May 13 - June 4, 2023

Opening reception on Second Saturday, May 13, 6-10pm.
Gallery open hours are Saturdays and Sundays, 12-5pm.

Be sure to check out The St. Claude Art Rag for more info on the Second Saturday Art Openings on St. Claude!

PROGRAMMING THIS MONTH:

ROOMS 1 + 2

Rita Harper, MJ, InkJet Print, 16 x 20 inches, 2022.
Rita Harper, Shrine of Madonna, InkJet Print, 16 x 20 inches, 2020.
Candace Caston, Memory Map, Collage on panel, 20 x 16 inches, 2023.
Timothy Short, Ebony III, oil on canvas, 52 x 30 inches, 2022.
Candace Caston, Bedroom Window, Collage on paper, 8 x 10 inches, 2022.
B Carrie-Yvonne, My Suns (From The Best of Everything), Image transfer and heirloom jewelry on found mirror, 19 x 29 inches, 2022.
B Carrie-Yvonne, My Suns (From The Best of Everything), Found jewelry box from childhood, 5 x 7 ⅞ inches, 2022.
Jacq François, BULBANCHA BOY, drawing on Bristol, 18 x 24 inches, 2022.
Karen Graffeo, Mirror, archival pigment print, 28 x 36 inches.
Kim Ha, The Empress Frames, ink jet pigment print, 11 x 14 inches, 2022.

Echolocation: Industrialized Persona
Timothy Short
B Carrie-Yvonne
Kimberly Ha
Candace Caston
Rita Harper
Jacq Pierre Francois
Karen Graffeo
Curated by Yashi Davalos and John Alleyne

The development of physical and social spaces (or lack there of) give objective resonance to identity and persona based of the relationship between occupancy and landscape. This exhibition explores the way black people and people of color take up space generationally, as natives and foreigners. These works accompany sound, reflecting movement and experience with mobilizing the imagined self in the collective. Some will share the narratives of displacement or the fragility of being upwardly mobile. Others will show the evolution of their cultures as they’ve been curated to take up space in the socio-industrial complexes. whether it’s the joy of sharing space in an apartment complex, nation, or a suburb, Whether it's securing more capital from a cultural streamline or creating a new landscape, we all wear our socialized personas to represent locale through imagery. We all share space and coexist at different angles, but it’s important we archive the multifaceted experiences with the internalization of our disposition. we must narrate our own vanity because they leave a lot of stuff out when they tell it. When you see us, we are the embodiment of location.

Timothy Short was born and raised in Columbus, Georgia. He moved to Atlanta in order to attend Georgia State and pursue art in 2011. Predominantly as an oil painter, Timothy constructs imaginative narrative spaces always centering the Black figure. These stories are meant to venerate the everyday people close to him, often chosen as models for his work, using cosmological and celestial imagery. By detailing the subjects of the works in darker palettes, associations of lighter colors and spaces with inherent goodness or divinity are subverted and a metaphysical iconography is granted to the Blackness of these universes. Timothy’s inspirations are Kerry James Marshall, Toyin Ojih Odutola, and Jordan Casteel amongst many other painters, a host of manga and comics, and great Black music.
@culturedstruggle
timshortart.com

B Carrie-Yvonne is a multidisciplinary artist and writer. Their creative interest lies in the intersections of Black Southern space-time, archival documentation, and citational politics. This practice of theirs relies on poetry, assemblage, film photography, and music as technology. It is here where they make memory tangible and find spirit, this embodied space being in arms reach. Thus personal history serves as a bibliography and record of home – experiences, geographies, language, and state of being.
@bcarrieyvonne_

Inspired by high fashion, old films and car magazines, Kimberly Ha’s dreamy photographs transport her audience into a cinematic world of her own invention. Her work is both ethereal and gritty, shown in the realistic and intimate portraits of her many muses. She produces editorial and documentary photos and videos, as well as commercial work for local and international brands, including Door Dash , Butter Goods, Chocolate Skateboards, and Mad Nails to tell their stories. Her work has also been featured at Axiom Gallery, Carroll Gallery at Tulane University Art Museum, Vestige Gallery, and Mortal Machine Gallery.
@lyn.kim
doitoffgp.com

Candace Caston is a collagist originating from New Orleans, Louisiana. She works from both memory and observation, using primarily found paper, water-based media and oil paint, to explore the memory of place. In 2015, she earned her BFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design with a focus in painting. Candace has engaged in multiple group shows, installations, and public art projects throughout the South. In 2017 she was a contributor to the Kitti Sparks project and her work was published in their book titled ‘Kitti Sparks’ in 2021. In addition Candace teaches in Decatur, Georgia where she lives and practices.
@candaceincolor
candacecaston.com

