Gallery 81435 and Telluride Arts’ HQ Gallery in Telluride, CO presents a group exhibition featuring artists from New Orleans, Louisiana. The show will be on display beginning August 6 and runs through the month of August 2020. The Art Walk opening reception will be held Thursday, August 6, 2020, 5 - 8 pm.
The exhibit features a variety of fine art, including paintings, sculpture, photography, jewelry, and more. The featured artists are Karoline Schleh, David Borgerding, Arlyn Jimenez, Niki Fisk, Akasha Rabut, Erica Lambertson, Gogo Borgerding, Christian Van Campen, and Joe Flemming.
The show runs through August 2020 at Telluride Arts HQ Gallery, located at 135 W Pacific, Telluride, Colorado and at Gallery 81435, located at 230 S. Fir, Telluride, Colorado. Both galleries are open daily from 12-6pm or by appointment.
Karoline Schleh
Karoline Schleh's drawings, paintings, and prints are rendered with a distinct atmospheric quality and longhand backwards script, which she has developed over the past 25 years. Her compositions are inspired by study of handwriting, landscape, animal & human form, songs and storytelling. In these works, handwriting functions as both word and image, highlighting its connections to drawing, observation, and contemplation. Series that she has worked on throughout her career include, “Smoke Songs”, “Smoke Butterflies”, “Boat Tracings”, and “Writing Letters”.
The “flipped script” that Schleh uses evolved from her training as a printmaker. She began writing backwards on her copper etching plates out of necessity so that the words in the final print would appear in the right direction. Eventually, she abandoned her print plates and the handwriting reversals began to stand on their own in her drawings and paintings. While the words can (for the most part) be deciphered in a mirror, knowing what is written is not essential to the experience of the work; rather, Schleh’s works aim to convey the reflective mindset that comes from the process of writing, and the recognition that the meanings of words shift over time.
David Borgerding
David Borgerding was born in Grand Rapids Michigan. Inheriting a passion for “making things” from his father and learning to weld at the age of 14 surely charted the course for Borgerding’s future in the arts.
After receiving a BFA in sculpture from Kendall College of Art and Design, Borgerding continued his studies at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Upon completing his MFA at SCAD in 2000, he moved to New Orleans, and continued to study sculpture but began focusing on abstract, organic, and fabricated bronze pieces.
In 2008, he built his current metal studio, located in the Irish Channel neighborhood of New Orleans. Intensely active in the studio, David works on large, public, and private commissions as well as smaller pedestal sized sculptures. He is the recipient of two grants from the Joan Mitchell Foundation and has exhibited nationally and internationally, appearing in noted private, corporate, and institutional collections.
Niki Fisk
In her studio in the heart of New Orleans, Niki creates one-of-a-kind sterling silver heirloom-quality jewelry using a variety of hand fabrication techniques. Utilizing depth, shadow, and movement, every piece of jewelry goes through a process beginning with the inspiration and a design on paper. Using this template, and a jeweler's frame saw, each layer is sawn out by hand, sanded, cleaned, and an ink resistant acid etching technique is used for the pieces with etched frames. The finished layers are assembled with hand-wrought findings.
Niki finds inspiration in literature, art, and music. A College of Charleston graduate with a major in Religion, Niki is moved by mythology and the power of symbolism. Authors Ray Bradbury, Neil Gaiman, Lewis Carroll, and Roald Dahl have all inspired pieces of Niki's art, as well as musicians ranging from David Bowie to June Carter Cash. Victorian illustrators Rackham and Dore, as well as the art, found on playing cards and the patterns found in nature influence Niki's designs.
The dark beauty of New Orleans, and it's wonderfully eclectic art scene, is a constant source of inspiration that speaks its influence through Niki's work, and she strives to add to the beauty of this artistic landscape. The moment of connection when another person's eyes light up when her art strikes a chord in their heart and the stories that they share is where Niki finds her joy, in seeing her art take on a new meaning of the hands of another person.
Gogo Borgerding
5' 1", 115 lbs., WF, born in the year of the Ox, non-smoker. Enjoys collecting taxidermy and late-night bingo. Graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design in Metals and Jewelry Design 2000 and have been handcrafting bold and colorful pieces with you, especially in mind.
I have been featured in publications such as National Geographic, Elle Magazine, Where Women Create, Wish, Turnstile, The Scout Guide, and "People to Watch" by New Orleans Magazine. Gallery affiliations include The Ogden Museum of Southern Art and Design and ShopSCAD.
