Coming Exhibition: Camey McGilvray, Katherine Rohrbacher, Della Rollé

October 1 - 26, 2013 

Opening Reception:
Saturday, October 5, 5-8 p.m.

Artist Talk:
Saturday, October 19, 3-4 p.m.

Camey McGilvray, Re:Wired

Camey McGilvray, Seven Moons, Wire, Wood, Acrylic, 37 x 37 x 2 in., 2013

Mixed media sculptor Camey McGilvray further explores the wire medium in her latest exhibition. Beginning with a line drawing, McGilvray starts her process on paper before creating multidimensional mixed media sculptures constructed of wood and wire. “Wire does what you want it to do,” says McGilvray. “It’s malleable and emphatic.” Actual strings of wire are incorporated into every piece as a narrative is told through the materials of the work itself. Wire thus emphasizes line, bringing McGilvray’s sketches to life in geometric and twisted patterns. According to McGilvray, the effect is that of a painting in the air. Intense blues, violets and greens are incorporated in works including “Seven Moons” and “Deep Purple” as coiled wire and wood create a sense of depth and motion.

Katherine Rohrbacher, Through the Looking Glass

Katherine Rohrbacher, Lupine, Oil on Canvas, 60 x 60 in., 2013

In this series of self portraits, artist Katherine Rohrbacher’s own journey with lupus, the commonly described “invisible disease,” is brought to light. Both surface and texture play a powerful role in Rohrbacher’s emotionally charged paintings as the viewer experiences the artist’s hidden reality through her looking glass. As Lewis Carroll writes, “'Who in the world am I?' Ah, that's the great puzzle!” Whether fading behind bold wallpapers and textured glitter, or submerging and emerging from reflective bathtub water, Rohrbacher’s portraits offer varying angles of her personality while communicating the nature of her experience with lupus. The liminal spaces of that which is seen and unseen by others are made key motifs in her portraiture. In a piece titled “Lupine,” Rohrbacher depicts herself in black and white before vibrant flowered wallpaper while wearing the mask of a wolf - a nod to the original Latin roots for “lupus.” “Through the Looking Glass” marks the first of two solo exhibitions by Rohrbacher this year. She is also a two time award winner of the national juried exhibition, the California Open.

Della Rollé, Word Play

Della Rollé, Surf's Up, Stainless Steel, 2013

Expanding upon her previous figurative work, sculptor Della Rollé takes on a more abstract approach to the depiction of the human form. Working in a field that is primarily visual, Rollé's work intertwines both the visual and the verbal together, narrowing in on the abstractions of the human body. Rollé's laser cut stainless steel creations carry a sense of humor in a webbed series of words. "Written words define who we are," says Rollé, a former English teacher. "Words in sculpture connect us to a place or feeling." Witty constructions include a piece titled "Create" - a figure with arms outstretched embracing creativity, while "Surf’s Up" includes a wave and surfer composed of California's most famous surf spots. "I see humor and beauty in all body types and find that the humor intrinsic in human behavior is reflected in the body," says Rollé. These reflections become both figurative and literal in the artist's exploration with metal materials and in her light hearted approach to sculpting.