Exhibit: Monday, September 30, through Friday, November 1
Closing Reception: Thursday, October 31, 3:30 – 5:30 p.m.
Black Hawk College ArtSpace Gallery, Building 4, 6600 34th Avenue, Moline IL
Stunning examples of mixed-media artwork will be on display at Black Hawk College's ArtSpace Gallery from September 30 through November 1 as the venue houses Sarah Rehmer's A Tenuous Space, the latest exhibition by the lauded Illinois artist whose works have been showcased in such esteemed art magazines as Studio Visit, Encaustic Arts, and Shadow & Light.
Born and raised in the western suburbs of Chicago, where she still resides, Rehmer earned her 2003 BA in Graphic Design and Photography from Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois. A lifelong admirer of books, she found a love for working with pages from old books while auditing a class post-graduation at the university. As Rehmer states at Rehmer-Studio.com, “My ongoing body of work uses the dismantled and decaying antique book as metaphor for memory and more specifically memory loss. I use the interior pages of the book, both the blank end pages that are devoid of information and the interior text pages, presented out of order and lacking context. I am interested in what happens to these memories when they can no longer be remembered. Like the question of the tree in the forest, if the individual can no longer recall an event or memory, did it ever really occur?”
She continues, “I am often drawn to photographing scenes with repetition of line and pattern as well areas when humans once were, but have seemed to abandon. My works are mixed media, blurring lines between photography and painting. As humans, we leave are mark behind on the spaces we inhabit in the form of detritus, graffiti, and all together abandonment- leaving a space to the mercy of mother nature and time. I find beauty in the empty and decaying spaces of our collective cultural history, striving to present scenes of decay in a beautiful manner.”
Rehmer is a FY2012 Illinois Arts Council – Professional Development Grant recipient and her work is held in private collections in around the United States, Canada, Italy, and Norway, as well as institutional and corporate collections in Illinois and New York. Additionally, Rehmer teaches classes and workshops around the Midwest, and is a regional workshop instructor for R&F Handmade Paints.
A closing reception for Sarah Rehmer's A Tenuous Space will be held on October 31 at 3:30 p.m. with an artist's talk beginning at 4 p.m., and gallery hours at 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. For more information on the September 30 through November 1 exhibit, contact Annie Oldenburg at (309)796-5473 or oldenburga@bhc.edu, or by visiting BHC.edu.