I currently live in New Orleans with my two dogs: Della and Mr. Cha Cha, my cat, Stretch, and Oh, how could I forget my husband David.
Arlyn Jiménez Sánchez
Arlyn Jiménez Sánchez, known as Buloya, occupies a space of flux. Born in Puerto Plata, the Dominican Republic on December 10, 1977, Arlyn practices metalwork as both artist and fabricator. The artist has shaped New Orleans since moving to the city in 2009, creating custom metalwork, repairing century’s old ironwork, and fabricating work for some of the region’s most prominent artists. His hand can be seen all over the city, beloved by the artist for its cultural similarities to the Caribbean. A special ability to uncover hidden potential marks Arlyn’s practice as an artist. Raised by his mother to be resourceful and make do with what is available, he delights in breathing new life into discarded material.
His work plays with this notion of transformation: Arlyn uses a plasma cutter to dismantle and repurpose salvaged metalwork and cleans the material by sanding and using chemicals to strip away oxidization. “Like new,” the artist observes with a smile.
Watching the artist work, you can see that his process serves a cathartic purpose—he approaches his pieces with intense focus as he hammers, twists, burns, and manipulates the material until the work transforms into something entirely new. In 2014, Arlyn almost lost the use of his left hand after an accident with a grinder caused severe nerve damage, a terrifying prospect for someone who has obsessively honed his craft since the age of fourteen and relies on his dexterity for both his livelihood and self-expression. A noticeable scar from the surgery remains on his wrist, a lasting reminder of how close the artist came to losing his practice.
In his most recent work, Arlyn uses a gentle touch. The material retains the marks of its history, including the original welds. In a sense, the artist takes a collaborative approach, creating his compositions by combining, taking apart, and re-cutting the material with the plasma cutter while respecting the character of the metal. In the artist’s words, he talks with his work, playing until he feels comfortable.
The resulting work explores the transformative possibility of life while at the same time acknowledging that metal, cities, and people carry their history with them through periods of instability, change, and rebirth. Reflective of an artist transformed by his own experience, Arlyn re-creates imperfect material into a dynamic and refined series of sculpture.
Joe Fleming
Joe Fleming is a motion designer and animator based in New Orleans, LA for many years until he returned recently to his home state of Omaha, NE, Joe has always had a passion for art and design. He developed his craft while studying Graphic Design at Loyola University in New Orleans. He fell in love with the city and its rich creative scene. While working with clients and colleagues from around the world, he is able to draw from their unique styles and techniques.
For this exhibit, he has specifically animated works of art by another featured artist, Karoline Schleh. Inspired by Karoline’s ongoing series of smoke butterfly drawings & backward script, Fleming took original drawings from Schleh and brought them to life, choreographing movements with music.
Akasha Rabut
Akasha Rabut is a photographer and educator based in New Orleans. Her work explores multi-cultural phenomena and tradition rooted in the American South. She also founded Creative Council, a mentoring program for young people in New Orleans pursuing careers in the arts. Her photographs have appeared in museums and galleries around the world.
In Death Magick Abundance, her first book, she reveals the city’s spirit through the pink smoke of the Caramel Curves, the first all-female black motorcycle club; alongside the Southern Riderz, urban cowboys on horseback in the streets; and many others who represent the next generation of New Orleans. Seeking to interpret and preserve a sacred cultural heritage while redefining itself against a constantly shifting landscape, Death Magick Abundance is a conduit for the love and unending beauty of New Orleans and its people to flow to the rest of the world.
Erica Lambertson
Erica Lamberton’s paintings are figurative, gestural, and sometimes surreal. She wants them to read as a reflection of what she sees around her, which is heavily affected by the times that she lives in (media, photography, the internet, advertisement trends). She takes
inspiration from painters all throughout history. She spent about 20 years on and off painting in New Orleans and becoming involved in New Orleans’ local art scene. The lush, sub-tropical vibe of the city greatly influenced her work. The social and cultural vibrancy of New Orleans still holds a place in the narratives that emerge in her work. Today she is living in Greer, South Carolina, painting from her home studio.
Many of her works in this exhibition are based on the photographs of Akasha Rabut, another featured New Orleans artist.
Christian VanCampen
Christian VanCampen creates his metalwork pieces with meditative purposes as he resurrects discarded items and all their flaws in the hopes of giving them a new voice and existence.