Nicole Czapinski: Forever, A Little Ghost – Gallery Guide

linked by a delicate membrane of remembered intimacy (detail), 2018, thread, fabric, wood, paint

GALLE RY GUIDE

CURATORIAL STATEMENT forever, a little ghost, BCA Center Nicole Czapinski explores illusions within perception, the complexity of consciousness, and is inspired by the invisible and unknown. By employing the simplest of materials, she examines aspects of awareness – from the interior elusiveness of consciousness to the enormity of an expanding universe. Czapinski is the first artist to be featured in BCA’s Project Vermont, a series that encourages contemporary Vermont artists to push their artistic practice while creating new work In forever, a little ghost, Czapinski evokes natural phenomena and conjures the intangible with her series of threaded drawings, video, and sculpture.

She is driven by persistent curiosity and material experimentation. Ephemeral in nature, her work seeks to ask (and answer) elusive questions such as “What would a thought look like? or What does infinity mean?”

Czapinski creates an elegant simplicity through the visual distillation of complex ideas. In her threaded drawings, each strand informs the next until a network of “psychological architecture” appears. The artist sculpts and draws intuitively exploring endless variables in multiples such as a faint, shadowy trace, or her newest drawing iteration so many ways of being.

Installation on view, BCA Center

Scientific inquiry and research methodology serve as a catalyst for the artist’s creative process. Her creative psyche is fed by astrophysics and neuroscience, from dark matter and dark energy to curious phenomena such as ASMR* (a tingling sensation caused by a visual or aural stimulation) and peripersonal space (the area immediately surrounding the body, your ‘personal space’).

With its specimens of rocks, wire sculptures, glass, and stacked drawings, at all times, not much, a small amount functions as an ever-evolving artist sketchbook. Located in the table’s center is a soft pause - an ice sculpture that transforms from solid to liquid before being refrozen to its original form as part of a continuous cycle.** Czapinski critiques the inherent passivity in which we perceive the world.

She invites the viewer to consciously engage with the work in forever, a little ghost, and to question the very nature of seeing. In doing so the artist postulates we can create a “space for alternate ways of understanding, relating and being with one another.”

— Heather Ferrell, Curator / Director of Exhibitions

* autonomous sensory meridian response **Czapinski activates several works with repeated interventions and reconfigurations (see checklist)

LEFT WALL 1. as above, so below, 2018

4. transmission, 2017

2. lines carve out shapes of

5. held twice as long, 2018

thread, fabric, wood, paint 18" x 11" x 1 3/4" $800

thread, fabric, wood, paint 20" x 20" x 3 1/2" $1,000

empty space full of air, 2017 thread, fabric, wood, paint 53 1/2" x 10" x 1 3/4" $2,000

thread, fabric, wood, paint left frame: 11" x 9" x 1 3/4" right frame: 12" x 7" x 1 3/4"

3. forever, a little ghost, 2018

$800

6. there, now we’re connected, 2018

thread, fabric, wood, paint 15" x 12" x 1 3/4" $800

thread, fabric, wood, paint left frame: 10" x 10" x 3" right frame: 10" x 10" x 3" $800

CENTER WALL 7. so many ways of being, 2018

*Reconfigured by artist throughout duration of show

plastic canvas, pipe cleaners, paper through Dura-Lar, nails, rare earth magnets, watercolor and sharpie on watercolor paper dimension variable - Dura-Lar $250 - Plastic Canvas $150 - Drawing $250

8. linked by a delicate membrane of remembered intimacy, 2018 thread, fabric, wood, paint 24" x 24" x 3 1/2" $1,000

RIGHT WALL 9. only a little grid, no exit, 2018

11. silent sound, 2017

10. a faint, shadowy trace, 2018

12. as seen in a dream, 2018

thread, fabric, wood, paint 10" x 10" x 3" $800

thread, fabric, wood, paint 18" x 16" x 3 1/2" $800

thread, fabric, wood, paint dimensions variable $5,000 *Reconfigured by artist throughout duration of show

thread, fabric, wood, paint 10" x 10" x 1 3⁄4" $600

CENTER ROOM 13. deep sleepy, 2018

green screen slime, free-use animation of a wormhole, monitor, wooden box, steel legs, and video loop (00:03:09) 29" x 22" x 4 3/4" price upon request

14. at all times, not much, a small

amount, 2018 table top, steel legs, and inventory includes but not limited to: paper, rocks, jade plant, glass, wire baskets, found objects, hardened slime, Dura-lar, colored pencil on black paper table top: 5' x 3' individual drawings, prints, and sculpture $150-250 price upon request

15. a soft pause, 2018

frozen water, rock, steel mesh, bucket, pedestal dimensions variable price upon request *Reconfigured by artist throughout duration of show

ROTH GALLERY LAYOUT 6

7

8 CENTER WALL

9

5

10

4 14 15 3

11 CENTER ROOM

2

12 13 1

RIGHT WALL

LEFT WALL ENTRANCE

there, now we’re connected, 2018, thread, fabric, wood, paint

NICOLE CZAPINSKI (b. 1984, Pittsburgh, PA) is an artist based in Johnson, Vermont, where she was awarded a residency at the Vermont Studio Center in 2015, and is currently a Staff Artist-In-Residence. Since receiving her BA from Bennington College in 2006, her work has been displayed in galleries across the country. Czapinski has had solo exhibitions at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts and 707 Gallery in Pennsylvania, and the Vermont Studio Center and Bennington College in Vermont. Her work has also been featured in numerous galleries for group exhibitions, including the Pittsburgh Biennial; Lorimoto Gallery, New York; and Southern Exposure, San Francisco. After her show at BCA Center, she will begin a year-long residency at the Brew House Association in Pittsburgh and return to Bennington College as a Fall Artist-In-Residence.

PROJECT VERMONT Presenting visual, performance, and interdisciplinary work from emerging to established artists, Project Vermont supports artists’ exploration of new ideas, enables innovation, and fosters engagement between audience and artist.

GALLERY PROGRAMMING OPENING RECEPTION Friday, June 29, 6-8 p.m.

Free and open to the public FAMILY ART SATURDAY Saturday, July 21, 2018, 11-1 p.m.

Families are invited to drop-in to the BCA Center every third Saturday of the month to make their own artwork inspired by forever, a little ghost.

ARTIST TALK Thursday, July 26, 2018, 6-7:30 p.m.

Nicole Czapinski will discuss her Project Vermont exhibition and share how her artistic practice has evolved over the past year.

BCA Exhibitions are funded in part by a grant from the Vermont Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. Farrell Distributing and Sugar Snap Catering are proud sponsors of BCA Center exhibitions and events.

BCA’s See.Think.Do! gallery education program invites youth and adults to the BCA Center for an interactive arts experience. Visits last approximately 1-1.5 hours and begin in the gallery with open-ended questioning, discussion and hands-on activities. Visits conclude in the studio classroom where students create their own original artwork to take home. Youth and adults may also arrange for a guided gallery tour led by the BCA gallery staff.

To schedule your visit please contact: Melinda Johns, Gallery Education and Programs Coordinator, at mjohns@burlingtoncityarts.org, or 802-865-7166.

Visit burlingtoncityarts.org/gallery-education for more information.

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