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SUMMARY:Work-In-Progress: Jordan Brooks\, Susan Norris\, & Lindsay Wede
DESCRIPTION:Exhibit Title: Work-In-Progress \nExhibit Location and Dates: Octagon Community Gallery\, August 20 – October 1\, 2022 \nExhibit Description: The Octagon’s Work-In-Progress exhibit will display the behind-the-scenes work of an artist. Artists Jordan Brooks\, Susan Norris\, and Lindsay Wede will use the Octagon’s Community Gallery as their studio space for the duration of the show. The three artists represent varied media\, local artists\, and art educators. Through making visible the process of creation\, in a public and collaborative space that considers the value of intergenerational dialogue\, Work-In-Progress seeks to celebrate art as a dialogic\, community-informed\, and collaborative professional practice. \nArtist Bios and Statements:  \nJordan Brooks \nJordan Brooks is a creator and educator. His primary mediums are performance art\, pen and ink\, and painting both digitally and traditionally. His artistic practice and research explore the development of and commitment to identity\, specifically Black identity. Guided by the affirmation\, “See yourself\, know yourself\, be yourself.” Jordan’s creative practice seeks to understand self in relation to the social and physical world. Jordan created KNWSLF (Know Self) to bring his passion for creativity and identity development together. KNWSLF stands for Knowledge\, Wisdom\, Self Love\, and Fellowship. Through all forms of creativity\, he explores these four concepts in hopes to better know self. \nArtist Statement: Developing imagination creates capacity to imagine and develop a nation! \n  \n  \n  \nSusan Norris \nSusan Norris\, an Ames artist\, is a human magpie. Walk with her and you’ll witness her exclaim as she picks up a bit of rusty metal or a shard of plastic. Variety is the spice of Norris’ life from the colors\, patterns and textures of her thrifted clothing and garden to the way she sets a table. \nShe is a scrappy collector and determined connector who can stitch Humpty-Dumpty back together again in a variety of imaginative ways. During the 2021 Ames Artist Studio tour folks asked\, “How did you think of so many different ways to put things together?”  \nNorris is passionate about rescuing discarded objects\, likening them to discarded people. The process of finding\, sorting and grouping objects inspires ideas for expression through assemblage. Norris is currently experimenting with ways to combine her lifelong love of hand stitching and her newfound interest in mending with found object art. \n \nLindsay Wede \nLindsay Wede sees her world as a big adventure in art. She teaches art at Ames High School and helps students with their own projects. At home\, she tackles creative challenges with her son. Lindsay loves the process of creating art and wants to use it as a vehicle for making a difference in the lives of others. \nVisit www.pinzprints.com for more of her work. \nYou can also find her books at www.lulu.com/spotlight/pinzprints  \nArtist Statement:  Brainstorming with botany\, building blocks\, bookmarks\, books\, and more. \nMaking art can be both refreshing and terrifying. It gives a chance to construct meaning and to release an array of emotions. It is a means to celebrate and rejoice or grieve and offer sympathy. It also offers a framework to pose questions and search for answers. \n With art\, I can study and share various perspectives and stories. I like to explore all aspects of life\, from early childhood to old age. My work swings from silly stories to more sophisticated themes. I constantly think about my purpose and how my work can be used to make a difference. I think about what can be learned\, as I am in the process of creating. \nMy pieces go through constant revision\, because I approach them much like I approach life. Art mimics life\, after all. As I work\, I discover\, learn\, and grow. Like my art\, I am a work in progress. Recently\, I broke my finger on my primary hand and had to have surgery. I have been retraining myself how to use my hand and the process has taught me a lot. I have so many different ideas and mediums that I wish to investigate more. That is one of the reasons why I love teaching kids about art- there are always so many opportunities\, even with limitations. \nI enjoy making bookmarks and books to encourage reading and morals. I like designing building blocks for play and making connections. With the blocks\, children can see familiar faces\, expressions\, and interesting colors and characters. I also am interested in drawing concepts from current events and various times in history together to try to better understand and make connections that are a lot harder to make. I am continually planning and creating with natural materials\, as I really see them as the best art supply and a reminder of how connected we are to the earth. I use them to inspire me and make paintings and prints. To encourage my art\, I spend a lot of time outdoors\, talking with others\, reading\, taking notes\, and sketching.  \nI hope you enjoy my work and take some time to engage with it. There are some interactive activities and there are books\, bookmarks\, blocks\, and prints for sale. Please write your name in the guest book and add your email address. Please share any comments and questions you may have. \n  \nEvents:  \nWork-In-Progress: Open House \nThursday\, September 1\, 2022\, 6:00-8:00 p.m.  \nOctagon Community Gallery \n  \nJoin all three Work-In-Progress featured artists for an open house! Jordan Brooks\, Susan Norris\, and Lindsay Wede will spend the evening showcasing completed and in-progress artworks\, answering questions\, and engaging with the Ames community to discuss their artistic processes and current projects.  \n  \nWork-In-Progress: Artist Studio Hours \nVisit the Octagon Community Gallery to see the exhibit artists at work!  \n  \nJordan Brooks: Thursdays\, 4:00-8:00 p.m.; Saturdays\, 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. \nSusan Norris: Mondays-Fridays\, 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.  \nLindsay Wede: Thursdays\, 4:30-7:30 p.m.  \n  \nAdditional Events: TBD \n  \n 
URL:https://octagonarts.org/event/work-in-progress-featuring-jordan-brooks-susan-norris-and-lindsay-wede/
LOCATION:Octagon Center for the Arts\, 427 Douglas Avenue\, Ames\, IA\, 50010\, United States
CATEGORIES:Exhibits
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SUMMARY:OUT Exhibit
DESCRIPTION:On View September 1-30\, 2022 \nExhibition Locations:\nAmes History Museum: “Selfportrait: Flickering” by Sasha Phillips \n416 Douglas Avenue; Hours: Tuesday-Friday 1-4\, Saturday 10-4 \nAmes Public Library: “Queer Family” by Charlie Esker \n515 Douglas Avenue; Hours: Sunday 1-5\, Monday-Thursday 9-9\, Friday-Saturday 9-6 \nBack Alley House Plants: “The Box” by Ashley Vance \n111 Main Street; Hours: Wednesday-Sunday 11-5 \nDog-Eared Books: “Social Medium” by Lane Maxson \n203 Main Street; Hours: Monday-Thursday 9-7\, Friday-Saturday 9-8\, Sunday 10-6 \nHeroic Ink: “Mushroom Abduction” and “Portal” by Jennifer Leatherby  \n211 Main Street; Hours: Tuesday-Friday 11-9\, Saturday 9-9\, Sunday 12-6 \nLittle Woods Herbal: “2424 2.0 (June 24th)” by Jameson Malone \n136 Main Street; Hours: Monday-Friday 10-6\, Saturday 10-4 \nLondon Underground: “a hot haven” by Piper Smith \n212 Main Street; Hours: Monday-Thursday 3 pm-2 am\, Friday-Sunday 2 pm-2 am \n \nExhibition Statement: \nOUT extends an invitation to connect to the LGBTQIA+ community with authenticity. Each artwork was chosen because they bring forward key elements of community building like creation and maintenance or people and locations.  \nThe artwork featured in OUT presents communities in a way that contains abundance\, masses\, and movements that are neither monolithic nor are they stagnant. A few of the artworks invite you to share specifically in the LGBTQIA+ community in hopes that you will understand and see what we know and hold dear. Other artworks invite you to see the more difficult parts of community: the loneliness\, the effort\, the isolation\, and the need to escape. \nBy actively engaging in OUT\, you are actively engaging in the many levels of community in and around the exhibition. You are building a community with the artwork\, with the artist\, with the people and places the artist calls community\, with the Octagon Art Center\, with Ames\, and with me. Welcome. \n \n~aj castle\, Out Exhibit Juror \nJuror:  aj castle (they\,them\,theirs) is currently transitioning from full-time creator of programming and resources to support and advance gender equity in higher education to full-time scholar on the intersection of gender and technology. Their specific interests include researching\, exploring\, and understanding the creation and viewing of digital bodies\, digital gender identities\, power disparities in social media and user generated content\, and the gamification of relationships. Their current multi-media works in progress include an analysis of the technologies of gender in sci-fi/horror films\, a body horror short story\, and various assemblages of found objects that speak on transitioning and expanding gender. \nArtist Bios and Statements: \nCharlie Esker – behance.net/profile/charlieesker; @charlieesker  \nHello! My name is Charlie Esker (they/she)\, I am a nonbinary artist born and raised in Cedar Rapids\, Iowa. I moved to Ames to study Integrated Studio Art at Iowa State and now work as a full-time artist! \nArtist Statement: Often\, queer people’s stories get told for them. Whether it be by their families or by the media\, queer