August 25- December 11, 2022
The dance within our studios is our common thread. We playfully move from one material to the next, guided by intuition. Our materials often become dancers themselves, performing clunky childhood memories and the awkward grace of stepping beyond them. As painters and sculptors, we engage in the making process propelled by improvised movement and hard-won instinct.
THE ARTISTS
Olivia Baldwin
Olivia Baldwin is a visual artist whose practice interweaves painting, drawing, and sculpture. Using canvas, acrylic, wire, and thread, Baldwin builds colorful, organic, three-dimensional paintings. These flexible, double-sided forms lend themselves to infinite configurations, much like the convertible dresses Baldwin coveted as a teen. Punctuated by wire contours, the forms live between slipcovers, garments, and hides.
Her work has appeared in exhibitions in Austria, Italy, and throughout the United States, including Zürcher Gallery, A.I.R. Gallery, Boston University, Miami University, and Jane Lombard Gallery. As an extension of her studio practice, Baldwin has organized and curated numerous multidisciplinary projects and exhibitions in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York. Baldwin's work has been supported by residencies, fellowships, and grants from Assets for Artists (MASS MoCA), Ox-Bow, Vermont Studio Center, the Wood/Raith Living Trust, Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, and the University of Connecticut, among others. She received her MFA from the University of Connecticut and her BFA in painting and BA in English/Creative Writing from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. She lives in Providence, RI, and teaches painting and drawing at Babson College.
Melissa Dadourian
Melissa Dadourian is a Brooklyn and Hudson Valley based artist working in textile media, painting and sculpture. Her wall collages and site-specific installations are depictions of geometric abstractions. Associations range in form, pattern, and color and use various materials including burlap, old curtains, paint and yarn. She embraces the world of textiles, however locates herself within the cannon of abstract painting and the supports/surfaces movement. With a focus on the tension that is created in the intersection of painting, object making, and immersive installation.
Dadourian has exhibited internationally including New York, Chicago, Connecticut, Texas, Armenia, and Brazil. Recently she created an 8,000 square foot mural for Manhattan Park Pool on Roosevelt Island and has been included in exhibitions at the Dorsky Museum, MoCA Westport, JEFF Marfa, ACCEA/Yerevan, Armenia, Albany Airport, University of Buffalo, and Transmitter Gallery in Brooklyn among others. She received a BFA from Pratt Institute and an MFA from Hunter College and has been awarded residencies and fellowships at MASS MoCA, Vermont Studio Center, Hewnoaks, Textile Arts Center, American Academy in Rome and Citè Internationale des Artes in Paris.
Sidney Mullis
Sidney Mullis is a sculptor living and working in Pittsburgh, PA. She is building a make-believe forest to find where childhood selves go in adulthood and if it is possible to bring them back. Using paper pulp made from kid’s construction paper and gravestone dust, playground sand, fabric dye, and more, Mullis creates this invented landscape to resurrect childlike attitudes, imagination, and logic.
Mullis has exhibited in a number of locations including Berlin, Tokyo, England, and Croatia. Solo shows include the Leslie Lohman Museum (NYC), Wick Gallery (NYC), Bunker Projects (PA), Neon Heater Gallery (OH), Bucknell University (PA), Rowan University (NJ), University of Mary Washington (VA), and more. She has been an artist-in-residence at The Children's Museum of Pittsburgh, The Wassaic Project, Women’s Studio Workshop, MASS MoCA, Ox-Bow School of Art, among others. Her work has been featured in publications such as Hyperallergic, Young Space, Maake Magazine, De:Formal, and Sculpture Magazine.
Mullis is currently a tutor for children struggling with dyslexia and an art fabricator for blue-chip artists.
Kelsey Tynik
Kelsey Tynik is an interdisciplinary sculptor working in Storrs, CT. She believes that as children, we are encouraged to play, explore, and fail. As adults that encouragement declines. Instead, we are encouraged to keep busy, interact less, and cast off our fantasy worlds. Her work investigates glee and sentimentality realized through material, technique, and play. The work allows the adolescent in us to thrive. It provides fantasy without shame or guilt, and allows us to engage with the present. The exchange between the viewer and the work removes the adult preoccupation with the daily grind and provides a space for make-believe. Her work offers a chance for repressed play to overflow and, in turn, gives the opportunity for unification of humanity through experience.
Tynik has exhibited in New York, Connecticut, Arkansas, Texas, and California. She most recently exhibited at Hesse Flatow (NY), Ely Center of Contemporary Art (CT), and JEFF (TX). She has been an artist-in-residence at Mass MoCA, Arts, Letters, and Numbers, and ChaNorth. She is entering her final year of graduate school at The University of Connecticut. Her work has been featured in Hyperallergic, Artforum, create! Magazine, The Coastal Post, and I Like Your Work.