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Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Rachel Rigley: Works on Paper @ WSU Visual Arts Ogden: (March 29 - April 4)

Works on Paper
WHO: Weber State University and Universe City
WHAT: Rachel Rigley: Works on Paper
I´m Not as Afraid as I Thought I Would Be.
WHEN: 29 March - 4 April 2013
WHERE: Shepherd Union Gallery o Shepherd Union Building, Weber State University,
Weber State University Department of Visual Arts student Rachel Rigley will be the featured artist during a week-long exhibit in the Shepherd Union Gallery, Shepherd Union Building, WSU Ogden campus. The exhibit will open at 5pm on March 29. A reception for the artists will be held that night, 6:00-8:00 pm. The artist invites interested people to join in a discussion forum at 7pm: Creating a Stronger Art Community. This event is free and open to the public. Regular gallery hours are Mon-Sat 8:00 AM- 9:00 PM.
The exhibit will feature small mixed-media drawings on paper in two separate suites/series, as well as additional pieces. The work is intensely simple and revealing.  The viewer will be invited to contemplate simple phrases and images as individual pieces that combined for a powerful effect.
Rachel M. Rigley currently lives in Ogden, UT. She is pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts at WSU, with an emphasis in painting, but also explores sculpture and other mediums. On her work she states:
At each and every moment, I am internalizing what seems to be an intense and overwhelming algorithm in the vibrating world around me. I find my artwork to be both a moral and an emotional response to this, a waking-REM reaction. Every image is like a snapshot that surfaces consciously after I´ve unconsciously processed an idea.
    In all my art, I always conclude that I, in the holistic sense of the word, am incongruous and absurd. I find that artists are in a constant and ridiculous state of self-constructed validation labeled as "truth." This frees me from the need for ambiguity and ego, allows me to continue in banal introspection without justification. It is my hope that I will never be far from an awareness of my own paradox as I internalize the outside world.
    As I progress in art I am creating projects more deeply personal and richly introspective. I have been fascinated to discover that the more blatant and plain I become in my artistic communication, the more complex are the basic truths that I present. This is because art is a living thing; just as at any point the memories/experiences we have are changing because of changing context, art matures ideas. The effect is a mesmerizing fractillation.
    Having a background in both visual arts and creative writing has caused me to turn to the one or the other when trying to express a new idea. I have seen a growing strength in the relationship between my art and my writing-it leaks into a less restrictive idea of what kind of medium I am allowed to use to create art, which I feel will continue to lead to interesting artwork, as I loosen my perspective of my art.
    This show is a series of drawings that are meant purely to help me process my own emotional trauma in a humorous way, to bombard people with the ambiguity of emotion. If I were to sum the whole idea simply it would be by shouting out loud "I am in pain I am in pain I am in PAIN" --unfortunately there is no catharsis in summing up ideas, so I had to slowly and methodically process every thought and emotion connected to this. The first series, "Vulnerability," is used with my own hair shaved from my head to connect myself to the same resignment, the same powerlessness of an animal skin. Animals are very child-like things, so I literally transcribed my own naiive and innocent exposure to the world around me. The series that evolved from that, "Ambigious Loss," is an intentional cartoon characterization of different captured "moments" of different people, ranging the many internal conflicts of loss. The ideas are presented metaphorically, as a symbol from my own experiences, mostly to show how interrelated and unoriginal (not in a bad way) our strongest emotions are. Lastly, the piece "I Am Free." is meant to conclude in a very humble and honest way the evolution of the two series. 
This is the fourth and final exhibit presented by Universe City (U C) in the Shepherd Union Gallery this semester.. U C (you see) was a family owned and operated art center at 2556 Washington Boulevard in Ogden. The gallery participated in the First Friday Art Stroll for almost 80 First Fridays, featuring local artists, most of whom were Weber State University alumni, faculty or students.
In addition to visual arts, U C presented many music, theatre and poetry events as well as other A&H (arts and humanities) and environmental issues meetings. Many off-campus WSU events were also held at U C. The gallery closed in  July 2011. This January, the gallery went "on the road," offering the first of three exhibits in the Shepherd Union Gallery. The January exhibit followed the theme of the WSU 2012-13 discussion: Water Works. February featured the work of WSU Theatre costume designers.  "Things that Continue to Happen: WSU Sculpture Student Work" is the March exhibit. Caril Jennings, Marketing Director for Universe City, as well as the WSU Department of Performing Arts, will be retiring from WSU at the end of spring semester and is enjoying these opportunities to share her passion for the visual AND performing arts as she wraps up her time at Weber State.
For  more information about this exhibit contact Caril Jennings, crjennings@weber.edu.

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