Exhibition: TechKnowledge (Holy Family University, September 4-26)

For Immediate Release

contact: pflynn@holyfamily.edu

TechKnowledge: Karen Love Cooler,  Nicole Dul, Elaine M. Erne, Danielle Ferrell, Bonnie MacAllister, Laura Petrovich-Cheney

Running Dates:  9/4/12-9/26/12

Reception: Thursday, September 20, 2012

6: 30- 9:30 p.m.

Panel discussion: 6:30-7:30 p.m.  (featuring Bonnie MacAllister, Laura Petrovich-Cheney, Janice Showler)

Location:

Holy Family University Gallery

Lower Level

Education and Technology Center

9801 Frankford Avenue

Philadelphia, PA 19114

215-637-7700

TechKnowledge:

"Technology is the making, modification, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems, methods of organization, in order to solve a problem, improve a preexisting solution to a problem, achieve a goal or perform a specific function. This show calls for artwork that addresses the full range of that knowledge.

In this exhibition, six women artists, all members of the Women’s Caucus for Art Philadelphia Chapter (founded in 1972 in Philadelphia, celebrating 40 years as an organization), exhibit innovative work that answer this definition of technology.  Work from these artists from Philadelphia and New Jersey incorporates x-rays, copper wire, dye infused digital metal prints, printmaking, sound, gif painting mounted in digital frames, and computer generated material alongside work in traditional painting techniques that employ technology in surprising ways.

Karen Love Cooler’s work offers a distinct perspective on technology through the evolution on time: “Early peoples arranged large standing stones to help explain their world.  Evidence suggests that these stones were placed to view predictable and unpredictable events. The “Menhirs of Alentejo“ (large standing stones in Alentejo, Portugal) are of a human scale. They are in an isolated area in Eastern Portugal. It is usual, unlike at Stonehenge, to view these stones with no one else around.”   Cooler uses references from her edited digital photos of these sites to create her paintings.   Cooler who also curated the show.  has exhibited professionally since 1995.  She is a painter, sculptor, printmaker, and mixed media artist. 

Nicole Patrice Dul holds a B.F.A. in painting and drawing from Tyler School of Art, Elkins Park, PA, and an M.F.A. in printmaking from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY. She is currently an adjunct faculty member at Holy Family University, an instructor at Fleisher Art Memorial and an Administrator at the Gershman Y, a Jewish Arts and Culture Organization in Philadelphia, PA. Nicole is an exhibiting artist and is an ongoing member of Orchard Artworks, a Fine Art and Craft Cooperative Gallery in Bryn Athyn, PA. Printmaking affords Nicole a way to combine process and medium, search out new methods, and experiment with mixed media. It allows her to integrate creativity with her interest in cultural history and social consciousness. npdprints.com/index.html

Elaine M. Erne received her BFA from Carnegie Mellon University and her MFA from Tyler School of Art, Temple University.  She is on the faculty of Moore College of Art and Design and the Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial.  She is a member of Nexus, Foundation for Today’s Art and a former fellow of the Center for Emerging Visual Artists.  She has been working on the Lives and Traumas of Stuffed Animals, a series of prints and drawings of Mr. Bunny and his friends.  She finds that using humor, however dark, is a way of dealing with past and present dilemmas.  The prints in the series are done in the process of lithography.  She uses some traditional lithographic materials but also new methods not associated with the medium including emulsion processes, polyester plates on which non-water soluble material such as floor wax may be used for drawing.   “Technology has taken lithography outside the print shop,” Elaine quips. “It is hard to tote a 50 lb. stone out of a studio, but one can easily roll up a polyester plate, grab a ball point pen and go outside to work.”

Danielle Ferrell has a BA in Studio Art from Holy Family University.  She currently runs a photography company working out of Philadelphia and the surrounding areas.  Her current work focuses on 'preserving moments' of nightmares and dreams.  Danielle is exhibiting multimedia works including those made from chine collé, a special technique in printmaking, in which the image is transferred to a surface that is bonded to a heavier support in the printing process.  Her piece, “No Flash Please” confronts themes of memory, advertisement, awareness, brainstorming, and process.  She insists that the camera has become an essential part of social functioning.

Bonnie MacAllister renders moments in a variety of media.  She has recently exhibited cross-genre work in NY at Et Al Projects (film and still photography printed on metal) and at Raandesk Gallery (film and performance), in MD at Sandy Spring Museum (film, photography, performance, and fiber art), and in Pennsylvania at the Ellen Powell Tiberino Museum (film and performance), and in Virginia at Artomatic (computer generated imagery).   MacAllister employs various animation techniques including stop action and has trained in Super 8, non-linear editing, linear editing, and non-commercial broadcasting. She composes the soundtracks to her films using her original texts (culled from poems, plays, film scripts), real instruments (Wurlitzer organ, synthesizer, melodeon, tambourine, and drum), and computer generated audio software and beat-making software. bonniemacallister.com

Laura Petrovich-Cheney, a multimedia artist and beekeeper who lives and creates in North Jersey, describes her interaction with technology through photography,  “Photography isn’t about capturing beauty in the world, rather it is learning to be aware of where I am and who is around me. Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest and my website allow my visual narrative to been seen all around the world; I tell them what I witness, what it means to be human, living in this place and time.  The results are always spontaneous and the act is never static. Inspired by patterns found in nature- the bark of a black walnut tree, swishing waves, buzzing honeybees, and birds in migratory flight, I look for moments that preserve a sense of touch with nature. Walking quiets my mind from constantly being in motion. When I am walking, my imagination can answer the looming question - “what do you see?” 

A panel discussion will occur in conjunction with the opening on Thursday, September 20 featuring  MacAllister, Petrovich-Cheney, and Janice Showler.  Refreshments will be served.  The exhibition is located in the Holy Family University Gallery located in the Education Technology Building.

Janice Showler (panelist) is an associate professor of English and serves as writing coordinator at Holy Family University. A technology novice by her own admission, she is at once intimidated and also intrigued by it. Specifically, she is fascinated by the present race to build computers (such as Watson) that can think like humans. Her preliminary research on the topic suggests that computers are changing not only how we live in the 21st century but also what makes us human.