Ephemeral Systems
Exhibited by Adah Rose Gallery
Curated by Anne C. Smith
April 28-May 30
Nikki Brugnoli, Sarah Dolan, Mojdeh Rezaeipour, Adam Liam Rose and Blade Wynne
Concurrent Solo Drawing Show of Anne Smith: "18 Meditations"
Ephemeral Systems is a group show of drawings by five contemporary artists: Nikki Brugnoli, Sarah Dolan, Adam Liam Rose, Blade Wynne, and Mojdeh Rezaeipour. Through various ways of drawing, from building with pencil to eroding with sandpaper and wood burning, each of these artists examines some facet of the question: how is the world built and where does one belong? This is at different turns a question about human-built systems of architecture, power, identity, and relationships, as well as about nature and impermanence.
Each artist considers what at first seems to be an enduring system or structure -- something well-defined and lasting -- only to question their own place within it and whether such structures are as lasting as they seem. In their hands, with pencil, pen or squeegee, they turn over the question of how a person or group of people locate themselves in relation to the natural world or to the particularities of a deliberately human-constructed environment. Physical structures -- blocks, buildings, fences, tree limbs -- become studies of interconnectedness, societal roles and expectations, and yearning.
Nikki Brugnoli is an artist, educator, and curator. She received her BFA from Seton Hill University (2004) and her MFA from The Ohio State University (2007). Beginning in August, 2018 Brugnoli joined the faculty at the Flint Hill School in Oakton, VA. She runs the studio art program in the Upper School. Previously, she served on the faculty at George Mason University and was the Assistant Graduate Programs Coordinator and Graduate Advisor in the School of Art. In addition, she helped coordinate Visual Voices and the Visiting Artist Program at GMU. Nikki was the Exhibitions Coordinator for the Art Lab at the Lorton Workhouse, Lorton, VA and currently serves on the Hillyer IA&A Advisory Council, Washington D.C.. Nikki has also taught at The Ohio State University, the Northern Virginia Community Colleges, and The Renaissance School in Charlottesville, VA. Brugnoli’s work is included in many private collections across the United States and in Europe, and is featured in national academic and public institutions.
Sarah Dolan is an artist and mother based in Alexandria, Virginia. She uses a wide range of
processes including drawing, sculpture, fibers, and printmaking. Dolan received a Bachelor of
Fine Arts from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2009 and a Master of Fine Arts from
George Mason University in 2016. Her work was recently exhibited in “Home-works” through
Spilt Milk Gallery, “motHER/child” through SDAC in Virginia, and “GIRLS will be GIRLS” at
the University of Texas Rio Grande. She has been in residence at the Lorton Workhouse Arts
Center in Virginia, Kunstnerhuset i Lofoten in Norway, and ARiM. Dolan is an adjunct
professorial lecturer in the Department of Art at American University in Washington, D.C.
Mojdeh Rezaeipour is an Iranian-born artist working primarily in mixed media, installation and film. She is a graduate of University of California Berkeley, where she studied architecture, and of Alt*Div, an alternative divinity school centering the intersection of healing justice and art as spiritual practice. Since 2008, Mojdeh's various involvements across art, architecture, storytelling and community organizing have led her to plant roots in the Bay Area, New York City, Los Angeles, Rome, Tokyo, Berlin. Her solo and collaborative exhibitions include Soul Soil (2016), Belonging (2017), on matters of resilience (2018), Fractal Futures (2018), Learning; Unlearning (2019), Memories; Dreams; Reclamations (2019), and a pomegranate, a rose (2020). Mojdeh's work and voice have appeared in publications and programs such as Dirt, So To Speak, BmoreArt, The Washington Post, Washingtonian Magazine, Image Journal, and The Moth Radio Hour. She is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including The Studio Visit Fellowship at Takt Berlin (2018), Second Place at The Trawick Prize (2019), Virginia Museum of Fine Art Fellowship Grant (2020), The Nicholson Project Artist In Residence (2020), and a Wherewithal Research Grant (2020-2021). Mojdeh is currently based in the DC area, where she is a resident artist at STABLE, a Visarts Studio Fellow, and an upcoming Artist in Residence at Wesley Theological Seminary.
Adam Liam Rose (b. 1990) is an interdisciplinary artist working across sculpture, drawing, video and installation. Born in Jerusalem and raised mostly in the United States, his works investigate the aesthetic systems of power embedded within architecture. Rose draws inspiration from political realities in Israel/Palestine and the United States, often looking to structures of separation and control whose intentions either manifest outright, or slither beneath the surface. His works navigate ideas around artifact, “history,” and collective memory, uncovering how these distinct categories coalesce into feelings of place or “placeness.” Utilizing and subverting utilitarian materials including paper, textiles, and plywood, he creates a space for dialogue between the permanent and the ephemeral, the physical body, and the history embedded in objects. He received a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago ('12) and an MFA from Columbia University School of the Arts (‘17). He lives and works in Brooklyn New York.
