Biennial Juried Show

Jurors: Asia Freeman and Michael Walsh

Virtual Gallery Tour:

Opening Reception: October 6th, 5-7 pm

Juror’s Comments

Jurying a community show is not an easy task. The purpose of the exhibition is, in our view,  to showcase and strengthen the community through the arts. This requires time with the work, getting to know the submissions and looking for the shared themes and conversations they assert collectively about art media, people and place. Themes and values became apparent as we handled them, moved them around, and laid out the exhibition. Through this process we discovered what we wanted to highlight and elevate. We want to acknowledge that Kenai Art Center attracts a delightful variety of work at all levels of expertise in concept and craftsmanship. This vibrancy is celebrated here.

As you look around the main gallery you may see “neighborhoods” of themes. Within these groups, you may notice that the context in which you experience a work of art shapes its meaning. Our goal is to enhance each piece through the exhibition layout, creating a cohesive show. Within this, narrative works which speak to the power of this landscape and its people interweave tactile and abstract, material approaches to experiencing one’s environment. On the back wall are works of mystery and inquiry, deeper and more complex readings of art materials and processes, and what it means to see and  how to interpret this world. These works explore the artist’s vulnerability and the subject’s voice with bravery and boldness. 

We offer a show reflective of this community. From professionals to emerging artists, the self-taught and the seasoned participants, we perceived a very open door, and therefore we didn’t reject anything. Nevertheless, we needed more space to show it all, so we chose to present a selection of artworks in the back gallery where they have excellent light and room to assert their stories without crowding or discord. What’s the point of not cutting work out of the show? Our answer: relish this opportunity to acknowledge what your community has to offer, its many narratives, from the sobering to the sweet.  Every voice, the range of responses, is important.  Everyone deserves to be acknowledged for showing up. 

Asia Freeman and Michael Walsh, Jurors

JURORS

Asia Freeman

Asia Freeman is Artistic Director of Bunnell Street Arts Center in Homer. After graduating from Homer High School she received a Bachelors of Art at Yale and an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts.  Asia has taught arts classes for the University of Alaska since 1997.  Since 1991 Asia has had 23 exhibitions primarily in Alaska, but also Connecticut, Vermont, Washington,  South Korea and Germany. Eight of these exhibitions were collaborations with her partner,  moving image artist Michael Walsh. Asia’s paintings are in the collections of the Pratt Museum, the Art Bank of the Alaska State Council on the Arts, the Alaska State Museum. 

Michael Walsh

Michael Walsh has been making moving image art for over 25 years. His work has screened at the SFMOMA, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Nam June Paik Center in S. Korea and Anthology Film Archives, among others.  He has an MFA in Film/Video, New Genres and Performance Art from the Peck School of the Arts at UW-Milwaukee.  Walsh works in digital video and celluloid film as well as painting and installation.  Walsh is an Adjunct art instructor for the University of Alaska Anchorage and Assistant Curator and Archivist for the Moving Image Department at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. 

Exhibit info:

• Opening Reception: Thursday October 6th 5-7pm. Open to the public. Refreshments
• Location: Kenai Art Center, 816 Cook Avenue
• Exhibition dates: October 6 – October 29
• Gallery hours: 12-5pm, Wednesday – Saturday