedness of every unit to the full composition as a entire.
Artist Assertion:
The 12 months 2020 started as a 12 months of vision and development, but then, abruptly, the environment located by itself suspended in time. We discovered ourselves residing on the other side of home windows – phones, products, the home windows of dwelling. Plexiglass divided us every time we ventured away from household. At a time exactly where we identified ourselves inundated with omnipresent technologies and social distancing, my intellect took refuge in photographs of interconnectedness in the pure environment – monarchs, historical trees, and murmurations of starlings.
Generations of monarchs journey to roost in the Oyamel mountains of Mexico in their cycle of everyday living. Some vacation wide distances and some are destined not to endure. When they appear fragile, as a entire, they are resilient.
Similarly, trees and their link to every other are just starting to be understood by science. They are the lungs of the world and there is magic in them. The significant historic ginkgo trees in Japan rain gold when they lose their leaves. They have survived each human assault, which include atomic bombs.
Starlings collectively fly with each other in teams termed murmurations. When I started my Murmuration collection, I was wayfinding by means of alter, grief, and loss triggered by the pandemic. The strategy of encompassing oneself with a modest variety of good friends and household to support navigate through the uncertainty of everyday living, reminded me of starlings. They have very long been symbols of transformation and collective action, infamous at times and never fully silent. This spoke deeply to me.
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Kane-Murrell’s lifelong interest in artwork, instruction, and the inventive system has nurtured a few occupations. Immediately after graduating with a diploma in promoting from San Diego State College, she labored as a corporate trainer and supervisor. In 1990, she translated company techniques into an award- successful children’s artwork system, Good Artists™.
Kane-Murrell’s expert artwork profession commenced in 2007. She has exhibited all through San Diego and Southern California, which include solo displays in Liberty Station, Ray Street Arts District, Japanese Friendship Backyard Museum, and Sophie’s Gallery. She has juried in the Oceanside Museum of Artwork, Cannon Gallery, San Diego Artwork Institute and La Jolla Athenaeum. Her perform is in own collections during the United States, Japan, and Singapore.Kane-Murrell’s functions will be on see at Sparks Gallery from May perhaps 7 – July 2, 2023 with an opening reception on Sunday, May well 7, 2023 from 5-8pm.