Blade Wynne was born in 1980, in Providence, Rhode Island. He received his BFA in Painting from Pratt
Institute in 2002 and his MFA in Painting from Rhode Island School of Design in 2008. His work has
recently been exhibited at Shockoe Artspace of Richmond, and The Virginia Museum of Contemporary
Art. His work has appeared in publications such as Journal of the Print World and New American
Paintings. He is a recipient of the VMFA Visual Arts Fellowship, (Professional Award) as well as the
Virginia Commission for the Arts Fellowship in Painting. As an educator he taught 2D design, Painting,
and Drawing for several years in the Foundation Art Department at Virginia Commonwealth University
and The Governor’s School for the Arts in Norfolk, Virginia. He is currently entering his second year of
teaching elementary art in the public school system of Chesapeake, Virginia.
Ephemeral Systems
Exhibited by Adah Rose Gallery
Curated by Anne C. Smith
April 28-May 30
Nikki Brugnoli, Sarah Dolan, Mojdeh Rezaeipour, Adam Liam Rose and Blade Wynne
Concurrent Solo Drawing Show of Anne Smith: "18 Meditations"
Ephemeral Systems is a group show of drawings by five contemporary artists: Nikki Brugnoli, Sarah Dolan, Adam Liam Rose, Blade Wynne, and Mojdeh Rezaeipour. Through various ways of drawing, from building with pencil to eroding with sandpaper and wood burning, each of these artists examines some facet of the question: how is the world built and where does one belong? This is at different turns a question about human-built systems of architecture, power, identity, and relationships, as well as about nature and impermanence.
Each artist considers what at first seems to be an enduring system or structure -- something well-defined and lasting -- only to question their own place within it and whether such structures are as lasting as they seem. In their hands, with pencil, pen or squeegee, they turn over the question of how a person or group of people locate themselves in relation to the natural world or to the particularities of a deliberately human-constructed environment. Physical structures -- blocks, buildings, fences, tree limbs -- become studies of interconnectedness, societal roles and expectations, and yearning.
Nikki Brugnoli is an artist, educator, and curator. She received her BFA from Seton Hill University (2004) and her MFA from The Ohio State University (2007). Beginning in August, 2018 Brugnoli joined the faculty at the Flint Hill School in Oakton, VA. She runs the studio art program in the Upper School. Previously, she served on the faculty at George Mason University and was the Assistant Graduate Programs Coordinator and Graduate Advisor in the School of Art. In addition, she helped coordinate Visual Voices and the Visiting Artist Program at GMU. Nikki was the Exhibitions Coordinator for the Art Lab at the Lorton Workhouse, Lorton, VA and currently serves on the Hillyer IA&A Advisory Council, Washington D.C.. Nikki has also taught at The Ohio State University, the Northern Virginia Community Colleges, and The Renaissance School in Charlottesville, VA. Brugnoli’s work is included in many private collections across the United States and in Europe, and is featured in national academic and public institutions.
Sarah Dolan is an artist and mother based in Alexandria, Virginia. She uses a wide range of
processes including drawing, sculpture, fibers, and printmaking. Dolan received a Bachelor of
Fine Arts from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2009 and a Master of Fine Arts from
George Mason University in 2016. Her work was recently exhibited in “Home-works” through
Spilt Milk Gallery, “motHER/child” through SDAC in Virginia, and “GIRLS will be GIRLS” at
the University of Texas Rio Grande. She has been in residence at the Lorton Workhouse Arts
Center in Virginia, Kunstnerhuset i Lofoten in Norway, and ARiM. Dolan is an adjunct
professorial lecturer in the Department of Art at American University in Washington, D.C.
Mojdeh Rezaeipour is an Iranian-born artist working primarily in mixed media, installation and film. She is a graduate of University of California Berkeley, where she studied architecture, and of Alt*Div, an alternative divinity school centering the intersection of healing justice and art as spiritual practice. Since 2008, Mojdeh's various involvements across art, architecture, storytelling and community organizing have led her to plant roots in the Bay Area, New York City, Los Angeles, Rome, Tokyo, Berlin. Her solo and collaborative exhibitions include Soul Soil (2016), Belonging (2017), on matters of resilience (2018), Fractal Futures (2018), Learning; Unlearning (2019), Memories; Dreams; Reclamations (2019), and a pomegranate, a rose (2020). Mojdeh's work and voice have appeared in publications and programs such as Dirt, So To Speak, BmoreArt, The Washington Post, Washingtonian Magazine, Image Journal, and The Moth Radio Hour. She is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including The Studio Visit Fellowship at Takt Berlin (2018), Second Place at The Trawick Prize (2019), Virginia Museum of Fine Art Fellowship Grant (2020), The Nicholson Project Artist In Residence (2020), and a Wherewithal Research Grant (2020-2021). Mojdeh is currently based in the DC area, where she is a resident artist at STABLE, a Visarts Studio Fellow, and an upcoming Artist in Residence at Wesley Theological Seminary.
