Bodies of Evidence // Relationship is an activity - Exhibition Catalog

BODIES OF EVIDENCE toni gentilli

RELATIONSHIP IS AN ACTIVITY robyn a. frank

Harwood Art Center April 25 - June 2, 2022 www.harwoodartcenter.org

COVER: Toni Gentilli, Fast-acting Energetics (detail), Wildcrafted botanical pigments (Helianthus tuberosus, Morus alba, Carya illinoinensis, Ericameria nauseosa, Alcea rosea, and Opuntia phaeacantha) and clay from the Rio Grande, 2022; Robyn A. Frank, Through through, or the tension of seeing (detail), Acrylic paint on baltic birch panel, matte medium and isolation top coat, 2022

There is immense strength in subtlety and softness. Toni Gentilli and Robyn A. Frank create dynamic bodies of work that are both poignant and subdued. Their concurrent solo exhibitions Bodies of Evidence and Relationship is an activity create spaces of contemplation where viewers can not only appreciate the technical mastery of each artist, but also consider the communicative power of visual art.

Toni Gentillis’ Bodies of Evidence feels substantial and effervescent all at once. The exhibition possesses a radiant energy, emanating from the work itself and its composition in the gallery.

Her use of natural pigments is both visually and symbolically resonant - the viewer is quick to sense the healing message within Gentilli’s work. Upon closer inspection, the work reveals its more industrial material that is almost hidden amongst its organic counterparts. Gentilli’s pairing of medical packaging with hand-gathered and painted material reminds the viewer of the natural origin of “human” systems. The work and materiality of Bodies of Evidence is curated with a clarity and intention reflective of Gentilli’s experience. Her background in art, anthropology and wildcraft combine to create a visual language that communicates with its audience on an intuitive level.

With brilliant essentiality, Robyn A. Frank uses color and shape to communicate the cyclical nature of change. Relationship is an activity presents an evolution of their work both materially and conceptually. She explores shape, boundary and movement, expressing the fluidity of light, color and experience. Each piece is individual, yet in deep dialogue with one another. Frank’s seamless blending of color extends throughout the exhibition, and each piece bleeds into the other, showcasing the relationship and dependency between each shade. Their five-panel reconfigurable work that is rehung throughout the exhibition brings a quiet performance to the space. With it she expresses the impermanence of reality and the dependability of change.

Both Toni Gentilli and Robyn A. Frank create energetic experiences. They consider the space their work inhabits as much as the work itself. Their solo exhibitions are a reminder of the deep function of visual art- to archive and invent reality, and to consider and communicate what words alone cannot.

Helen Atkins, Jordyn Bernicke & Julia Mandeville Co-Curators & Cooperative Leadership Team, Harwood Art Center

BODIES OF EVIDENCE

By Toni Gentilli

Photosynthesis and cellular respiration are inextricably linked by the fact that the products of one process are the reactants of the other. What’s more, the molecular structures of chlorophyll (the magnesium-based green pigment in plants) and heme (the iron-based red pigment in hemoglobin) share a nearly identical, central porphyrin ring composed of carbon hydrogen and nitrogen atoms. Heme serves as a catalyst for oxygen and carbon dioxide transportation throughout mammal and other vertebrate bodies, while chlorophyll harnesses the energy of sunlight to convert carbon dioxide into sugar inside plant, algal and some bacterial bodies. Color, therefore, is energy, both literally and metaphorically. The various artworks in Bodies of Evidence channel the color energetics and healing properties of Prickly Pear (Opuntia phaeacantha), Sunchokes (Helianthus tuberosa), Mulberry (Morus alba), Hollyhocks (Alcea rosea), Chamisa (Chrysothamnus nauseosus) and Pecan (Carya illinoiensis), plants that are natural blood sugar regulators, respiratory tonics and antimicrobials.

4

Toni Gentilli, Fast-acting Energetics (detail), Wildcrafted botanical pigments (Helianthus tuberosus, Morus alba, Carya illinoinensis, Ericameria nauseosa, Alcea rosea, and Opuntia phaeacantha) and clay from the Rio Grande, 2022

5

Helen Atkins, Five, stoneware, 4.5” x 17” x 3”, 2020

6

“My creative practice is rooted in a process of exploration that bridges art, science, and embodied knowing and intuitively integrates plants as both materials and subjects for healing across organisms and ecologies. I use sustainably foraged botanicals to make hydrosols for scent-based experiences, impermanent cameraless photographs, watercolor paintings, natural fibers and dyes alchemized into weavings, and site-specific installations. Through these labor-intensive methods, I give ritualized form to the entanglement of microbiota, plant, and human wellbeing while tending to topics of autoimmunity in women and other chronic conditions linked to ecosystem degradation. By co-creating with the transformative powers of nature, I conjure dynamic artworks with life forces of their own to celebrate resilience and connect to the wild, yet cyclical character of emergence and decay foundational to the universe..” - Toni Gentilli