Rita Harper is a visual journalist from Atlanta, Georgia. A quiet child, she grew interested in imagery and observing her surroundings – both skills that have greatly benefited her work. Rita has received several grants and awards, including the BET Network Artist in Residence (2019), the Sprite X Wish Atl: The Give Back Artist Grant (2020), Southern Documentary Grant Award (2020), and the National Geographic Emergency Fund for Journalists Grant (2020). Her work has been featured in exhibitions around the globe. She has also been commissioned by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, National Geographic, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, and Ilford Photo to visually tell stories in her own unique way. Although Rita will continue to craft her love letter to Atlanta, she intends to expand her work to chronicle the lives, struggles, and successes of marginalized people across the globe. Her goal is to respectfully offer people whose stories often go overlooked the opportunity to share their realities with others – and to create art that is beautiful, raw, relatable, and captivating in the process.
@__rita.p
ritapharper.com
theeverydaymatters.co/

Jacq François is a multidisciplinary artist based in Harvey, LA who explores Black identity, American iconography and cultural perspectives through his practice in hopes to constantly push further the boundaries of Blackness.
@jacqpierrefrancois
jacqfrancois.com

Karen Graffeo is an active multi-media artist in photography, performance and installation. She has had numerous national and international solo exhibitions. She is a Professor Emeritus of Art and directed the photography program at the University of Montevallo. She is the recipient of a Tanne Foundation award for humanitarian documentary projects within her art practice, and was awarded a Fulbright Senior Scholar appointment to Romania. In 2005 she was named University Scholar at the University of Montevallo for her long term (1999-present) documentary photography work in Roma (Gypsy) communities and refugee encampments in Europe. Her work was published in Aperture Magazine and is included in public and private collections in Japan, Paris, New York, San Francisco, Ireland, Italy, Hungary, and Birmingham, Alabama. Her work is currently on display at the Museum of African History in Havana Cuba.
@graffeokc

ROOM 3

Samantha Haan, Mimic (Median), Flashe and Vinyl on Aluminum Composite Material, 2023.
Samantha Haan, Mimic (Majority), Flashe and Vinyl on Aluminum Composite Material, 2023.
Samantha Haan, Mimic (Expanded), Flashe on Aluminum Composite Material, 16 x 16.5 inches, 2022.
Samantha Haan, Mimic (Shift Right), Flashe and Vinyl on Aluminum Composite Material, 2023.

Monolingual
Samantha Haan

Samantha explores the gaps of meaning produced by language in her paintings. She does this by creating sequences of symbols in her paintings that take on the role of letters and words. Samantha has created a system utilizing probability to create the sequence of symbols. This system is used to experiment with the legibility of information, meaning and logic and when they become apparent in the paintings. The paintings are structured in reference to text documents, dynamics of conversations, and use different fonts to differentiate texts or speakers.

Samantha Haan (b.1997) is an artist based in Kansas City, Missouri. She received her BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute in 2019. She has shown at Ice Cream Social (NY), Ekru Project (MO), Beco Gallery (MO), The Front (LA). She is part of a gallery project Curiouser KC, and is the president of the board at PLUG.

@sam__haan
samanthahaan.com

ROOM 4

Emery Kate Tillman, Repeated desires, Vitrography print edition of 1, 22 x 15 inches.

power of taking care
Emery Kate Tillman

Emery Kate Tillman is an interdisciplinary artist who explores themes of gender, sexuality, and disability. Their work incorporates various shades of pink. Tillman's use of the color pink in their work is a subversive nod to its history as a color associated with femininity. Historically, the color pink has been used to reinforce binary gender norms, with girls and women expected to wear pink and boys and men expected to wear blue. However, Tillman's use of pink challenges this binary and reclaims the color as a symbol of resistance and empowerment.One of the central themes of Tillman’s work is the exploration of collective joy as a means of resisting and transcending societal expectations and constraints. Through their use of bright, vibrant colors and intricate patterns, they seek to create a sense of joyful energy that invites viewers to participate in a celebration of the beauty and diversity of human existence.They create vibrant and textured works using a range of materials, including textiles, blown glass, neon, glitter, and more. Their approach to art is not only about expressing their personal identity and exploring themes of gender, queerness, and disability, but also about finding ways to work despite chronic pain and physical limitations. They have found that working with multiple materials allows them to shift their focus and alleviate physical strain, enabling them to work for longer periods of time. Each material brings its own unique qualities to the piece and contributes to the overall narrative of the work. Each piece invites the viewer to consider not only the themes they explore but also the labor and care that goes into each creation. Overall, Tillman's work invites viewers to engage with complex themes of identity, power, and oppression through the lens of gender, sexuality, and disability. Tillman creates works that are both beautiful and thought-provoking, inviting viewers to reflect on their own experiences and beliefs.

Emery Kate Tillman is a mixed media sculptor with a Bachelor in Sculpture from the College of Charleston and a Master in Fine Art from Louisiana State University. Their work explores themes of gender, queerness, and disability through a range of materials, including textiles, blown glass, neon, and embroidery. Their works have been exhibited throughout the United States, as well as in Thailand and the Czech Republic. They have participated in numerous artist residencies, including Elsewhere, Penland School of Crafts, and as a Fellow at Pilchuck School of Glass.Tillman is known for their multidimensional and dynamic pieces, each inviting the viewer to consider not only the themes explored but also the labor and care that goes into each creation. Their approach to art is both personal and universal, encouraging viewers to challenge their own perceptions and embrace diversity in all its forms.

@ektillman
emerykatetillman.com