We are thrilled to welcome Karen Hare to our space on First Friday, August 4th from 6-9 for the opening of her show Bodies.
Hare is an artist and Environmental Designer who’s art often walks the line between functional and sculptural.
Her process in inherently maternal; creating with intention, repetition and care. She aims to honour material, time, practice and place. Seeking a quiet rebellion; questioning the material fabric of art, to challenge the cultural fabric of art.
Bodies is a collection of two series of works.
One, a small batch of sculptural ‘playthings’ composed of turned and carved basswood. Meant to be
touched, stacked, arranged and rearranged. These soft forms are expressions of the artists body through
the experience of motherhood. As a mother, the perception of body changes. Places that once held
shame, discomfort or insecurity (the knobbly, prickly and doughy bits), become a place of power,
comfort, discovery and play.
The other; a series of tactile ‘assemblages’; each one an exploration of the moment that a body comes
into being through the play of proximity and absence. Karen utilizes the seed’s raw and opportunistic
qualities; adding, one by one, burrs onto wool felt. These bodies are built from soft and quiet acts of
resistance, rebelling against permanency and privilege through their materiality. They are slow and
seasonal, and require a relationship with the natural environment. They live in the process; finding
wonder, patience and peace.
* The show runs through to the end of September,
alongside Land + Sea which will also open on First Friday, August 4th.
