Giertz Gallery Announces New Exhibit
"Kristy Deetz: Threads, Folds and Rabbit Holes" Exhibit Opens October 9
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Giertz Gallery at Parkland College announces a new exhibit of multimedia works by Wisconsin artist Kristy Deetz.
"Kristy Deetz: Threads, Folds and Rabbit Holes" will open Monday, October 9 and run through Saturday, November 11. An artist reception will be held Thursday, October 12, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., with a gallery talk by Deetz at 6:15 p.m. and music by Ms. M and the Jokers. An additional artist lecture will be held Thursday, October 12, at 1:15 p.m. in William M. Staerkel Planetarium.
Deetz explores new possibilities between a complex interface of painting, textiles, and digital technology while producing an end product that maintains the richness of slow work wrought by hand. Working in fiber and investigating the historical use of decorative drapery and still life, Deetz examines the contradictory feelings often accompanying loss or nostalgia, and as a result, her work becomes meditations on life's transience.
Her imagery is sometimes stretched or manipulated through Photoshop to create a sense of instability, heightened emotion, or a digital sifting. However, the paintings good-humoredly deconstruct imagery from pop, outsider, and high culture to create new "spaces" of meaning through the use of dark humor, visual puns, symbols and metaphors, moments of silence, art historical allusions, cultural collisions, and spiritual conundrums to play with style and pictorial/formal construction.
Kristy Deetz is professor emerita at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. Her extensive exhibition record includes national and international venues. She frequently serves as a visiting artist and has led numerous painting/drawing workshops at venues including Haystack, Oxbow, Penland, Anderson Ranch, and Arrowmont. Her paintings have been featured in Encaustic Art in the Twenty-First Century, Encaustic Art--The Complete Guide to Creating Fine Art with Wax, and Full-Range Color Painting for the Beginner. Recently, she served as Erasmus Visiting Lecturer at the University of Kassel, Germany, and as Artist-in Residence at Burren College of Art in Ireland and the University of Florida-Gainseville. She has published two illustrated books with Elm Grove Publishing: The Singular Adventures of Rabbit and Kitty Boy and Holidays Unfolding: The Continuing Adventures of Rabbit and Kitty Boy with Edward Lewis (pen name for Edward Risden).
Giertz Gallery hours are Monday–Wednesday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Thursday, noon–7 p.m.; and Saturday, noon–2 p.m.
Please note: Construction is ongoing to the outdoor area north of the gallery. Therefore, we recommend using the B7 parking lot (X2 entrance). Once inside the building, turn left, then follow all the upward ramps and signs to the gallery.
All events in the accessible gallery are free and open to the public. Parkland College is a section 504/ADA-compliant institution. For accommodation, call 217/353-2338 or email accessibilityservices@parkland.edu.
Image: Friends Day Hiding, acrylic paint, embroidery, image transfer, on digital pattern printed on silk