CSArtists
DANE CARDER from the artist: This body of work is not simply about the Civil War. It is about an emotion: the layered, all-encompassing emotion that accompanies a life lived. It is about being passionate enough to fight, compassionate enough to grieve, honest enough to be open. It is about ghosts and hopes. from the curator: Carder’s mixed-media collages contain photographs of Civil War-era figures in front of 19th-century wallpaper. Their waxy textured surfaces and shadowy patinas make the men at war appear ghost-like, floating within the domestic setting of wallpaper. EMILY CLAYTON from the artist: I began Studio Warmups in the streets of New York in 2012 by challenging the weight and size of people and lifting them off the ground. By physically picking up men who were often twice my size, I sought to create an intimate, isolated moment that was situated in the social, but mirrored my autonomous existence in the studio. What had previously existed in my work as a negotiation with the object was transformed into an interaction that dealt with form, balance and scale. from the curator: Clayton’s photographs capture fleeting, intimate moments between strangers. The work serves as formal study of objects, while also challenging notions of gender, relationships and private/public practices. DEREK COTÉ from the artist: This work is an adaptation from an original series of 10 prints on paper produced at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art. The series is based on historical accounts of assimilation and exploitation during the western expansion of the United States and Canada. from the curator: Coté’s prints contain political words divided and displayed like an eye test at the optometrist’s office. Words such as “American,” “trade” and “cession” can be read in the column of letters divided by stars and stripes. Addressing concepts of identity, place and impermanence, Coté’s work tests the viewer on their ability to see, focus on and discern the words and symbols before them. SHER FICK from the artist: As an artist, I never identified myself as a feminist. My being female was just a part of biology. For years I de-feminized my subject matter, colors, and construction. Unfortunately, this separatist attitude developed into a denial of my complete person. I am a woman. I am a wife. I am a mother. As I began an archeological dig culturally, psychologically and personally, I rediscovered and acknowledged, for the first time, my feminine history and existence. My works now include the very ambiguity I feel over this issue. By questioning what femininity means to me, I offer a record of one artist’s journey into acceptance, and embrace, of the feminine spirit I have denied for years. My work now reflects the depolarization of my artist/feminine self. from the curator: Fick’s sculptures, made from pieces of vintage fabric sewn together over 181