Adam Liam Rose (b. 1990) is an interdisciplinary artist working across sculpture, drawing, video and installation. Born in Jerusalem and raised mostly in the United States, his works investigate the aesthetic systems of power embedded within architecture. Rose draws inspiration from political realities in Israel/Palestine and the United States, often looking to structures of separation and control whose intentions either manifest outright, or slither beneath the surface. His works navigate ideas around artifact, “history,” and collective memory, uncovering how these distinct categories coalesce into feelings of place or “placeness.” Utilizing and subverting utilitarian materials including paper, textiles, and plywood, he creates a space for dialogue between the permanent and the ephemeral, the physical body, and the history embedded in objects. He received a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago ('12) and an MFA from Columbia University School of the Arts (‘17). He lives and works in Brooklyn New York.
Blade Wynne was born in 1980, in Providence, Rhode Island. He received his BFA in Painting from Pratt
Institute in 2002 and his MFA in Painting from Rhode Island School of Design in 2008. His work has
recently been exhibited at Shockoe Artspace of Richmond, and The Virginia Museum of Contemporary
Art. His work has appeared in publications such as Journal of the Print World and New American
Paintings. He is a recipient of the VMFA Visual Arts Fellowship, (Professional Award) as well as the
Virginia Commission for the Arts Fellowship in Painting. As an educator he taught 2D design, Painting,
and Drawing for several years in the Foundation Art Department at Virginia Commonwealth University
and The Governor’s School for the Arts in Norfolk, Virginia. He is currently entering his second year of
teaching elementary art in the public school system of Chesapeake, Virginia.
Anne Smith
18 Meditations is a series of colored pencil, charcoal and graphite drawings that explore the place of imagination in landscape and the marvel of trees’ ability to soothe human worries.
Some ancient connection formed between people and trees, such that our leafy friends can cause humans to experience physical changes in the body: easing stress and promoting a whole host of related health benefits. For a period of time during the pandemic when I was able to take daily escapes (however brief) into the woods, I did not have to think about this phenomenon -- I just knew in my body that it felt good to be surrounded by trees. I could take my anxieties into the woods and leave them there, dump them into outstretched arms, seemingly ready to accept and metabolize the burden without judgement. No matter what weight I brought with me, the trees just kept standing there, tall and swaying in the wind, silently reaching their arms up to the sky and rooting down to the ground. I came to see them as embodying a posture I wish to practice in my own life.
So much of my practice begins with listening, looking and silence, which allows me to tune into my surroundings. By “tuning in,” I mean “paying attention” and even finding that my mind inserts its own imaginings and sense of wonder into what I see before me.
These drawings contain humor and tragedy, fear and resolve, peace and tumult, resilience and vulnerability. The one constant I’ve experienced in the making of these is that the trees continue to rise and reach.
18 Meditations is a series of colored pencil, charcoal and graphite drawings that explore the place of imagination in landscape and the marvel of trees’ ability to soothe human worries.
Some ancient connection formed between people and trees, such that our leafy friends can cause humans to experience physical changes in the body: easing stress and promoting a whole host of related health benefits. For a period of time during the pandemic when I was able to take daily escapes (however brief) into the woods, I did not have to think about this phenomenon -- I just knew in my body that it felt good to be surrounded by trees. I could take my anxieties into the woods and leave them there, dump them into outstretched arms, seemingly ready to accept and metabolize the burden without judgement. No matter what weight I brought with me, the trees just kept standing there, tall and swaying in the wind, silently reaching their arms up to the sky and rooting down to the ground. I came to see them as embodying a posture I wish to practice in my own life.
So much of my practice begins with listening, looking and silence, which allows me to tune into my surroundings. By “tuning in,” I mean “paying attention” and even finding that my mind inserts its own imaginings and sense of wonder into what I see before me.
These drawings contain humor and tragedy, fear and resolve, peace and tumult, resilience and vulnerability. The one constant I’ve experienced in the making of these is that the trees continue to rise and reach.
