Hsin-Hsi Chen

June 5 – 27, 2015

By using the most basic materials – pencil on paper and wood – Hsin-Hsi Chen continues her commitment in ‘pencil drawing’ to present the illusionary and riddled paths in 3D structures. Chen’s recent work is an evolution to merge drawing, light, shadow and actual illumination. Surreal and illusionary light and shadow versus real light and shadow are constructed from 3D architectural paper, wood forms to large-scale/full-room installation. The untouchable and invisible time and space overlap the unpredictable challenges and growth in universe as the light illuminates those mysterious elements and source of life. The shadow within reflects its subject as the soul to the human being.

Hsin-Hsi Chen was born in Taipei, Taiwan and came to USA in 1994 to pursue graduate study in Fine Arts. Chen has received her MFA from University of Maryland at College Park in USA, 1996 and BFA from Tunghai University in Taiwan, 1992. Chen was granted U.S. Permanent Residency based on “Extraordinary Ability in Art” in 2002. Chen was the grantee of 2013 Maryland State Arts Council Grant/Individual Artist Award and 2007 Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant. She was selected in The Drawing Center Viewing Program in New York 1995, 2006-2010, and WPA Art Auction at Corcoran Gallery of Art and The Katzen Arts Center Museum, Washington, DC, 1998~2010.

Chen’s artwork has been collected nationally and internationally, and were included in the Permanent Art Collection at Brooklyn Art Library, Brooklyn, New York, 2011 and National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 2006. Chen was invited as the Art Critic/Judge for George Mason University and The Regional Scholastic Art Competition in Fairfax, VA in 2007. She also taught at GMU, UMCP, Montgomery College, VisArts, etc. Chen was selected in 99’ Critics’ Residency Program/Maryland Art Place and Artsites’ 98/Arlington Art Center and awarded the 1999 cover of Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society in Chicago/Seattle, etc. Chen’s artwork has been reviewed by major newspapers and journals, including: The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, Philadelphia Weekly, The Washington Times, Washington Review, Art & Antiques, Articulate, Home & Design.

www.hsin-hsi-chen.com

June 5 – 27, 2015

forth both material and conceptual juxtapositions through the interactive application of hard craftsmanship and poetics. Foremost an uncanny familiarity in the objects invites one in their curiosity and confusion. The viewers interaction often completes the experience, internal or not. In my current group of work I’m exploring the mundane affairs in life alongside a more complex nostalgia by means of industrial materials, sound, kinetics, performance, and video within handbuilt environments . The relation to the body, be it the viewers or my own is all but invisible.
In the site specific installation ‘Conjure’, I am working with the feeling associated with the memory of sunlight through a tarp covered hay wagon. Specific memories from my past growing up on the farm stick out as aweinspiring experiences. The concept of doing hay later on was realized as a theory of work vs. play. When enough hay was harvested, some bales would have to stay on the wagon and if it was scheduled to rain, a blue tarp would be tied down over the structure. The rain would collect in the center and the tarp would sag down reaching towards the bales creating an incredible light show through the rippling water. Through this installation I’m seeking to evoke this feeling of intense nostalgia.

Dane Winkler is a sculptor and currently a second year MFA candidate at the University of Maryland, College Park scheduled to graduate in May 2016. He received his BFA from the State University of New York College at Plattsburgh in 2012, and has exhibited nationally at galleries and public venues such as Rosalux gallery in Minneapolis, MN, Prescott College Art Gallery, Prescott AZ, and Earlville Opera House in Earlville, NY. He has also attended artist residency programs such as Salem Art Works in Salem, NY, Franconia Sculpture Park inShafer, MN, and Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City, NY. He grew up on a small farm in upstate New York, and uses details from his childhood in a lot of his work.

