Cat Chow, Chambers, Mixed Media
Cat Chow, Chambers, Mixed Media
Wednesday, January 7 – Friday, January 30, 2009
Opening Reception: Friday, January 9, 6:30-8 p.m.
Gallery Talk: Saturday, January 10, 10-11 a.m.
Exeter, NH (December 22, 2008)—Phillips Exeter Academy’s Lamont Art Gallery will present “Fittings: Works by Cat Chow, Milisa Galazzi and Ruth Borgenicht,” from Wednesday, January 7, to Friday, January 30, 2009. An opening reception for the exhibit will be held Friday, January 9, 6:30-8 p.m., and a gallery talk will be held Saturday, January 10, 10-11 a.m. The Lamont Gallery is in the Frederick R. Mayer Art Center on Tan Lane. The exhibit is free and open to the public.
The featured artists, who are inspired by and have an interest in the use of traditional materials, create works that are decidedly non-traditional. In short, they each fit their unique approaches and ideas into their art works.
Karen Burgess Smith, Director of the Lamont Gallery states, “Using basic materials such as zippers, keys and more, Cat Chow puts a different spin on these seemingly utilitarian items. Milisa Galazzi’s works focus on discarded buttons and sewing needles, and the women who left them behind. Ruth Borgenicht refers to the chain mail worn under medieval armor in her contemporary ceramic works. And, in an unexpected homage to this cold season, all three of these talented artists are sharing at least one work with the Lamont Gallery that features neutral tones of white and beige. These and other pieces by Chow, Galazzi and Borgenicht are indeed ‘fitting’ this January!”
Born and raised in New Jersey and Israel, Borgenicht earned her undergraduate degree in math from Rutgers University. While in college, she discovered her creativity with clay and love of the craft. Her work has been displayed in galleries throughout the United States and Italy, in the Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche. Her exhibits also have been featured at The Clay Studio, in Philadelphia; the Montclair Art Museum, in New Jersey; the SOVA Gallery at the University of Texas; the Columbus Convention Center in Ohio; and at the Daum Museum of Contemporary Art in Sedalia, MO.
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Ruth Borgenicht, Sun Flares, Stoneware
Borgenicht explains the dynamic and essence of her work: “Worn under medieval armor, chain mail is made of tiny interlocking metal rings designed to protect a body in motion. I use the chain mail pattern and other woven patterns to create ceramic works that conjure up a sense of permanence and defensive concealment . . . Visually stone-like, the pieces appear strong and impenetrable, belying their inherent fragility.”
Also born in New Jersey, Chow received her bachelor’s in theatre from Northwestern University, where she became interested in costume design. By the late 1990s, she specialized in making chain mail (clothing or jewelry), using small metal rings linked together to form a mesh.
Chow, whose work has been presented at galleries from New York to Washington State, Paris and Taiwan, has also been exhibited extensively in New York City at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum at F.I.T., and The Art Institute of Chicago. She has won several awards, including the Louis Comfort Tiffany Award, which is given to emerging, innovative artists whose work shows great promise.
“I strive to make work that is both socially conscious and poetic, that gives people strength and insight into the human condition by using ungainly materials that lend the work tenderness and humor,” Chow says.
Galazzi earned her undergraduate degree from Brown University with a focus in Studio Art, and her master’s from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in art education. A New England-based artist, Galazzi found her inspiration in her grandmother’s linen closet. Her works have been displayed throughout New England for more than 20 years, including the List Art Center at Brown University in Providence, RI; the Hargate Art Center Gallery at St. Paul’s School in Concord, NH; RISD; the Center for Women’s Health, Women and Infant Hospital in Providence; and Common Threads exhibit in the Krause Gallery, at the Moses Brown School in Providence.
In her grandmother’s closet, Galazzi says she found a “treasure trove of domesticity [which] found its way into my arts studio—buttons, thread, sewing needles, hair pins and bits of old lace. For over 25 years, I have wrestled with my desire to knit, sew and weave. By reaching through my past, I am able to marry my fine art with my passion for traditional craft.”
Gallery hours are Monday, 1-5 p.m., and Tuesday – Saturday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. For more information, contact the Lamont Gallery at (603) 777-3461 or visit our Gallery webpage. For directions to Phillips Exeter Academy, call (603) 777-4330. A complete list of upcoming events is available on the Phillips Exeter Academy public events webpage, or at (603) 777-4309.
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