Myndlistarsýning Gillian Pokalo í Deiglunni

Gillian Pokalo opnar sýningu sína í Deiglunni föstudaginn 17 mars kl 17.00

Sýningin stendur frá kl. 17 – 19 föstudag 17. og 13 -17 bæði laugardag 18. og sunnudag 19. mars.

Við viljum einnig minna á silkiþrykk nánskeiðið sem hún heldur 13.30 – kl. 15. á laugardeginum og er auglýst hér

Hér fylgir listræn yfirlýsing Gillian og æfiágrip á ensku.

Gillian Pokalo 

www.gillianpokalo.com 

Artist Statement 

The main characters in my visual stories are abandoned buildings. As nature actively reclaims them, these structures stand resiliently as testaments to their history and serve as reminders of the legacies of the people who’ve left them behind. Both here and not here, they exist in liminal space as they silently invite speculation about past inhabitants and present conditions. In a way, I see them as old friends. In spite of everything they’ve endured, they are still here. I pause and reflect on my own resilience and ask, what will I leave behind? I explore this idea in my work from the perspective of a documentary photographer. I’m acutely aware that my photographs of abandoned structures note a particular moment in time. Nature ultimately reclaims structures built by human hands, and my camera is witness to that transformation in a given moment. I then develop the photos as photo screen prints, and screen print my imagery over painted skies that are inspired by what I’m able to witness in the transient colors of the morning and evening sky.Because the buildings are directly screen printed, the underpainting shows through, alluding to their transience in the natural landscape. Where possible, I also include the flora of a particular place. I’ll often harvest wildflowers and weeds and use them as design elements, either by burning them to a silkscreen, or using them as a stencil, or I’ll use them in a cyanotype, or, in some cases, I encapsulate them in encaustic paint. Each piece is a reflection, a meditation, on a place. 

Artist Biography

Gillian Pokalo balances her life between her career as a visual artist and as an art educator. Her studio is in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. She shows her work both in the Philadelphia area as well as internationally. She had a solo exhibition at Duus Museum in Keflavik, Iceland and she actively shows her work around the Philadelphia area. She is a host studio on the Chester County Studio Tour, is a long time member of InLiquid, and has had solo shows at Exhibit B Gallery in Souderton, Sweet Mabel in Narberth, Pennswood Gallery in Newtown, as well as a participant in the art market scene in the Philadelphia area. She has created commissioned pieces for individuals, a guest house in Iceland, as well as corporations and her work can be found on ABC’s “Modern Family” in characters Cameron and Mitchell’s dining room. When she isn’t in the studio, she is an elementary art teacher, and she teaches PreK through 6th grade. She also teaches workshops and printmaking classes to adults both online and at local art centers in the Philadelphia area. She is also a Demonstrating Artist for Speedball Art Supplies. Teaching others to appreciate art and embrace their own creativity is one of the things that Gillian loves most about her multi-faceted career and keeps her actively inspired everyday.