people hardly get a narrator role when it comes to our own struggles. My art is my way of telling my story and working to heal my trauma through the artistic process. Most of my work revolves around my experiences as a transgender person\, both internal and external. Inviting the viewer into my story; whether that be to connect with other queer individuals\, or allow non-queer viewers a chance to see queerness through a queer person’s perspective. I strive to depict queer people in all our diverse\, divine\, glory. \n  \nJennifer Leatherby – @jenleatherbyart \nJennifer Leatherby is a queer multimedia artist who lives in Des Moines\, Iowa\, USA. She was adopted at a young age and grew up in a town of population 200 in rural Iowa. Her work explores themes of gender\, mental illness\, death\, nature\, and escapism. She visualizes her themes through abstract painting and fiber art and with symbolism of black holes\, surveilling eyes\, hands\, psychedelic landscapes\, celestial bodies\, otherworldly plants & animals. Her work includes drawing\, painting\, fibers\, digital\, video\, performance\, and sculpture. \nArtist Statement: My work reflects my life through a mirror of fantasy and abstraction. I am interested in every day connections and contradictions. I explore the time between our first breath and our last breath\, after our breath has ended\, the space between breaths\, and the things that take our breath away. \n \nJameson Malone – jamiemalone.com; @artbyjmalone \nJameson Malone is a 25 year-old multidisciplinary artist who graduated from Iowa State University with a BA in Biological/Pre-Medical Illustration. They create in various mediums\, most commonly known for their digital and acrylic works. Malone is heavily inspired by celestial bodies\, musicians\, the occult\, and the natural world. While infused with themes found in traditional art\, their pieces often focus on the understanding of oneself within gender\, sexuality\, and mental illness. \nJameson is currently located in Des Moines\, IA. This is the the ancestral\, unceded land of the Báxoǰe (Bah Kho-je) or Ioway\, Sauk (Sac)\, and Meskwaki (Fox) peoples. The Meskwaki Nation settlement is located in Tama\, IA\, and you can read more at www.meskwaki.org/  \nArtist Statement: I seldom depict more than one subject at a time in the pieces I create because much of my childhood was spent in isolation. Contemplating how the loneliness of childhood isolation has impacted and informed my young adulthood\, I’ve seen how the pieces I create can often reflect the feelings\, passions\, or subconscious rhetoric that individuals in the community often feel as well. We so often feel we go through hardships alone\, but as we reach out to those we care for\, often the currents of time are having us flow in the same wave. \nProceeds from this piece will be donated to the Iowa Trans Mutual Aid Fund. \nLane Maxson – maramaxson4.wixsite.com/lanemaxson \nArt has been incredibly influential to Lane throughout his life\, though it wasn’t until a few years ago that he really started to enjoy and grow in his art. Within the last year\, Lane has been able to reflect on past traumas and experiences\, which can often be reflected in his work. Through this work\, Lane hopes his art can open windows to help others with their own past traumas. \nArtist Statement: As a twelve year old\, downloading Instagram for the first time seemed like an exciting opportunity. Five years later\, my views on social media are far from exciting. From a young age\, the importance of likes and followers was forced into my brain and eventually became the only thing I was focused on. With each post\, I gained more likes\, fueling that need for approval. Before coming out\, I wanted to be “good enough” online\, and I feared rejection from others if I were to come out. I thought my entire life was based on my presence and popularity on social media. After coming out\, my likes dropped\, and eventually I started to realize how damaging my mindset had been. Portraying the ‘real’ me opened a new window of healing for me. I learned that you shouldn’t hold back or hide yourself for the approval of others.   \nSasha Phillips – @sashablu_art\nSasha Phillips (They/Them) is a Disabled\, Non-binary & Queer Artist living in Iowa. They were trained in traditional art mediums under Painter Dixie Schwisher and continued to pursue art on their own over the next 20 years. Specializing in Oil\, Acrylic and Graphite they prefer a surrealist approach to art\, exploring how nature\, the macabre and the fantastic can tell stories about the human experiences of grief\, joy and reinvention. \nArtist Statement: I create art that blurs the lines between realism and surrealism\, between the binary of life and decay. I use acrylic in this piece for its bold opaque pigment to heighten contrast and emphasize that the light of self knowledge and community cannot fully blot out the pressure of our socialization\, systemic structures and internal doubts. Freedom is a process\, a sometimes ugly\, exhausting process\, even within a supportive community\, when safety isn’t a guarantee. Light is still light\, but it can easily be snuffed out. \nPiper Smith – @paintdbypiper\nPiper Smith is a recent graduate of Iowa State with a Bachelor’s Degree in Performing Arts. She loves to utilize the arts\, especially theatre\, to contribute to her community and elicit positive change. She also loves painting and the ability it gives her to express herself. She is just getting started as a professional\, so she hopes this exhibit can open new doors to her future. \nArtist Statement: I feel that I am my most authentic self when I am able to interact with other trans people. It’s not that I can’t be authentic with people who aren’t trans\, but there is something special about connecting with people who understand me on an even deeper level. Through my art\, I can bridge that gap. Having a medium and also a platform with which to express myself allows me to tell the stories of my experience as a trans woman in a way that can better connect to those who aren’t trans. I believe the greatest struggle for cisgender people understanding trans folks is simply that the stories of trans people aren’t told enough. Even when they are told\, it may not always be done by trans people themselves. When trans people aren’t granted ownership of their own stories\, the narrative tends to shift into one that demonizes and lies about us. It is vital for us to tell our own stories for us to find that beloved connection\, belonging\, and authenticity. \nI chose peppers for this piece not only because I think they’re delicious\, but because they show us a wide array of beautiful colors\, shapes\, and sizes. Peppers are spicy\, yet so are the connections I find with the people in my communities. Just as I am enamored with spicy peppers\, I am with the spiciness of my own relationships. \nAshley Vance – @ashleyvance.studio\nMy work as a printmaker and mixed media artist focuses on issues of social justice and feminism\, specifically. As a queer woman I use my experience to inform the work that I put into the world for purposes of awareness and validation. \nPassionate about both art and issues of human rights\, I combine these to bring awareness of different social justice topics and to validate the experiences of those that are “othered” in society. I use my education in printmaking and women’s and gender studies to create a line of connection and communication from the marginalized to the privileged to further inform those who do not understand\, and to stand up for those who cannot stand for themselves. By using methods of printmaking\, which is the medium of communication and mass production\, I can spread my message to a much larger audience. \nArtist Statement: I work with printmaking and mixed media in my work to spread messages of feminism and social justice. The processes I use are primarily print media based\, where I use an image to create a printing substrate to create the ability to create multiples of one piece. With my work purposefully spreading messages to the masses\, the ability to create multiples is vital to my process and my goals as an artist and activist. By photocopying and resizing my works to make them more accessible\, I am furthering my goals of making art for the people; all people. \nEvents: \nOut Exhibit Walking Tour: Thursday\, September 8\, 2022\, 5:30-6:15 p.m.  \nJoin Dr. Ruxandra Marcu\, director of ISU’s Margaret Sloss Center for Women and Gender Equity\, and Dr. Susan Harper\, director of ISU’s Center for LGBTQIA+ Student Success\, for a walking tour of the Out exhibit. Dr. Marcu and Dr. Harper will host the tour\, offering their thoughts\, reflections\, and interpretations of the artwork with community members.  \nAnyone who wishes to join the tour can meet at the Octagon Center for the Arts at 5:30 p.m. Free and open to the public. \nOut Virtual Artist Talk: Monday\, September 26\, 2022\, 7:00 p.m. CST \nJoin juror aj castle and exhibit artists for an informal conversation about the artwork of Out. Register here to receive the Zoom link.  \n  \nThis exhibition is sponsored by the Octagon Center for the Arts\, the Center for LGBTQIA+ Student Success\, Margaret Sloss Center for Women and Gender Equity\, Wheatsfield Cooperative\, London Underground\, Amy and Jason Popillion\, The Women’s and Gender Studies Program at Iowa State University\, Tara Fisher and Dave Svoboda\, and Dawn Budd. 
URL:https://octagonarts.org/event/out-exhibit/
LOCATION:Octagon Center for the Arts\, 427 Douglas Avenue\, Ames\, IA\, 50010\, United States
CATEGORIES:Exhibits
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