The Penland Gallery proudly presents Wendy Maruyama: the wildLIFE Project, a mixed-media exhibition that draws attention to the plight of elephants. Through a moving installation of large-scale objects, shrine forms, and informational panels, the show creates a powerful aesthetic environment and makes a compelling case for the preservation of animals in the wild. This touring exhibition originated at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. It will be on display at the Penland Gallery from July 12 through September 4 with an opening reception on Saturday, July 16 from 4:30-6:30 PM.
Furniture
maker, artist, and educator Wendy Maruyama has been making innovative work for
forty years. While her earlier work was built around traditional craft objects,
in recent years she has moved beyond the boundaries of studio craft and into
the realm of installation and social practice. The wildLIFE Project was inspired by a trip to Kenya where she saw
elephants and other large animals in the wild and met with wildlife advocates
to learn about the impact of poaching.
In this
show, the elephant is memorialized in monumental form through a series of masks,
eight to twelve feet in height constructed from wood panels tied together
with string. Also included are several
shrine forms, one of which is based on a traditional Buddhist altar. This
beautifully crafted furniture piece incorporates an image of an elephant,
flowers, a candle, an incense burner, and a handmade bell that rings every
fifteen-minutes to memorialize the elephants that are being killed for their
ivory. Another piece, titled Sarcophagus, is a wood and glass box
that encases a stack of tusks made from blown glass. Maruyama made these
objects in collaboration with glass artists Nancy Callan and Dan Friday during
a residency at Pilchuck Glass School in Washington. A third shrine incorporates
video, and the wall panels complement the artwork with photographs, text, and
graphics.
Curator
Elizabeth Koslowski has followed Maruyama’s work for many years. She says the
artist views this body of work not only as an art project but as an advocacy
tool. “The social-practice component of her artwork is successful in combining
art, advocacy, education, and community. Her work manages to pull you in with stirring
visuals and keep you engaged with multiple layers of content.”
Wendy
Maruyama was a professor of woodworking and furniture design at San Diego State
University in California for more than thirty years. Her work has been
exhibited in New York City, San Francisco, Tokyo, Seoul, and London and can be
found in many museum collections including the Victoria and Albert Museum in
London, the Dallas Museum of Art in Texas, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the
Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City.
She has received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, a Japan/US
Fellowship, a Fulbright Research Grant and the California Civil Liberties
Public Education Grant. She has also been an instructor at Penland School of Crafts
several times.
The
wildLIFE Project has been shown at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft in
Texas and the Center for Art in Wood in Philadelphia. After it leaves the
Penland Gallery, it will travel to the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, VA
and the San Francisco Museum of Craft and Design.
This
exhibition is a great opportunity to visit the recently renovated and expanded
Penland Gallery, which is also featuring paintings by Kreh Mellick in the Focus
Gallery beginning July 15. The Visitors Center Gallery has an ongoing display
of objects that illuminate the history of Penland School of Crafts. And the
gallery sales area presents work by hundreds of artists affiliated with the
school.
The
Penland Gallery & Visitors Center is located at Penland School of Crafts on
Conley Ridge Road, just off of Penland Road in Mitchell County (near the town
of Spruce Pine). It is the first building on your right as you enter the
Penland campus. The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 AM-5:00 PM
and Sunday, Noon-5:00 PM; closed on Mondays. For more information call
828-765-6211 or visit penland.org/gallery.
Photo caption: Wendy Maruyama, Orkanyawoi, wood,
string, paint, 100 x 50 x 30 inches
Penland School of Crafts is a national center for craft education
dedicated to helping people live creative lives. Located in Western North
Carolina, Penland offers workshops in books and paper, clay, drawing and
painting, glass, iron, metals, printmaking and letterpress, photography,
textiles, and wood. The school also sponsors artists’ residencies, an outreach
program, and a gallery and visitors center. Penland is a nonprofit, tax-exempt
institution which receives support from the North Carolina Arts Council, an
agency funded by the State of North Carolina and the National Endowment for the
Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art.
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