Bethany Engstrom, "Breaking Bread"
Plaster casts, mold
dims variable
2019-2020
STATEMENT
My work reflects an interest in the spaces and states of being we encounter every day, those residing within philosophy, society, psychology, and pop culture, and the anxieties they produce. Seeking to connect with others, I produce objects, installations, and digital works that allow me to analyze and draw attention to these unknowns using a suggested narrative. Recently, this has led me to consider these ideas with explorations of time, environment, labor/work, care, and motherhood.
Breaking Bread was made during a residency in late 2019 in which the focus of social activity revolved around meals and eating together. We moved from our solitary workspace to a room full of people. Bread and apples were a constant presence at the dining room, and I would take some back to the studio each day until the next time everyone gathered. I began to mold and cast the bread and apples to see how they changed and progressed with time and each cast and to preserve the idea of conviviality they brought. When I returned home, I stored them away, and when the pandemic began, I brought them out to find mold had begun to grow. It seemed that although I had tried to preserve the bread and apples, they continued to change, serving as a reminder of togetherness and hope for gathering again.
BIO
Bethany Engstrom is an artist, curator, and educator living and working in Belfast, Maine. She received a BA in Art History 2002, her MFA in Intermedia in 2011 and Interdisciplinary PhD in Intermedial Collaborative Practices in 2014, each from the University of Maine.
Engstrom’s recent work utilizes objects, installation, audio, and video, focusing on how these materials can express ideas of time, environment, labor/work, and motherhood. She has participated in residencies at the Vermont Studio Center, Hewnoaks Artist Colony, Ellis-Beauregard Foundation and Mildred’s Lane. Her work has been included in exhibitions at the Newport Art Museum, Newport, Rhode Island, Speedwell Contemporary and Cove Street Arts in Portland, Maine, Asymmetrick Arts and the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockland, Maine, Waterfall Arts in Belfast, Maine and the University of Maine. She is an adjunct Assistant Professor in Intermedia at UMaine, a part time Lecturer in Visual Arts at the University of Maine Augusta. Formerly Associate Curator at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Engstrom has an active independent curatorial practice, working collectively with artists to create engaging shared environments.
Plaster casts, mold
dims variable
2019-2020
STATEMENT
My work reflects an interest in the spaces and states of being we encounter every day, those residing within philosophy, society, psychology, and pop culture, and the anxieties they produce. Seeking to connect with others, I produce objects, installations, and digital works that allow me to analyze and draw attention to these unknowns using a suggested narrative. Recently, this has led me to consider these ideas with explorations of time, environment, labor/work, care, and motherhood.
Breaking Bread was made during a residency in late 2019 in which the focus of social activity revolved around meals and eating together. We moved from our solitary workspace to a room full of people. Bread and apples were a constant presence at the dining room, and I would take some back to the studio each day until the next time everyone gathered. I began to mold and cast the bread and apples to see how they changed and progressed with time and each cast and to preserve the idea of conviviality they brought. When I returned home, I stored them away, and when the pandemic began, I brought them out to find mold had begun to grow. It seemed that although I had tried to preserve the bread and apples, they continued to change, serving as a reminder of togetherness and hope for gathering again.
BIO
Bethany Engstrom is an artist, curator, and educator living and working in Belfast, Maine. She received a BA in Art History 2002, her MFA in Intermedia in 2011 and Interdisciplinary PhD in Intermedial Collaborative Practices in 2014, each from the University of Maine.
Engstrom’s recent work utilizes objects, installation, audio, and video, focusing on how these materials can express ideas of time, environment, labor/work, and motherhood. She has participated in residencies at the Vermont Studio Center, Hewnoaks Artist Colony, Ellis-Beauregard Foundation and Mildred’s Lane. Her work has been included in exhibitions at the Newport Art Museum, Newport, Rhode Island, Speedwell Contemporary and Cove Street Arts in Portland, Maine, Asymmetrick Arts and the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockland, Maine, Waterfall Arts in Belfast, Maine and the University of Maine. She is an adjunct Assistant Professor in Intermedia at UMaine, a part time Lecturer in Visual Arts at the University of Maine Augusta. Formerly Associate Curator at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Engstrom has an active independent curatorial practice, working collectively with artists to create engaging shared environments.
Plaster casts, mold
dims variable
2019-2020
STATEMENT
My work reflects an interest in the spaces and states of being we encounter every day, those residing within philosophy, society, psychology, and pop culture, and the anxieties they produce. Seeking to connect with others, I produce objects, installations, and digital works that allow me to analyze and draw attention to these unknowns using a suggested narrative. Recently, this has led me to consider these ideas with explorations of time, environment, labor/work, care, and motherhood.
Breaking Bread was made during a residency in late 2019 in which the focus of social activity revolved around meals and eating together. We moved from our solitary workspace to a room full of people. Bread and apples were a constant presence at the dining room, and I would take some back to the studio each day until the next time everyone gathered. I began to mold and cast the bread and apples to see how they changed and progressed with time and each cast and to preserve the idea of conviviality they brought. When I returned home, I stored them away, and when the pandemic began, I brought them out to find mold had begun to grow. It seemed that although I had tried to preserve the bread and apples, they continued to change, serving as a reminder of togetherness and hope for gathering again.
BIO
Bethany Engstrom is an artist, curator, and educator living and working in Belfast, Maine. She received a BA in Art History 2002, her MFA in Intermedia in 2011 and Interdisciplinary PhD in Intermedial Collaborative Practices in 2014, each from the University of Maine.
Engstrom’s recent work utilizes objects, installation, audio, and video, focusing on how these materials can express ideas of time, environment, labor/work, and motherhood. She has participated in residencies at the Vermont Studio Center, Hewnoaks Artist Colony, Ellis-Beauregard Foundation and Mildred’s Lane. Her work has been included in exhibitions at the Newport Art Museum, Newport, Rhode Island, Speedwell Contemporary and Cove Street Arts in Portland, Maine, Asymmetrick Arts and the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockland, Maine, Waterfall Arts in Belfast, Maine and the University of Maine. She is an adjunct Assistant Professor in Intermedia at UMaine, a part time Lecturer in Visual Arts at the University of Maine Augusta. Formerly Associate Curator at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Engstrom has an active independent curatorial practice, working collectively with artists to create engaging shared environments.