Submitted by MILLE GULDBECK
BGSU School of Art faculty Mille Guldbeck and former art student Jennifer Forsythe combine forces to create “In Tandem,” an exhibition of works at the Marathon Center for Performing Arts, 200 W. Main Cross St., Findlay.
Student and teacher collaborated to show some of their recent artistic practice which interestingly intersects on several planes. Both artists are actively engaged with the idea of how processes can help to form the content of a visual work. Using fabrics, dyes, weaving, and beeswax as well as traditional arts supplies, the pair examine how ordinary household crafts, which have primarily been used by women, have informed fine arts practice.
Guldbeck, a Professor of Painting at BGSU, explained that she saw an opportunity to work with Forsythe when they first worked together on grant from BGSU’s Center for Undergraduate Scholarship and Research. “While working with Jennifer over the course of her grant period in 2017 and as her BFA Advisor, we began to recognize that we had shared research agendas. We both pursue several different processes in our work and have a sense of how order can manifest itself from the chaos of the world that we experience. The call for proposals at the Marathon Center was forwarded to me by another alum and we jumped at the chance to organize a show together. Thankfully the gallery was open to our ideas.”
She continued “Both of us have a tendency to reference grids as an organizing mechanism and yet we are open to what develops as we continue to work. I think this speaks to how a simple idea can be the basis for an extended body of work. Jennifer was also very inspired by the handicrafts of her mother and grandmother. Artists have always been engaged with technology, and we are simply highlighting work using some of the most basic of those technologies,” states Guldbeck. “Increasingly, artists are making works that defy traditional media categories. Rarely referring to themselves as strictly painters, printmakers or sculptors, artists use the most effective media, tools, and contexts for the ideas they want to express.”
The exhibition includes almost fifty new works including works on paper, prints, textiles and paintings. The exhibition opened August 17 at the Fisher/Wall Art Gallery and will continue until September 29. A reception for the artists will be held on Saturday September 14, 2019 from 6-7:30 PM. Free and open to the public.
Additional information can be found at: https://mcpa.org/center-info/art-gallery/