Toni Gentilli, One Lunar Cycle, Wildcrafted botanical pigments (Helianthus tuberosus, Morus alba, Carya illinoinensis, Ericameria nauseosa, Alcea rosea, and Opuntia phaeacantha), cotton embroidery floss, and discarded glucose test strips on cotton rag paper, 42”x34”, 2022, Toni Gentilli, Test Strip Möbius Strip, Wildcrafted botanical pigments (Opuntia phaeacantha) on medical package insert paper, dimensions variable, 2022

7

8

9

Page 8-9 L-R: Toni Gentilli, Bodies of Evidence installation, 2022, Aziza Murray & Harwood Art Center, All Rights Reserved 10

Page 10-11 L-R: Toni Gentilli, Law of Correspondence: Left Hand, Wildcrafted botanical pigments (Opuntia phaeacantha and Ericameria nauseosa) on cotton rag paper, 42”x21”, 2022; Toni, Gentilli, Law of Correspondence: Right Hand, Wildcrafted botanical pigments (Helianthus tuberosus and Morus alba) on cotton rag paper, 42” x 21”, 2022

11

12

Page12-13 L-R: Toni Gentilli, Bodies of Evidence installation, 2022, Aziza Murray & Harwood Art Center, All Rights Reserved

toni gentilli

Toni Gentilli is an interdisciplinary artist, anthropologist, and wildcrafter of botanical pigments and hydrosols. She received an MFA in Photography from the San Francisco Art Institute, an MA in Anthropology with an emphasis in Museum Studies from Arizona State University, and a BA with double majors in Art History and Anthropology from the University of WisconsinMilwaukee. From 2016 through 2021, Toni was the Residency Director at the Santa Fe Art Institute where she curated exhibitions and public programs engaging a variety of social and environmental justice issues. Before relocating to New Mexico, Toni spent six years in the San Francisco Bay Area working as an independent arts administrator, exhibition preparator, and curator. And from 2000 to 2010, Toni was an Archaeologist and Cultural Resources Project Director for a private environmental planning firm in Arizona. www.tonigentilli.com

13

RELATIONSHIP IS AN ACTIVI

By Robyn A. Frank

Relationship is an activity is a collection of work that explores relationship-making as a moment-to-moment activity — the energetic and synergetic interchange between people and things that produce experience. Or that sense of self is a creative exchange of context and nuance, thus not flat but fluid, shapeable. Using an evolving symbolic visual language, these ideas are transposed using formal compositional elements. Some works are composed of multiple panels, or groups, such that the relationship between the panels is required to experience the piece wholly. A fivepanel reconfigurable work will be rehung throughout the exhibition to explore how the piece collectively, and each panel therein, changes in its shifted position. Some works draw aesthetic reference to quilts. Quilting is used as a metaphor for relationship and collectivity as individual shapes reflect and repeat into larger patterns. Relationship is an activity is an invitation of quiet conversation, one of our own authorship.

14

Robyn A. Frank, Through through, or the tension of seeing, Acrylic paint on baltic birch panel, matte medium and isolation top coat, 2022, $875, Aziza Murray & Harwood Art Center, All Rights Reserved

ITY

15

16

“My work is a practice that celebrates change; defining change as the cyclical duality of creation and loss. Conceptually, my work assumes that our sense of self is developed in relationship to our material surroundings and to society’s narratives and constructs. Given that, our capacity to change is relational and a shared responsibility to one another. Exploring these philosophical ideas visually, compositions use color and shape allegorically.

“Shapes repeat as a conceptual device: as the instructive role of context, as the innate duality of all things, or as the passage of time. In their relationship, we experience the subtlety of change. Color is a conceptual symbol of transience, of transition. Using color theory, hues change in relationship to one another. Color connects the viewer to a sense of place using a palette inspired by New Mexico’s Big Sky and the geological and ecological formations of the Rio Grande Basin.”

