Amber Powell: Third Drawer Down

amber powell

third drawer down

Amber Powell: third drawer down introduction

The exhibition Third Drawer Down was produced by Amber Powell, a Vernon, BC based artist. Her exhibition includes a body of mixed media and collage works on paper addressing existential aspects of the human condition in contemporary society both on global and individual levels. The context of Powell’s work is conceptually married to the tenets of the Dada movement, specifically of its mockery of materialistic and nationalistic attitudes.

Powell’s images create narratives that often contain serious messages which are in turn subverted by a gentle humor and general sense of lightness. The objects and characters in Powell’s narratives are often suspended mid-air and liberated from the predictable influence of the Earth’s gravity which also leaves an implied narrative in flux and is interpretable according to the viewers’ associations based on visual clues contained in a work of art.

Despite the fact that Powell’s studio practice is focused primarily on drawing and printmaking, she has also been creating bodies of works of mixed media collages inspired by Dada and Surrealist artists. Her collage works combine pictorial elements derived from images from the past and present and then combined into individual images. Powell collects the source images from old and current magazines, as well as old and found photographs. The combination of past and present images in Powell’s work are often playful and whimsical at first glance, but sustained viewing of the images often reveal an unsettling quality of peculiar orchestration of juxtapositions of old vs. new attitudes reflected in societal being.

The meaning encapsulated in Powell’s collages relies on their associative qualities and the viewer’s personal genesis of understanding complex societal relationships and values. The open-ended narratives are often implied and/or inconclusive, yet their layers of meaning contribute to the non-linear reading and interpretation.

Lubos Culen Curator Vernon Public Art Gallery

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Creation of a Sheep Army 2016 mixed media collage 36 x 26 in

Artist Statement

So, my dad gave me a mantle clock! I was both amused and stuck as now I had to care for it. On winding the clock, the chimes are repetitive and constant but in our old house it seemed fitting, maybe for a day or two. Every chime that struck rang in my head not as the chimes of Westminster abbey but that of David Bowie’s Changes. I can be told but I don’t have to listen. My mind plays its own tricks.1 Compare: Time may change me But I can’t trace time - David Bowie2 Amber Powell’s Statement: Our daily lives are affected by so much more than our decisions and ambitions. Every day the world conspires to constrain us and limit who we are, what we want to become and where we hope our lives will lead us. Some of these limiting factors are large scale such as the economy, political oppression and even our extended families. Some are less deliberate but no less debilitating, as even the presence of a rain cloud can ruin our picnic plans. In this series, I have selected, combined and altered mass media images that illustrate some external forces and their ability to alter our senses of ourselves, and the ways in which current affairs or other unavoidable powers affect us and our decisions.

The work: The title, Third Drawer Down is a reference to the ubiquitous junk drawer -- “yeah honey it’s over there, in the third drawer down.” To me this illustrates one of life’s ironies, which is that everything can be compartmentalized, and at the same time be jumbled. In many ways this also illustrates my life!

In creating these collages, I have been influenced by Joan Miro. His collages are simple and fight against conventional image-making. He famously declared an “assassination of painting”, in favour of upsetting the visual elements of established art techniques.3

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I don’t believe myself to be assassinating anything. Instead, I am building with collage, a story that is defined by the images – a story which is sometimes political, sometimes not. Each piece is defining a situation, a dream place, or a magical moment. The images are collected from many widely varied sources, including the internet, photos and postcards, scanned found objects, and current and historical news media.

I have also been influenced by the artist Hannah Höch, a Dadaist from Germany. Her collages are inspiring and she was a pioneer in the art of photomontage. Photomontage is a type of collage in which the pasted items are actual photographs, or photographic reproductions pulled from the press and other widely produced media.4 Although I admit I am attracted to unusual or other-than-ordinary images, in these pieces I am illustrating the story of ordinary life. https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Thomas+Westminster+Chime+Sounds&&view=detail&mid=B2D6DEEC97C40BCC4397B2D 6DEEC97C40BCC4397&FORM=VRDGAR, Accessed: December 6th 2 http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/davidbowie/changes.html , Accessed: December 6th, 2016 3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Mir%C3%B3, Accessed: December 6th, 2016 4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_Höch , Accessed: December 6th, 2016 1

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Milk of the Earth 2016 mixed media collage 36 x 28 in

Sing It Right, You Rat 2016 mixed media collage 36 x 28 in

Envelop of Lovlies 2016 mixed media collage 36 x 28 in

Glorious Red Boat 2010 mixed media collage 36 x 28 in

curriculum vitae

Amber Powell apowell@shaw.ca Background and experience

1987 Okanagan University College, Visual Arts Program 1991 UVIC Bachelor of Fine Arts, Printmaking major 1995-2000 Dundarave Print Studio, Member, Granville Island, Vancouver BC 2002-2012 Gallery Vertigo, Member, Artist studios and gallery, Vernon, BC 2002-2012 North Okanagan Artist Alternative, Member, Director past, Vice-president past,

