Exhibition on view:
January 21 – February 19, 2011
Opening Reception for the artists:
Friday, January 21, 7:00-9:00 p.m.
Artist Talk:
Saturday, February 19, 2011, 4:00 p.m.
Civilian Art Projects presents climate, control, a three-person exhibition curated by Kristina Bilonick and Karyn Miller featuring J.J. McCracken, Jan Razauskas, and Millicent Young. The name climate, control refers to the artists' response to their immediate surroundings, as well as the exacting nature of their practice. The artists in this exhibition work in drastically different materials – from clay and horsehair to drawing and paint – but in each of their works, there is an intense focus on the precision of artistic production, and a sense of significance in the medium they chose to work in. The artists cull the fodder for their work and in some cases their materials from their immediate surroundings. Miller points out though, that, "at the same time there is an openness to chance which gives it a kind of negative tension." The exhibition opens to the public on January 21, 2011 and will be on view through February 19, 2011 at Civilian Art Projects in downtown Washington, DC.
About the artists:
J.J. McCracken sources her clay for her sculptures by hand from her immediate surroundings. She then uses Wonder Bread, a prime source of sustenance in her local community, and kneads it into the clay. The forms she creates reference ancient ceremonial vessels while the Wonder Bread refers to a lack of affordable nutritional food in urban areas. The vessels, prepared in a series and left unfired, are presented in bell jars to create micro-climates. The vessels are left to transform with condensation and mold.
Based in Washington, DC, J.J. McCracken received an MFA in studio arts from The George Washington University. She is currently building project-scale works with support of a position as Artist-In-Residence at Red Dirt Studio in Mt. Rainier, Maryland. McCracken teaches as adjunct professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, The George Washington University, Montgomery College, and Hood College.
Jan Razauskas offers delicate outtakes of daily life with her paintings. Their smoothed surfaces erase the human hand, adding preciousness to what would otherwise be a throwaway moment. The works highlight the mundane – a street light and a ceiling fan serve as surprisingly compelling subjects in two of Razauskas' paintings. Though the paintings reflect a single, simple moment in time, they reference both the photographic image and memory.
Razauskas' work has been recognized through grants from the Maryland State Arts Council, the Contemporary Museum in Baltimore and the Santa Fe Art Institute in New Mexico. Her work appeared in New American Paintings and has been reviewed in numerous publications including the journal Artpapers; her painting and drawings are in private collections nationwide. Razauskas earned an MFA degree from Transart Institute, based in Linz, Austria, and a BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art. She currently resides in Baltimore and teaches at MICA and Montgomery College.
Millicent Young scours the acreage surrounding her rural studio in search of organic materials finding wood, horsehair, vines, and other natural materials. Her searches are intentionally vague and her pieces, which reference a balance between nature and culture, come together in her studio. In her piece, shawl, she creates a familiar form with an axle, wheels and a steering mechanism, but the unusual materials and the impossible balancing act deem the tool unusable, or at least too precarious to be disturbed.
Young was born in 1958 in New York City. She has shown nationally and internationally, has had multiple solo and group exhibitions and is has work in such public collections as the National Museum for Women in the Arts and James Madison University. She has studied ceramics, jewelry making, printmaking, sculpture, poetry, ecology, film, geology, poetry, and psychology. She holds an MFA from James Madison University and a BA in Psychology from University of Virginia. Young has taught Ceramics, Sculpture, 2D and 3D Design, and Art Appreciation from 1987 through 2003 at St. Anne's-Belfield School, Piedmont Virginia Community College, James Madison University, Randolph Macon Woman's College, and Eastern Mennonite University.
About the curators:
Karyn Miller is the Director of Visual Arts for Cultural Development Corporation (CuDC) where she manages the Flashpoint Gallery's exhibition program. Karyn came to CuDC in 2007 from Conner Contemporary Art where she'd worked since 2002. Karyn received her BA in Art History from Catholic University and her MA in Art and Museum Studies from Georgetown University.
Kristina Bilonick is an artist that works with screen printing, found objects, and other media to create installations that are often interactive. She has shown at local art spaces such as Transformer, Honfleur and Civilian Art Projects. In addition to her art practice, Bilonick is program director at Washington Project for the Arts, and runs a shared screen-printing studio and project space called Pleasant Plains Workshop on Georgia Avenue in DC.
January 21 – February 19, 2011
Opening Reception: Friday, January 21, 7-9pm
Artist Talk: Saturday, February 19, 2011, 4pm
Civilian Art Projects presents climate, control, a three-person exhibition curated by Kristina Bilonick and Karyn Miller featuring J.J. McCracken, Jan Razauskas, and Millicent Young. The name climate, control refers to the artists' response to their immediate surroundings, as well as the exacting nature of their practice.
The artists in this exhibition work in drastically different materials – from clay and horsehair to drawing and paint – but in each of their works, there is an intense focus on the precision of artistic production, and a sense of significance in the medium they chose to work in.
