| Abecedarian: RE: (rebound, recycled, repurposed, reused) |
| Written by Ken Hamel | |||
RE: (rebound, recycled, repurposed, reused)Abecedarian GalleryFebruary 12 - March 20, 2010
 Doug Stapleton - Stimmung (from the press release) Denver’s Abecedarian Gallery Takes a Look at RE: (rebound, recycled, repurposed, re- used) Book Arts Altering books is currently one of the most popular creative techniques for self-expression … and for good reason. The art form is undemanding and accepting of all skill levels. Beth Cote, one of the authors of Altered Books 101 maintains that ‘you don’t need any artistic ability to make altered books . . . if you’re color blind, memory challenged and can’t draw a darn thing to save your life, you can still be an altered book artist’. Because of it’s popularity and the abundance of altered book creations that give the artist the direct opportunity of self-expression (sometimes to the exclusion of anything else), gallery director Alicia Bailey stresses the importance of presenting contemporary work that is thoughtfully created and has some regard for concept and execution. No matter what the skill level of the artist, altered book creations should make a meaningful contribution to both the genre and to an individual artists’ studio focus. Denver’s Abecedarian Gallery will host works by a variety of these artists in the upcom- ing show RE: (rebound, recycled, repurposed, reused). An exhibition of mixed media artwork cre- ated with the intent of changing a book from its original form into a different form, thereby altering its meaning/intent. Some works in the exhibit continue to function as interactive books; other works, both two- and three-dimensional have become passive objects for display. “I really appreciate the fact that book arts are such an accepting medium,” says Bailey, a book artist with work in numerous public and private collections worldwide. “However, because of that, book artists have a responsibility to put weight into their work and to really present something with insight. No art has to be ‘perfect’ to be a great contribution.” During the exhibition Abecedarian will be hosting an altered book workshop, taught by Judith Cassell-Mamet. Cassel-Mamet will help students turn a discarded book (provided) into a sampler of altered book techniques. March 14, 10-4pm, vicinity Lowry in east Denver. Phone 720-282- 4052 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for details or to register. Abecedarian Gallery 910 Santa Fe, Unit #101 (just south of Swift's diner) Denver, CO 80204 303.340.2110 Thu-Sat: 1:00-5:00 pm 1st & 3rd Fri: 1:00-8:00 pm http://www.abecedariangallery.com
The exhibition features collages created from book parts by Chicago artist Douglas Stapleton and Denver artists Stephen Daniel Karpick and Susan Goldstein. Douglas Stapleton is a curator and exhibition designer at Illinois State Museum’s downtown Chicago gallery. Stapleton holds an undergraduate degree in Anthropology and MFA in performance and installation from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He also works as a dramaturg/artistic for The Seldoms, a Chicago based dance company. It is no surprise that a result of such diverse interests results in a body of work that is visually stimulating and rich with cultural and historical reference. Michael Weinstein, writing for New City Art (Chicago), describes Stapleton’s collages as ‘rife with exuberant cultural play . . . Postmodern globalized melange reaches its limits . . . an unbridled romp through history’. Stephen Daniel Karpik (SDK) is a self-taught and multidisciplinary contemporary artist currently living in Denver, Colorado. Utilizing encryption, symbols and motifs incorporating the infuence of primal aesthetics, urban culture and the collective consciousness, SDK fuses aesthetic energy and colorful composition to create playful mixed media paintings. His contribution to RE: is an unbound abecedary featuring mixed media on library cards. The theme for this series is the abstraction of animals, each confned to its own letter in time and space. Susan Goldstein is a Denver resident with a long and well-rounded exhibition history. In addition to annual solo exhibitions at Edge Gallery, the Mizel Center for Art and Culture hosted a sizable retrospective of her work in 2006. Goldstein will be exhibiting pieces from an ongoing series Intersections. Goldstein has great reverence for historic artifacts and documents and so allows herself to use only printed material already damaged or terribly common and not important enough to keep intact. By incorporating this damaged ephemera into her collages, these bits and pieces of the past are given new life and will survive in an altered form. The juried portion of RE: was juried by Barbara Hale, printmaking instructor at Metro- politan State College of Denver, whose work is included in the exhibition.Her selections include work by Adina Weinand/Andrew Vomhof, (Minneapolis, Minnesota), Amanda Nelsen, (Cambridge, Massachusetts), Ania Gilmore, (Boston, Massachusetts), Barbara WF Miner, (Bowling Green, Ohio), Cori Buder, (Denver, Colorado), Cynthia Colbert, (Lexington, South Carolina), Deborah Bryan, (Johnson City, Tennessee), Haylee Ebersole, (Denver, Colorado), Jana Sim, (Chicago, Illinois), Jean Tock, (Carmel, New York), John Sager, (Austin, Texas), Jonathan Whitfll, (Lubbock, Texas), Jona- thon Wiley, (Denver, Colorado), Julia Nelson-Gal, (Palo Alto, California), Katherine Reed, (Denver, CO), Margaret Whiting, (Waterloo, Iowa), Mary Jordan, (Denver, Colorado), Megan Moore, (Chico, California), Peggy Johnston, (Des Moines, Iowa), Sandy Toland, (Aurora, Colorado), Sara Furey, (Breckenridge, Colorado), Siobhan Martin, (Devon, UK), Susan Porteous, (Denver, Colorado), Virginia Unseld, (Black Hawk, Colorado) and Will Ashford, (Santa Rosa, California).
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