Exhibition: January 2022

January 5, 2022

a life repurposed

Artwork by Zirrus VanDevere

Opening Reception: January 6th, 5-7 pm

Artist Talk at 6pm

“A Life Repurposed” will be on view in January at The Kenai Art Center. Zirrus VanDevere is a longtime Kenai artist, columnist, and art advocate, and her new work is an eclectic mix of paintings, sculptures, and mixed media work that responds to a turbulent period in her life. Also on display are several collaborative pieces from Zirrus and artist Thor Evenson. Join us for the first show of 2022!

Artist’s Statement:

My recent work has been mostly process and material focused, which can feel both elemental and complex at once. I have been regaining the joy of matter, of materials, of uncovering subconscious motives and the inevitable meaning-making that springs out of the depths as I play. After a wild ride in my hometown of Rochester, NY (including four back surgeries) it’s comforting to play in a familiar back yard with the toys and natural objects I’d left behind. My physical limitations have certainly slowed me down, but if I pace myself I seem to do alright. I feel certain that if I stop moving, I am done for. So I keep moving. 

I received a Bachelor’s of Fine Art from SUNY Oswego in 1988 and traveled on a whim to Kasilof, and I easily fell in love with Alaska. Except for the aforementioned stint in NY at the end of my dad’s life, I have lived here ever since. I also got a Bachelor’s of Education at KPC in the mid nineties, and although I loved the teaching environment, fate led to owning and operating the art gallery and frame shop where I worked instead. I’ve always been an artist advocate with a passion for local, original art, so this was a natural fit, as was writing a weekly column about local art in the independent newspaper The Redoubt Reporter. It’s the water I tend to swim in, and I’m awfully glad to be back in the pool…

There are a few pieces in this exhibit that I created with Anchorage/Kenai artist Thor Evenson (noted as collaboratives) over a period of a number of months. Our styles are different enough that we sort of lulled each other into responding in novel ways to the task, playfully urging the other to respond and thus allowing a sort of alchemy to occur. As Thor has quipped, “It’s not like we own the thing, we were really just going along for the ride. It’s the way art is best approached anyway.”

If you as the viewer achieve even a fraction of the joy from experiencing these as I did manifesting them, it will have been a worthwhile venture. 

-Zirrus VanDevere 

Exhibit Details

  • Opening Reception: Thursday January 6th, 5-7pm. Open to the public. Refreshments
  • Location: The Kenai Art Center, 816 Cook Avenue (Across from Oiler’s Bingo & next to The Historic Cabins)
  • Exhibition dates: January 5th – January 29th
  • Gallery hours: 12-5pm, Wednesday – Saturday