JENNIFER ONOFRIO FORNES sherry leedy contemporary art
SHERRY LEEDY CONTEMPORARY ART 2004 Baltimore Ave. Kansas City, MO 64108 816.221.2626 sherryleedy.com Catalog design by Allison King Cover Image Reliquary #12
JENNIFER ONOFRIO FORNES Reliquaries Exhibition Dates November 1, 2019 - January 25, 2020
Artist Statment
Issues of mortality and spirituality have been at the core of my studio
practice for years. Growing up surrounded by a home library of Mayo Clinic medical books spurred my curiosity concerning the physical. Recently, my interest has shifted towards the recognition of limitations of the physical self while searching for visual ways to transcend them.
In this body of work, I am exploring forms that suggest a sense of both
presence and absence. I work to create a sense of balance, movement, and symmetry in the sculpture through the hundreds of imperfectly handcut, stacked, hollowed out, wood circles. The repetitive nature of building, sanding, and finishing these forms functions as a form of meditation. This series continues the investigation of mortality by reflecting on the historical and cultural use of spiritual memorial structures and forms such as stupas, temples, and funerary urns. These physical constructs function as a means to recognize, honor, remember, and hold vestiges of the physical self while acknowledging the essential importance of such constructs as a means to understanding what it is to be human and mortal.
Jennifer Onofrio Fornes 2019
Reliquary #1 Wood, powdered charcoal 91” x 37” x 37”
Reliquary #14 Wood, bone ash 63” x 17” x 17”
Reliquary #10 Wood, bone ash 13” x 7.5” x 7.5”
Reliquary #3 Wood, bone ash 74” x 17” x 17”
Reliquary #17 Wood, bone ash 19” x 7” x 7”
Reliquary #12 Wood, bone ash 47” x 21” x 21”
Reliquary #6 Wood, bone ash 17.5” x 23” x 23”
Reliquary #4 Wood, bone ash 41” x 19” x 19”
Reliquary #9 Wood, bone ash 21” x 7.5” x 7.5”
Reliquary #16 Wood, bone ash 16” x 9” x 9”
Reliquary #2 Wood, bone ash 91” x 21” x 21”
Reliquary #18 Wood, bone ash 11” x 5.5” x 5.5”
Reliquary #13 Wood, bone ash 42” x 15” x 15”
Reliquary #8 Wood, bone ash 15” x 9” x 9”
Reliqaury #5 Wood, bone ash 48” x 16” x 16”
Jennifer Onofrio Fornes CV 2019 Education 1991 1988
M.F.A. University of California, Davis (Sculpture, Photography, Drawing) B.F.A. University of Wisconsin, Madison (Painting, Sculpture)
Teaching 1999-Pres.
Professor. Augusta University: 3-D Design, Mixed Media Sculpture, Photography, Breaking Boundaries: Art and Physics, and World Humanities
Selected Solo Exhibitions since 2000 2019 Common Ground, University of Wisconsin Fox Valley, Menasha, WI. 2018 Within Without, Rochester Community Technical College Gallery, Rochester Community Tech nical College, Rochester, MN. 2013 Mortal Coil, Morris Museum of Art, Augusta, GA. 2012 Traces, Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO. Traces, The South Dakota Art Museum, Brookings, SD. 2010 Arabesque, Flaten Art Museum, St Olaf College, Northfield, MN. 2007 Dusk. The Arts Center. St Petersburg, FL. 2006 Waiting Room. Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art. Kansas City, MO. 2000 Skin and Bones. Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art. Kansas City, MO. Selected Group Exhibitions since 2010 2018 Defining the Art of Change. Jurors: Judy Greenberg (former Kreeger Museum director), Doro thea Dietrich (professor/curator), Jack Rasmussen (American University Museum director/cura tor), and Charles Krause (Director of the Center for Contemporary Political Art). The Center for Contemporary Political Art, Washington, D.C. 2017 Enigma (Invitational). Westobou Gallery. Augusta, GA. A Celebration of Our Own: Department of Art and Design Faculty Exhibition. Mary S. Byrd Gallery. Augusta, GA. 2016 Chlorine (Invitational). All is Fair Gallery. Kansas City, MO. 2nd Alabama National Biennial. Juror: Barb Bondy. Sella-Granata Art Gallery. Tuscaloosa, AL. Freeze Frame Juried Photography Exhibition. Juror: Bruce Temuchin Brown. Blue Line Arts, Coker Gallery, Sacramento, CA. 2015 People in the Belger Collection. Belger Arts Center, Kansas City, MO. SPE Juried Southeast Regional Juried Photographic Exhibition, Juror: Byron Wolfe. Clem son Center for Visual Arts, Greenville, SC. 2015 Head to Toe (Invitational), Gravers Lane Gallery, Philadelphia, PA. 2010 Within State Lines (Invitational), Museum of Contemporary Art, Atlanta, GA. Invitational Exhibition. Hudgen’s Center for the Arts, Duluth, Ga.
