Slyvae [Of the Forest]
Youpa Stein
Jessie Wilber Gallery
Dates: September 11 – November 29, 2015
Opening Reception & Art Walk: September 11, 5 – 8 pm.
Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Friday, Noon – 5 pm
This fall, the Jessie Wilber Gallery is showcasing the work of Missoula artist Youpa Stein. Slyvae [Of the Forest] features several hand-made masks, meticulously crafted from materials gathered from the forest including tree bark, moss, and wasp paper. A few man-made materials such as metal and wire are also incorporated into the works.
Youpa has been making masks for twenty-three years. After completing her first plaster bandage mask in graduate school, she was overwhelmed with feelings of curiosity, wonder and power. “I was holding a cast of my own face, which invited me on a journey of reflection and inquiry”. While finishing her course work, she continued to create masks that reflected her personal emotions at that time. She found an enlivening form of connection to self that gave her freedom to externalize her mental processes and move forward.
She spent the next few years making masks for various theater productions and dance performances before graduating with her Masters of Arts degree in Psychology/ Drama Therapy from the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco.
Slyvae [Of the Forest] is the featured exhibit for this year’s fall “Schools in the Gallery” exhibit tour program. We invite public schools, private groups, homeschoolers and University students to book an interactive, docent led tour that develops art, observation and communication skills. An optional hands-on activity follows the tour in which students will create their own artwork based on techniques and ideas from the exhibit.
Alnus Praesul Presul (Alder, Dancer, Protector) 2011. Youpa Stein.
“Material Culture: Crossing Paths”
Brooke Atherton
Lobby Gallery
Dates: September 11 – November 29, 2015
Opening Reception & Art Walk: September 11, 5 – 8 pm.
Material Cultures: Crossing Paths features eleven new works in Brooke Atherton’s Palimpsest series. These works are large scale, fabric and mixed media canvases, used to explore traces of the past through layering. Palimpsests refer to anything having diverse layers or aspects beneath the surface. Just as the landscape evolves over time and ancient cities are built up with new architecture, her work relates to the history and identity of the elapsed. This series speaks to our individual heritage and is used as a starting point for conversations about how all of our paths cross at one point in time and space. Through this body of work, Brooke hopes to record both the general and intimate ways in which personal relationships and communities are formed.
The canvases will be shown consecutively over two years, in three different venues and in three stages of completion. The community is invited to participate in this evolving exhibit by writing on a fabric or paper hexagon, the place they most identify with when asked, “Where are you from?” For more information on how be a part of this community project and sew your place in history contact Alissa Popken, Education Curator. 406-587-9797 x 104. education@theEmerson.org.
Palimpsest I, 2013. Brooke Atherton
Admission for both exhibits is free and open to the public.
