Exhibition: Laura Kimpton: Women's Work
September 3 - September 30, 2007
At: Donna Seager Gallery. 851 Fourth Street, San Rafael, CA  94901, 415-454-4229, art@donnaseagergallery.com, www.donnaseagergallery.com

Women’s Work:  Laura Kimpton, Lisa Kokin and Nancy Youdelman at Donna Seager Gallery. Women’s Work, an exhibition of sculpture, assemblage and altered books by Laura Kimpton, Lisa Kokin and Nancy Youdelman will be on display at Donna Seager Gallery in San Rafael from
September 3 –September 30, 2007.  There will be a reception for the artists on
Saturday, September 15 from 6 to 8pm.   The Artist Book Gallery will feature Narrative Thread, an extraordinary collection of handmade books curated by Macy Chadwick of In Cahoots Press. Artists in this curation include: Jen Bervin, Mare Blocker, Jennifer Brook, Allison Cooke Brown, Macy Chadwick, Margot Ecke, Julianna Foster, Lisa Hasegawa, Jennie Hinchcliff, Charles Hobson, Kathleen McNutt Hart,  Lindsey Mears, Katie Murken, Tara O’Brien, Phuong Pham, Kaycie Roberts, Britt Stadig, Beata Wehr and Elysa Voshell.  There will be a talk by Macy Chadwick in the gallery on Friday, September  21 at 6:30pm  The public is invited to attend.   Donna Seager Gallery is located at 851Fourth Street in San Rafael between Lincoln and Lootens.  The gallery is open from 11 to 6, Tuesday through Saturday.  For information, call 415-454-4229 or email art@donnaseagergallery.com. 

  The show is aptly named, Women’s Work, not just because the artists involved are women, but because their use of materials and media incorporates things often associated with “feminine” arts.  They stitch, sew and piece their work together, using the stuff of memories, both their own and the collected mementos of others.  Although they differ aesthetically, each of the artists uses materials and images in such a way as to trigger a chain reaction of associations and meanings on the part of the viewer.  The works are eerily engaging and have an element of being intensely personal.  Each artist uses images and associations from the past to make a poignant discourse about the present.

Lisa Kokin alters books, text and memory by a complex system of destruction and preservation.  There is as much meaning in what has been taken away as in what remains.  Through her process of art making, Lisa is able to explore cultural and personal issues of conformity and gender, the ambiguities of society and the behavior of humans. Her aesthetic in these meanderings is consistently refined and appealing.  The look and feel of books, papers, texts and photographs blend to form a unified structure, whole unto itself even before you begin to mine it for the rich content contained within.

Books have played a major role in Lisa's work; she returns to them between bodies of work and as bodies of work in and of themselves. In her current series, she literally reshapes the content of selected old books by making papier mache balls, organ-like objects and cubes out of the shredded pages, then sews the contents back inside and outside of the original book covers. Bits and pieces of the original text remain, although the literal meaning is lost. The covers can no longer contain their unruly "text," and form defines content.

Laura Kimpton’s work concerns itself most of all with issues of freedom.  She challenges stereotypes and any efforts to constrain or pass judgment.  Kimpton recycles images and memorabilia from the past in encaustic and collage to communicate to and about her culture.  By using recycled materials in her work, Kimpton says she is able to start with a history and personality that helps guide where the work is going.

Laura Kimpton investigates the personal and universal aspects of the self. Often employing encaustic wax to mold, paint, and encase ideas and things, Kimpton's paintings and assemblages are packed with historical markers and language. Words like "me", "you", "we" embedded in the works act not only as wordplay but also as a mantra to encourage the viewer to experience the self and its subsequent dissolution.

The work of Nancy Youdelman is very much about memories and the associations we have with them.  Using old photos and images of dresses and shoes, she is able to evoke memories shared by all.  There is something enticingly personal and intimate in Youdelman’s work.  It was not surprising to learn that she had studied with Judy Chicago and Mariam Schapiro at CalArts where women were encouraged to find their own identities and expressive language.  Youdelman had many memories of her mother sewing and enjoyed playing with the jars of buttons.  Her own father had passed away when she was nine and issues of remembering were of importance to her. 

Gail Levin, art historian and Judy Chicago biographer said of the work,  Youdelman’s pieces have many layers of meaning. Perhaps originally affected by the reading group assigned as part of the Feminist Art Program, she is constantly looking to literature for inspiration: from Marcel Proust’s “Remembrance of Things Past” to Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth, where associations lurk “in every fold.”

Donna Seager Gallery

511 W. 25th St. #6-07, New York, NY 10001 • 612.987.1473
art@donnaseagergallery.com • www.donnaseagergallery.com
Gallery Hours: Tue. - Sat: 11 am - Open Thursday evenings until 8 pm