Selected Exhibition Reviews, Catalogs, Publications since 2010 2018 Post Bulletin. Review, by Tom Weber, of the exhibition, Within Without. Fox 47. Review of the exhibition, Within Without. Drawing Dissent: Defining Art of Change in the Age of Trump. Review by John Wooley of the Georgetown Voice. Review of the exhibition Defining Art of Change in the Age of Trump. 2016 Unearth. Contributed an essay for the book, Unearth, about the recent work of sculptor, Judy Onofrio. Published through the Rochester Art Center and circulated nationally. 2014 Windhover. My artwork was selected by the editor and featured in the literary journal, Wind hover, a nationally circulated literary publication dedicated to promoting poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction. 2012 Kansas City Star. Review of the Traces exhibition. Critic: Dana Self. Kansas City, MO. 2010 Minneapolis Star and Tribune. Review of the Arabesque exhibition. Critic: Mary Abbe. Minneap- olis, MN. Arabesque, catalog and essay written by Cyndee Randal. Selected Collections/Public and Private Richard Belger Foundation, Kansas City, MO. Annie Goldenberg, Chestnut Hills, PA. Andrew and Christina Andrews, Chestnut Hills, PA. The Morris Museum of Art, Augusta, GA. Mary and Gary Krauthamer, St. Petersburg, FL. Landmark Bank, Madill, OK. North Dakota Museum of Art, Grand Forks, ND. Kathleen Sanjabi, Carbondale, IL. Deborah and Jack Duffey, Independence, MO. Allan Sweig, Highland Park, IL. Raphaelle Goethals, Santa Fe, NM. Taweesak Molsawat, Milwaukee, WI. Dianne Winters, Santa Fe, NM. Jonathan de Lima, Galisteo, NM. Lou Hicks, Greenwich, CT. Nathaniel Freeman, Galisteo, NM. Jean McDonnell, Kansas City, MO. Dottie Indyke, Santa Fe, NM. Colleen Kellogg, Madison, WI. Selected Visiting Artist Lectures and Artistic Activity 2019 University of South Carolina Aiken: Presented a talk about the process of jurying the student art exhibition. Aiken, SC. 2018 The Rochester Technical and Community College, Presented an artist’s lecture concerning the exhibition, Within Without. North Augusta Center, presented an Artist’s lecture, North Augusta, SC. LASER (Leonardo Artists Science Evening Rendezvous), Augusta University, presented a lecture on the intersection of art and medicine. Augusta, GA. 2016 The Rochester Art Center, artists panel for the exhibition, Unearth. Panelists: Garth Johnson, Megan Johnson, Jennifer Onofrio, and Judy Onofrio. Rochester, MN.
SHERRY LEEDY CONTEMPORARY ART 2004 Baltimore Ave. Kansas City, MO 64108 816.221.2626 sherryleedy.com