Program Coordinator 2003-2005 Okanagan College, Computer Animation program, Life Drawing Instructor, Vernon, BC 2009 Chatter and Whirr attendee, A BC Winter Festival of artist-run culture bringing

artist-run centres and collectives from across BC 2010 Community Flag Project –Olympic Spirit, Vernon Public Art Gallery, Vernon, BC 2012 Penticton Wall Project, mural, Penticton Art Gallery, Penticton BC 2015 Okanagan Art Review, Member 2015 Arte Funktional, Kelowna, BC 2016 Art Rental, Vernon Public Art Gallery, Vernon, BC Exhibitions

2015 2014 2013 2012 2011

2010 2009

2008

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Exposed!, Members’ group exhibition, Vernon Public Art Gallery, Vernon, BC Members’ Exhibition, Lake Country Art Gallery, Lake Country, BC Exploratorium, Members’ Exhibition, Gallery Vertigo, Vernon, BC Diverse Drawing, Solo exhibition, Rose Mountain Open Exhibition, Armstrong, BC Diversity in Drawing, Group exhibition, Lake Country Art Gallery, Lake Country, BC Starting Point, Group exhibition, Lake Country Art Gallery, Lake Country, BC Coat Check Gallery, Group exhibition, Vernon Performing Arts Centre, Vernon, BC Rabbit, rabbit, white rabbit, Solo exhibition, Gallery Vertigo, Vernon, BC Recent Drawings, Kalamalka Vertigo, Okanagan College, Vernon, BC Lucky # 7, 7th Annual NOAA Member Juried Exhibition, Gallery Vertigo, Vernon, BC Mad Hatters Tea Party, Vernon Community Arts Centre, Vernon, BC Selected Member Hall, Kalamalka Campus Hall, Okanagan College, Vernon, BC 6th Annual NOAA Member Juried Exhibition, Gallery Vertigo, Vernon, BC

2005

2004 2003

2002

2001

2000

1999

biomorphic, Three person exhibition, Nanaimo Public Art Gallery, Nanaimo, BC Some recent drawings, Window Gallery, Alternator Gallery, Kelowna, BC Above and Below Earthworks, Two person exhibition, Comox Valley Art Gallery,

Comox, BC North Okanagan Open Juried Exhibition, Vernon Public Art Gallery, Vernon, BC Art for Kids’ Sake, Art Gallery of the South Okanagan, Kelowna Art Gallery, Vernon

Performing Arts Centre, Traveling group exhibition, Okanagan Valley A Fine Line, (Drawings), Two person exhibition, SAGA Public Art Gallery, Salmon

Arm, BC Small wonders /small joys, Gallery Vertigo members’ exhibition, International

Internet Exhibition, Gallery Vertigo, Vernon, BC Roots and Attachments, Solo exhibition, Gallery Vertigo, Vernon, BC Roots and Attachments, Solo exhibition, Eight Sisters Gallery, Penticton, BC Blue, Group exhibition, Gallery Vertigo, Vernon, BC Boston Cambridge Miniprint International Exchange, Boston, USA smallMatters, Group exhibition, Vernon Public Art Gallery, Vernon, BC Art Rental Exhibition, Group exhibition, Vernon Public Art Gallery, Vernon, BC Recent Work, Solo exhibition, Laughing Moon Gallery, Kelowna, BC Just to Print (30 years), Invitational exhibition, Dundarave Gallery, Vancouver, BC Recent Work, Solo exhibition, Vernon Outreach Gallery, Vernon Regional Library, Vernon, BC Recent Work, Solo exhibition, Lake Country and District Council Office, Lake Country, BC Valley 2000, Exhibition, catalogue, website and permanent archive, Kelowna Art

Gallery, Kelowna, BC Recent Work, Solo exhibition, Dundarave Gallery, Vancouver, BC Millennium 5th Annual Juried Exhibition, Vernon Public Art Gallery, Vernon, BC BIMPE 1, Mini-print International Juried Exhibition, Dundarave Gallery, New Leaf

Editions, Vancouver, BC Oversite, Two person exhibition, Dundarave Gallery, Vancouver, BC Arts 99, Juried group exhibition, Seymour Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC The Killing Jar, Solo exhibition, Dundarave Gallery, Vancouver, BC

Bibliography

Vernon Outreach presents..., Vernon Morning Star, June 22, 2001 “Chicken struts the runway”, Vernon Morning Star Sunday June 8, 2003 “CVAG prepares to open new show in new space”, Comox Valley Record, April 27th, 2005 “The People behind Three Energetic Art Groups, Art Happens”, Okanagan Life, October 8, 2008 “Artist enters the Rabbit hole with Exhibit”, The Vernon Morning Star, June 25, 2010 11

This publication was produced in conjunction with the exhibition: Amber Powell: Third Drawer Down Vernon Public Art Gallery, January 5 - March 8, 2017 Production: Vernon Public Art Gallery Cover Image: Amber Powell: On the Back of an Ass, 2016, mixed media collage, 36 x 26 in Photography: Amber Powell Printing: Get Colour Copies, Vernon BC, Canada ISBN 978-1-927407-33-2

copyright Š 2017, Vernon Public Art Gallery All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the Vernon Public Art Gallery. Requests for permission to use these images should be addressed in writing to the Vernon Public Art Gallery, 3228 31st Avenue, Vernon BC, V1T 2H3, Canada.

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