-Robyn A. Frank

Robyn A. Frank, Relationship is an activity installation, 2022, Aziza Murray and Harwood Art Center, All Rights Reserved Robyn A. Frank, Quilt 03 (detail), Acrylic paint on baltic birch panel, matte medium and isolation top coat, Triangle, 12″, 2022, $350 17

18

19

20

Page 18-19 L-R: Robyn A. Frank, Us, acrylic paint on baltic birch panel, matte medium and isolation top coat, 12″ x 36″, 2022, $875; Robyn A. Frank, Quilt 02, Acrylic paint on baltic birch panel, matte medium and isolation top coat, Triptych, overall dimension 36″ x 36″, 2022, $1,500. Page 20: Robyn A. Frank, Quilt 03, Acrylic paint on baltic birch panel, matte medium and isolation top coat, Triangle, 12″, 2022, $350

Robyn A. Frank, Relationship is an activity, Acrylic paint on baltic birch panel, matte medium and isolation top coat, Polyptych, overall dimensions varried, ~9′ x 5′, 2022, $4,600; Robyn A. Frank, Relationship is an activity installation, 2022, Aziza Murray and Harwood Art Center, All Rights Reserved 21

robyn a. frank

Robyn A. Frank (she/ they) grew up in Tampa, Florida and moved to Brooklyn, New York to study printmaking at Pratt Institute. As a professional fine-art fabricator, Frank created paintings and prints for world-renowned artists. Now, as a full-time studio artist living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, they make paintings, prints, and art objects for galleries, retail, and wholesale clients. Her art practice explores relationships, change, and our sense-of-self through color and shape www.robynafrank.com

22

Robyn A. Frank, Relationship is an activity installation, 2022; Robyn A. Frank, Waves — the more, the more, Acrylic paint on MDF with plastic wood, sealed with UVLS varnish, Dyptich, overall dimension varried, ~86” x 24”, 2022, $950 Aziza Murray and Harwood Art Center, All Rights Reserved

23

HArWood ArT CENTEr 2022 eXHIbITioN cALeNdAr

JANUARY 18 - FEBRUARY 24 The Artists of ArtStreet, Albuquerque Health Care for the Homeless ArtStreet, an outreach program of Albuquerque Health Care for the Homeless, presents: ArtStreet Unmasked, a collection of work that asks the question “what does it mean to be unmasked?”.

MARCH 7 - APRIL 14 ENCOMPASS: A Multi-Generational Art Event Featuring two indoor exhibitions, Splish Splash featuring Caitlin Carcerano & Charis Fleshner and re)conceive - works of reclamation an exhibition that deconstructs and reconstructs notions of social order featuring Lindsey Brenner, Jami Porter Lara, MK, Linda Montagnoli, Kei and Molly Textiles, Margarita Paz-Pedro & Robyn Tsinnanjinnie.

Encompass is Harwood’s annual event that is both a reflection of and an offering to our community.

APRIL 25 - JUNE 2 Divination of self: Robyn A. Frank A collection of work seeking to imagine, to divine without assuming an outcome, rather — to perform as a meditation on the interconnectedness of self and surrounding.

Bodies of Evidence: Toni Gentilli In Bodies of Evidence, artist Toni Gentilli renders visible the entanglement of human and environmental health, specifically the disproportionate impacts of autoimmunity on women and other chronic conditions linked to ecosystem degradation, and invokes healing through a compendium of naturally dyed textiles, weavings, paintings, sculptures, chlorophyll prints and botanical hydrosols.

(Top to Bottom): Robyn A. Frank, Dreaming, lucid and otherwise, acrylic paint on wood panel, May 2021; Toni Gentilli, Fruiting Bodies, pigments made from cottonwood catkins with mold, graphite, ochre, and charcoal on cotton rag paper, 2021; Caitlin Carcerano, Tender, oil on canvas, 2021; XuanNhan, Lions Portal, acrylic, 2021

24

JUNE 13 - JULY 28 SURFACE: Emerging Artists of New Mexico Harwood Art Center’s annual juried exhibition, professional development and endowed cash awards program honors emerging artists currently living and working in New Mexico.

Childlike Behavior: Thomas Bowers Solo Exhibition Winner of our 2021 SURFACE: Emerging Artists of New Mexico.

AUGUST 15 - SEPTEMBER 15 UFO Daydream: Adrian Pijoan A UFO crashes in the desert, is retrieved, and brought to Harwood.

Holy Land: Diego Medina Diego will explore mythologies surrounding the theme of the Holy Land and create maps that transform New Mexico history into cartographic always fantasies that highlight some of the major paralleled between other historical lands and the sacred land of his home state of New Mexico.

SEPTEMBER 26 - NOVEMBER 3 Residency for Art & Social Justice Harwood’s Residency for Art & Social Justice is dedicated to feature and support artists working at the intersections of creative expression and social justice.

