Homemaker (Art exhibit opening reception)

Homemaker
an exhibit of artwork by
Amy Bay, Emily Counts, Mark Takiguchi, and Rachael Zur

Feb 15 – April 12, 2023
Opening Reception: February 15, 2023, 12pm – 5pm
Viewing hours: Monday – Saturday, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Exhibition Statement:
“Home sweet home”, “Home on the range”, “Home is where the heart is” – In these common colloquiums “Home” looms large as the ultimate place of comfort and refuge. But is it bound by four walls? If not, what makes a home? It is spiritual, personal, decorative, and sometimes political or commodified. No matter what major one studies in college, many of us take on the additional job of Home Maker. Innumerable lessons, stories, and recipes are shared in homes. This knowledge is passed from generation to generation, often by women. The residue of lives well-lived cling to spaces and objects. We share secrets, learn about ourselves, and dream at home. And using this definition it becomes clear that home is also the place where we are each at our most vulnerable. During the pandemic many people’s work lives also came home, expanding and blurring the boundaries of public and private lives. Suddenly we became self-conscious of what our home office said about us. Zoom staging became a very important part of interior design. The perfect, de-cluttered domicile was, for many people, an ever-present aspiration. How has art touched on themes of home in the past? As a stereotypically women’s domain, has the subject been overlooked? Images of interior spaces or still-lives might come to mind, but the decorative arts should be a part of this conversation. The patterns of rugs and wallpaper permeate our daily lives, create daydreams, and help shape our identity.

This is an exhibit of work by four artists, all of which explore these notions of home in their own unique ways. They also share an interest in the tension between representational and abstract images, as well as the value of a handmade mark and the physicality of materials. Amy Bay is a painter whose work starts from decorative sources full of complex social connotations and quickly expands into thick, richly colored meditations on her subject. Her paintings bring attention to the role of homemaker in society and gender stereotypes more generally. Emily Counts connects memory and identity, past and future, to common household objects through her ceramic sculptures. Her work is enchanting and lyrical, like a visual poem, giving us greater insight into her relationship with place. Mark Takiguchi paints from magazine sources such as Pottery Barn catalogues, and, in turn, examines and subverts notions of the perfect home. His work is painterly and formally inventive, while being critical of the commodification and capitalism wrapped up in notions of home. Finally, Rachael Zur’s work combines 2D and 3D materials in what she calls expanded paintings. Her work depicts living rooms that stretch over space and time and ultimately shed light on the multi-purpose and multi-generational nature of homes. All the mediums present in this exhibit (ceramics, paint, plaster, and found objects) champion the organic patina of life. All four artists blur the line between living and art. This intimacy with their subject leads to intuitive and often poignantly poetic moments for the viewers.