Ellen Weider, Play Ball!
Curated by Shaunda Holloway & Debbie Hesse
Featured Artists:
Nan Adams
Cynthia Y. Cooper
Will Holub
Aileen Ishmael
Ellen Pankey
Jessica Smolinski
Ellen Weider
Curator’s Statement
This exhibition takes its title from the 1977 book by architect Christopher Alexander. The author popularized the term A Pattern Language- an organized and coherent set of patterns, each describing a problem and the foundation for a solution. Intersecting patterns can express deeper wisdom and energy-- a sense of wholeness, elegance, spirit.
The seven artists in this exhibition explore how patterns can form a personal alphabet, communicating ideas about human behavior and highlighting ways that communities and environments interact. Working both figuratively and abstractly, in diverse media, these six artists each incorporate a unique pattern language into their work. Drawing inspiration from personal, historical, and cultural iconography such as quilts and folk art traditions, travelogues, structural diagrams -- these artworks presented together generate a visual vibration and sense of unity.