Unbound Gallery Guide, Burlington City Arts, Fall 2021 Exhibition

Rachel Gross, Camper Tone, 2019

GA LLERY GU IDE

Unbound features new and recent work by three New England artists who explore contemporary approaches to abstraction as it relates to architecture, space, and materials. United by their use of geometric, shaped forms that push outside the boundaries of the ubiquitous rectangle, each artist considers the possibilities of abstraction using novel perspectives—unconstrained by prescribed expectations or formal rules. Featuring abstract painting, sculpture, and works on paper, Unbound includes the work of Rachel Gross, Rob Hitzig, and Kirsten Reynolds.

Suggesting abstract landscape or architectural forms, Rachel Gross’ woodblock relief prints and shaped, multimedia panels explore the illusory, contradictory aspects of depicting form and space. Rob Hitzig’s geometric paintings transform the innate beauty of natural wood using layers of vibrant colors, linear pattern, and shellac—a natural finish known for its warmth and luminosity. Kirsten Reynolds’ site-specific installation, Spillover, appears poised between a state of ongoing construction and imminent collapse with its intersecting lines, arcs, planes, and patterns composed in playful, if puzzling, arrangements. Through creative innovation each artist in Unbound liberates their respective media from traditional norms to present unique approaches to contemporary abstraction.

Heather Ferrell, Curator and Director of Exhibitions

Ascension, 2021

RACHEL GROSS (b. 1970, Swarthmore, PA) creates prints and mixed-media sculptures that suggest landscape or architectural forms hidden within two-dimensional space. Her use of positive and negative shapes distorts traditional rectilinear forms, creating the illusion of depth within a flat, colorful plane. Gross has exhibited extensively with shows at Two Rivers Printmaking Studio, White River Junction, VT; AVA Gallery, Lebanon, NH; The Current, Stowe, VT; and the International Print Center, New York, NY. She is the recipient of the 2009 Northern Print International Residency Prize and the Bernard V. Winebaum Residency at Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, NY. Gross earned a BA from Oberlin College and an MFA from the Tyler School of Art. Gross’ work is in the collections in Aidron Duckworth Museum, Meriden, NH; the Hooloon Gallery in Philadelphia, PA; the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA; Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle, UK; and the AVA Gallery in Lebanon, NH. Gross currently lives and works in Hartford, VT.

Onotonto, 2021

ROB HITZIG (b. 1964, New York, NY) is a self-taught artist whose work evolved out of a furniture making practice to include paintings and painted sculpture that utilizes color and linear patterns to create a sense of movement. Hitzig’s creative practice is defined by his use of shellac to create a sense of depth and radiance in each work. He has exhibited widely across the East Coast and New England, including exhibitions at the Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT; Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center, Stowe, VT; Helen Day Art Center (presently The Current), Stowe, VT; AVA Gallery, Lebanon, NH; and Bennington Museum, Bennington, VT. His work is held in collections by the City of Montpelier, VT, and Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD; and has been reviewed by The Washington Post. Among his awards, the artist has received residencies at the Vermont Studio Center and a grant from the Vermont Arts Council. Currently, Hitzig resides in Montpelier, VT.

Spillover, installation view 2021

KRISTEN REYNOLDS (b. 1972, Richmond, VA) builds large-scale installations that play with space, color, and form; her architectural structures eschew function and embrace irrationality, constantly teetering between creation and collapse. Reynolds has exhibited widely, most recently at the Housatonic Museum of Arts, Bridgeport, CT; Boston Sculptors Gallery, MA; Museum of Art, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH; Blue Star Contemporary Museum, San Antonio, TX; Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, NH; and DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA. She holds a BFA from Syracuse University and an MFA from Maine College of Art. Reynolds is the recipient of numerous awards including the Vermont Studio Center Fellowship and the New Hampshire State Council for the Arts Artist Grant.

She lives and works in Newmarket, NH.

FRONT GALLERY STAIRS/ GALLERY OFFICE

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ENTRANCE CHURCH ST.

ELEVATOR

FRONT GALLERY

BACK GALLERY

1. KIRSTEN REYNOLDS

3. ROB HITZIG

site-specific installation, wood and paint 10' x 24' x 30' NFS

mixed media and shellac on birch panel 44” x 66” $5,750

Spillover, 2021

2. ROB HITZIG Aspienta, 2021

mixed media and shellac on birch panel 30" x 45.5" $3,000

Onotonto, 2021

4. ROB HITZIG Noringatt, 2020

mixed media and shellac on birch panel 48.5” x 58.5” $5,750

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BACK GALLERY

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BACK GALLERY

7. RACHEL GROSS

5. ROB HITZIG

woodblock relief, oil paint, Flashe paint on plywood 32" x 48" $1,800

Always There, 2012/2020 acrylic and tinted shellac on maple 32" x 22" x 1" $2,000

6. RACHEL GROSS

(top left, moving clockwise) Pine Wraith, 2019 Album, 2019 Carapace, 2019 Anchor, 2019

Ascension, 2021

8. RACHEL GROSS Camper Tone, 2019

acrylic and spray paint on plywood 40"x 56" $1,800

9. RACHEL GROSS Ladder, 2021

woodblock relief and intaglio print woodblock relief on paper, acrylic paint, 15" x 11" plywood, 2021 $450 each 32” x 23” $1,200

RELATED PROGRAMMING

Family Art Saturday

Saturday, October 23 and November 27, 2021, 11am – 1pm BCA Center, Fourth Floor

Get creative and make art together! Families can drop-in at the BCA Center in-person and enjoy an art activity inspired by the artists featured in Unbound.

Think Big - Build Small: Scale Model Workshop Saturday, January 29, 2022, 1-5pm BCA Center, 4th Floor Studio $75 (8 max. Ages 18+) Fee includes materials

Unbound artist Kirsten Reynolds leads students in designing and creating their own scale model of an installation or sculpture. ​Finished models will be photographed in a miniaturized indoor and outdoor environment.

BCA Exhibitions are funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and Vermont Arts Council.

Hospitality sponsor, Lake Champlain Chocolates.

135 CHURCH STREET, BURLINGTON, VERMONT, 05401 BURLINGTONCITYARTS.ORG