2023 EXHIBITIONS AT THE FIREHOUSE ART CENTER

MAIN GALLERY: “AUGMENTED ORGANICS”

“Augmented Organics” features the work of three artists exploring humanity’s extraordinary power to shape our environments – controlling nature, but never quite completely. Cheryl Coon, Eleanor Sabin and Alexandra Christen-Muñoz respond to the resilience and vigor of nature using a variety of mediums, from sculpture to sound.

To augment is defined as making something greater by adding to it, refering to man’s desire to improve nature through technology. Augmented reality is an enhanced version of reality created by the use of technology to overlay digital information on an image of something being viewed through a device. Using their various mediums, Coon, Sabin and Christen- Muñoz present the question that while the connection between mankind as a whole and nature is inalienable and important, do we as humans, improve nature? Can nature be tamed? Will humanity be able to coexist with the endlessness of the natural world around us?

Cheryl Coon’s organic sculptures are inspired by organisms captured by an electron microscope. Using all man made materials, such as plastic zip ties, she represents the spikes, shells, thorns, quills and spines, the tools used by these orgaanisms to survive. Expanded in size, these usually tiny armored organisms invade our space.

“I am fascinated by these images of diatoms, protozoa, pollen, plankton, and algae – that demonstrate infinite variations of natural geometry”, Coon states.

Eleanor Sabin’s work is based on the ways in which our society defines and utilizes the natural world in an increasingly digital and industrial environment. Her practice is an exploration of things, beings, and systems that present as natural, but are intrinsically more industrial than they first appear.

“I am fascinated by instances of convergence between the made and the grown wherein the organic and the synthetic overlap, co-mingle, and collide” shares Sabin. “I find inspiration for my artwork in environmental issues, ecological systems, and my interactions with the landscape. In my drawings I use color, shape, and form as emblems of man-made conflict embodied in the digital, the climatic, the architectural, or the industrial.”

Sabin superimposes these forms on organic scenes, much like augmented reality technology, as a way to show how humans disrupt the organic systems in nature. The manipulation, while beautiful, is intrusive and unnatural.

“The effect is a feeling of reverberation, an echo of the discord between the unfolding organic setting and the interfering synthetic elements” Sabin states.

Alexandra Christen-Muñoz uses bio-based generative sound, where the music is written by electrical impulses emitted by biological organisms. These impulses are later tailored with instruments and sounds for the construction of each of Christen-Munoz’s dreamscape garden narratives.

“The Onirica album was recorded from ornamental plants during a sunny winter afternoon at my cousins Nanishouse in Curicó (Chile).” explains Christen-Muñoz. “The second album was recorded from trees and plants in nature”.

Using these recordings, Christen-Muñoz creates two soundscapes, one of rest and permanence, the other, lively and shifting. For the creation of each track there were no alterations made to the structure of the raw composition written by the organism.

Christen-Muñoz will be conducting a live recording of organisms at the Exhibit Reception on April 14th at 7pm.

SOUTH GALLERY: “WORD PLAY”

A MONTH OF POETRY COLLABORATION

ARTIST AND WRITER PRESENTATION: APRIL 23- 3PM-4PM

The Firehouse Art Center Writers Group and Artist Member Community team up for an exhibit that celebrates the connection between visual arts and the written word. Ten artist/writer pairs have worked to create a written work of art and a visual piece of art. The pair decides who creates and who responds leading to often unexpected results that push each participant out of their comfort zone.
PAIRS
Ana Balzan and Emily Perez
Joyanna Gittings and Deborah Kelly
Jana Hanavan and Riley Ann
Elaine Waterman and Jen Stewart Fueston
Kathy Hall and Val Szarek
Betsy Anderson and Ursula Mains
Sue Hagedorn and Ryan Forbes
Kylee Covilli and Jean Hulktrans
Monica Carrol and Natalie Scarlett
Neva Hall and Marisa Tirado
Terri Krause and Carrie Faye Thompson
Tyrell Coover Osborn and Matt Maenpaa

STUDIO 64: MEGAN MORGAN

ARTIST WORKSHOP: APRIL 26, 6PM-8PM

GELATIN PRINTING WITH MEGAN MORGAN

 

Megan Morgan primarily works with two mediums: repurposed burlap and tusche washes. Burlap is a renewable resource with rich texture and unique characteristics for making abstract marks and forms. Megan uses burlap in her artworks to represent struggle, imperfection, and sustainability. Tusche wash has unpredictable behaviors, and she enjoys how it moves as if it has a mind of its own. When Megan is up for a formidable challenge, she draws on burlap with oil pastels to create richly textured art. Megan hand-stretches repurposed coffee bags over wooden frames. She loves drawing on the knobbly surfaces of the burlap — a strenuously time-consuming adventure. It takes hundreds of oil pastel layers to fill each nook and cranny. She’ll overload some areas while leaving other spaces untouched, intentionally exposing the burlap. Megan also uses burlap to create monoprints or sculptural works. She cuts, deconstructs, and reshapes burlap pieces and then presses them into inks on her custom-made gelatin plates. She also paints on burlap, sews, and creates burlap sculptures. When she feels emotional, energetic, or explosive, nothing excites her more than working with tusche wash — typically a printmaking medium. Watery tusche washes dry into capricious puddles. In contrast, dry tusche wash is like painting with confectioner’s sugar: its powdery and moody behaviors are almost too wild to tame.
ARTIST BIO
Megan is a fine artist and graphic designer living in Louisville, Colorado. Born in Chicago, Illinois, Megan moved to Fort Collins, Colorado with her family in 1986. Megan graduated from Colorado State University in 1995 with a B.F.A. in Fine Art – Graphic Design. Megan worked as a junior designer at the prestigious Monigle Associates agency in Denver, CO before moving to Steamboat Springs in 1998 to fulfill a lifelong dream of rocky mountain living. Megan opened Strange Bird Designs as her small graphic design studio in 1999 working with many clients within the Steamboat Springs resort community. Megan returned to Colorado’s front range in 2012, where she owns & operates Strange Bird Designs together with her husband, Jamie, now based in Louisville, Colorado.