For the occasion of Harwood’s 30th Anniversary, we are offering and formally establishing our first official seven month residency program.

DECEMBER 3 12x12 Fundraising Exhibitions Harwood’s annual fundraising exhibitions featuring established, emerging and youth artists from New Mexico. This event includes 150 works that remain anonymous until sold – for the flat rates of $144 (12”x12”) or $36 (6”x6”) and an Artwork Preview before the original works go on sale. Prelude prices vary.

Harwood staff curate four exhibitions annually, ENCOMPASS: A Multi-Generational Art Event, SURFACE: Emerging Artists of New Mexico, and BRIDGE: Art & Social Justice.

12x12 is our annual fundraiser; all proceeds support our free community arts education, outreach and professional development.

(Top to Bottom): Diego Medina, all of this beauty was beloved into being, colored pencil on vintage map, 2021; Thomas Bowers, Crazy House, ink on paper, 2020; Adrian Pijoan, Still from Visions of Homeworld, single channel video, 5:10, 2020; MK, To see you again, archival inkjet print, lace & cotton blend table cloth, 2019

25

ABOUT HARWOOD ART CENTER & ESCUELA DEL SOL MONTESSORI HARWOOD ART CENTER’S GALLERIES PROGRAM is dedicated to providing exhibition,

audience expansion and professional development opportunities to artists working in any media and from diverse creative fields. Our galleries program is curated and managed by our Chief Programs Officer and Associate Directors of Opportunity and Engagement.

Artists are invited to exhibit during three of our annual capstone events, Encompass, Residency for Art & Social Justice & 12x12, the rest of our exhibitions are awarded to individuals and groups through a competitive application process. Most of our applications are free to apply, any collected fees allocated to replenishing Harwood’s endowed cash awards for the program. Each featured exhibition is a supportive process, we work with the artists from concept development to installation in the galleries. For our 2021 exhibiting artists, we have developed a hybrid offering of both in person and virtual programming. For each exhibition we create comprehensive outreach and digital materials including exhibition catalogs, virtual galleries and artist talks to support the unique visions and voices of our gallery artists.

Seeded in 1991, Harwood Art Center blooms the philosophy of our parent organization Escuela del Sol Montessori, with recognition that learning and expression offer the most resilient pathways to global citizenship, justice and peace. Harwood engages the arts as a catalyst for lifelong learning, cultural enrichment and social change, with programming for every age, background and income level. We believe that equitable access to the arts and opportunities for creative expression are integral to healthy individuals and thriving communities. In all of our work, we cultivate inclusive, reflective environments where everyone feels cared for. We nurture long-term, multi-faceted relationships with participants, building programs with and for diverse communities of Albuquerque. We integrate the arts with social justice, professional and economic growth, and education to cultivate a higher collective quality of life in New Mexico.

For 50 years, Escuela del Sol, an independent Montessori school, has nurtured selfdiscovery, social responsibility and passion for learning in our students. Each day Escuela supports students from ages 18 months to 13 years on their real-world quests to excel academically and to develop the skills they need for meaningful, happy and successful futures.

26

HARWOOD ART CENTER’S PHOTOGRAPHER IN RESIDENCE We are so thrilled to have established an official Photographer in Residence opportunity- a new ongoing residency at Harwood Art Center. This residency includes an annual honorarium and rent credit for a studio at Harwood. Aziza Murray, who was our inaugural Galleries & Exhibition Photographer, is now our Photographer in Residence.

We are able to present this residency and honorarium thanks to the Urban Enhancement Trust Fund, New Mexico Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, and the McCune Charitable Foundation.

AZIZA MURRAY is a New Mexico based artist working primarily in photography.

In 2015 she graduated with an MFA from the University of New Mexico where she also worked as a pictorial archiving fellow for the Center for Southwest Research. Since then, Aziza has worked in different capacities in the film industry in Santa Fe and Albuquerque, further piquing her interest in cinematography. Much of her work stems from a well of nostalgia for objects and moments, the materiality of photography, and her personal history—from experiencing tragic loss at an early age, to her multilayered experiences as a biracial person growing up in Washington, DC. She has shown her work in DC at Connersmith and the Corcoran Gallery of Art, in Albuquerque at the Harwood Art Center, the UNM Art Museum and the National Hispanic Cultural Center and, at MASS Gallery in Austin, TX. azizamurray.com

azizamurray@gmail.com

27

WWW.HARWOODARTCENTER.ORG · 505.242.6367 · 1114 7th NW, ALBUQUERQUE, NM 87102