www.danewinkler.net

June 5 – 27, 2015

On my daily dog walks through the neighborhood I routinely encounter household articles that have been discarded out on the curb; most commonly these are old mattresses, rear projection televisions and particleboard furniture. However on occasion there are items set out for collection that show potential for creative reuse; maybe not for anything as utilitarian as they had originally been designed but something about them exhibits possibility. As the old axiom goes “Matter/Energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed”. I’m interested in the potential transformation from household contrivance to art. Usually the dogs and I pass by an item several times before a plan is conceived. Often an idea brews for days before the ambition to act reaches its peak and on several occasions this hesitation has caused a forfeit of my curbside treasure to the county garbage collectors. Once the mind is made up to act I get the dogs home and fed, then jump into the truck for a recovery mission. I usually like to collect at night because I don’t like the judgmental looks of neighbors who see me picking through their trash. When home with the goods I set them out in the backyard to become cleaned and bleached by the elements. This cleaning process is beneficial because I need to look at the thing for a while before getting a feel for how to intervene with it. I’m not interested in a “Ready Made” approach to the artifacts where alteration is kept to a minimum. For my purposes, ultimately they become conceptual platforms or springboards for other sculpted elements that I pair up and join to them. These pairings draw on the artifact’s original function, becoming a starting point for interpretation. I’m not concerned with trying to force any particular direction to go, some combinations might lean towards social commentary, some have a personal narrative at their core, others are visual non sequiturs or more formal explorations. The visual puzzle is there for the viewer to engage with and where new meanings can be discovered.

Evan Reed lives and maintains his studio in Falls Church, Virginia. He has presented his sculpture in solo and group exhibitions in the U.S. and abroad, most recently at Field Projects in NYC, The American University Art Gallery in Washington D.C. and GRACE in Reston, Virginia. He received a Franz and Virginia Bader Fund Grant in 2011 and was an artist in residence at the Arlington Arts Center from 2004-2010.
He received an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University and a BFA from the Corcoran School of Art.

www.evanreed.com

May 1 – 30, 2015

Part of the EU Month of Culture, this May Hillyer Art Space is partnering with the Embassy of Estonia to present LIGHT MATTER, an exhibition and performance by artist Jaanika Peerna. Peerna has created a room-size drawing installation which will consists of works in varying scale and presence.

Her live performance brings the physical act of drawing in a world of physical limitations into focus.

Jaanika Peerna is an Estonian-born artist living and working primarily in New York since 1998 as well as in Berlin and Tallinn. Her work encompasses drawing, video, installation and performance, often dealing with the theme of transitions in light, air, water and other natural phenomena. She is often involved in collaborative projects working with designers, dancers and musicians. She has exhibited her work extensively in the entire New York metropolitan area as well as in Berlin, Paris, Tallinn, Helsinki, Venice, Rome, Dubai, Sydney, and Moscow. Her work is in numerous private collections in the US and Europe and was recently acquired by Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, Paris. Her work is represented in the United States by ARC Fine Art in Connecticut, M Contemporary in Sydney, and Galerie Ulf Larsson in Cologne.

www.jaanikapeerna.net

Lauren Frances Evans

Joan Belmar

Anna U Davis

JD Deardourff

Novie Trump

Jordanna Kalman

Fawna Xiao

Pamela Viola

Pam Rogers

Jeff Herrity

Micheline Klagsbrun

Cjandi Kelley

Catherine Cole

Bridget Sue Lambert

Anthony Pallimparabil Jr

May 1 – 30, 2015

Pulse15 was an exhibition fundraiser featuring 15 past and upcoming Hillyer artists.
Each artist presented a series of artworks each priced under $500.

Featured Artists
Joan Belmar
Catherine Cole
Anna U. Davis
J.D. Deardourff
Lauren Frances Evans
Jeff Herrity
Jordanna Kalman
Chandi Kelley
Micheline Klagsbrun
Bridget Sue Lambert
Anthony Palliparambil, Jr.
Pam Rogers
Novie Trump
Pamela Viola
Fawna Xiao