Jessica Tawczynski: Lost at Sea

“Jessica Tawczynski: Lost at Sea”

Lost at Sea is a solo exhibition of artworks by the current Artist in Residence at Akureyri Art Museum, Jessica Tawczynski, that aims to reveal Divine Feminine power.

Deiglan Gallery, Akureyri, Iceland

September 4-8, 2021
Reception with refreshments: Sept 4, 17:00 – 20:00

Opening Hours:
Sept 4: 12:00 – 20:00
Sept 5-8: 12:00 – 18:00

Exhibition Statement:

Lost at Sea is an exhibition of artworks by the current Artist in Residence at Akureyri Art Museum, Jessica Tawczynski, that aim to reveal the Divine Femininity that is present in Mother Nature. Nature, especially in Iceland, is sublime. Mother Nature has been a symbol throughout history, of life-giving femininity, and unforgiving power.

In many languages, objects are referred to as feminine or masculine. Throughout western history, it is traditional to consider ships as female; referring to them as “she” in the english language. Ships, like vases, generally symbolize femininity because they are vessels. Like the womb, their function is to contain. The general theory as to why sailors originally referred to the vessels as female, is because sailors were aware of the power of Mother Nature from first hand experience. Therefore, in order to please her, the sailors gave their ships female names, usually after goddesses and queens or significant women in their lives: mothers, wives, and sweethearts. With the new name, the boat would have bestowed upon it, the benevolent feminine spirit.

Tawczynski says she wants to capture the fluctuating world around her. Her studio is like a geological time map. The collaged elements in her work are made of her own printmaking process in which she prints the ground. These prints reference stone, moss, lichen and water marks in the landscape. Over the past year and a half in Covid, Tawczynski’s abstractions started to change. Unlike her past work, which was more interested in minimal aesthetics and conveying the sublime through pattern, grid and gestural mark making, her new work took on characteristics of figurative painting and included representational forms. The human figure is present in the work as inanimate objects such as urns, ships, vessels, and most notably, the central circle that can be seen as a moon or an eye. They look at you as well as themselves, and offer fleeting narratives about rebirth and awakening, time-based healing, meditative states of being and the exploration of temporary boundaries.

The work can be seen through one lens as an allegory for a lost woman, fighting to stay afloat in a world of constant pressure. When the female Goddess Ship works together with Mother Nature instead of fighting her, there is often a shipwreck, a sinking, loss, and conceptually: the breaking of the female form. Through another lens, the images are the journey of the woman. The virgin voyage of the ship at sea, having to navigate through a new landscape, and through the unknown power of sublime nature. When you see a powerful ship, she will be a powerful woman. Overall, the works demonstrate the feeling of being Lost at Sea. With this we can conclude that the environment has a powerful tug on the experiences we have that ultimately shape us into who we are.

Artist Statement:

“While making my work, I seek to understand nature. My studio philosophy is that we know the world through interaction, through interacting with it. I define nature as, phenomenas of the natural world and the fundamental dispositions and characteristics of those things. My abstractions often reference philosophy and sciences that deal with unpacking the unknown. Ultimately though, I aim to not only reference nature, but create it in my studio. I think of the happenstance of an event taking place at just the right moment. When nothing is known, anything is possible. I create a dialogue with the material in which I know what I want, but I’m also waiting to see what will emerge.I am always interested in the nature of things in motion, cycling, and interacting within a landscape. I use my studio practice to navigate a path for myself through the sublime, and engage with my own existence through being present in the moment.”  -Jessica Tawczynski

Artist Bio:

Jessica Tawczynski currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York, USA. She received her MFA in 2D Fine Art from Massachusetts College of Art and Design and BFA from UMass Lowell. Her work has been featured in Hyperallergic, ArtForum Online, Studio Visit Mag, and has been an Artist in Residence at Akureyri Art Museum, Iceland, Listhus Artspace at the Olafsfjordur Museum Iceland, and more. Tawczynski’s work has been exhibited internationally in Iceland, at Shenkar College of Design and Architecture, Israel, and in the USA at Boston University, Boston City Hall, John Goudreault Fine Art New York, FiveMyles, Brooklyn, The Arts Research Collaborative in Lowell, MA, Amos Eno Gallery, Brooklyn, and Atlantic Gallery, New York, among others. Jessica Tawczynski is also the founder of @inside_voices_art , an instagram platform that interviewed artists during the Covid-19 global pandemic.

Tawczynski’s work is also currently on display at the Akureyri Art Museum in the exhibition titled, Recent Acquisitions. On view until November 2021.

For further information about the exhibition, questions or sales inquiries, please contact the artist directly.

Email: jtawczynski@gmail.com