a solo exhibition by jewelry artist Kristin Beeler
Kristin’ Beeler’s practice includes contemporary jewelry that focuses on stories told by the skin. Archive of Rag and Bone is iterative, multi-media portraiture drawn from the repair marks of traumatic scarring, currently of eight subjects. Beeler’s intention is that the work will lead audiences to complex conversations about compassion. Within the exhibition, narratives are told through photographs, embroidered Tyvek garments, book folios in vellum, and dimensional objects in charcoal: materials chosen to contrast polarities. Structures are drawn from local flora, wind maps and charts used for navigating sea currents that cannot be seen, only felt through experience.
We live in a time when memory is one of our most precious natural resources and when openness to the suffering of others is the one of the most important conversations we can have. “New” occurs at an unprecedented rate as we search for ways to contextualize current events. Knowing how to map memory is a powerful tool for personal and cultural wayfinding. Investment in a more profound understanding of compassion may be a necessary safety net for our deeply polarized world.
Exhibition dates: February 19, 2021 - April 3, 2021
