Creative Relations (Group Show)

The Epigenetics of Creativity

​A group show exploring how relationships influence art…

including Schuyler Gould * Phyllis Odyssey * Tina Olsen * Liza King * Markie Sallick * Toto Feldman * Aron Namenwirth * Jason Alden * John Loggia * Julia Zanes * Finn Campman

‘In Her Mind’s Eye’ film by John Loggia shown on continuous video loop.

Show runs June 3 to June 25, 2022

Opening Reception June 3, 2022 5-9pm

with open music improv after 7pm

Open Artists Conversation: Thurs June 23, 5pm

 
Gallery hours Fri / Sat 4 to 7pm or by appointment
Call or email: 917-860-5640 118Elliot@gmail.com

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118 Elliot invites the community to join a conceptual painting and mixed media show entitled Creative Relations: The Epigenetics of Creativity. Creative Relations is a group show of Brattleboro artists who have invited family members, also artists, to hang work alongside their own. The premise of the show explores how family genetics, relationships and the social and cultural history of the artist informs their work.

Thursday, June 23 at 5pm these artists will share their views on the influences of relationships in their own work within a panel discussion entitled The Epigenetics of Creativity. We invite the public to think along with these artists about the intergenerational context that their artwork is embedded within. What’s the impact of DNA, family ties, environmental factors, nature/nurture? What evokes the creative urge? How does creativity relate to personal and ancestral trauma. How do certain traits or experiences get ‘passed down’? Is creativity one of them?

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Markie Sallick, a painter, grew up watching her mother, Lucy Sallick, create art. She remembers when her mother shared the slogan: “Do Your Own Thing” during the Feminist Movement in NYC. Markie was inspired by seeing her mother make her mark in the world. Markie’s images of bodies are juxtaposed with her mother’s portraits.

John Loggia, one of the painters, is including a film his mother made, with a sound track of music he composed. The film is called “In her own Eyes” which she filmed traveling throughout the world, in particular China in the 50’s (including images of public group Tai Chi practice)

For Phyllis Odessey, making art is healing. Creativity is a joyful and redemptive transmuting experience. She reported that her father, a very successful electrical engineer, when he took up painting found such joy in it that he set aside a room where he and all his children would paint. That is where Phyllis and her sister began their artistic careers.

Sky Gould grew up surrounded by antiques, which found their way into his light sculptures. He shared: Our lives are metaphors for how we see ourselves in the world. Our agency is our ability to act in the world. For example everything that an individual creates is a function of our agency – personal meaning in the world. An artist translates their sense of agency to share with others.

Tina Olsen, a painter, is including work created by her two daughters and grandchildren. She comes from a farming Mennonite background that stretches several generations before her birth. For her the Mennonite concept of being in the world and not of the world is part of what makes her an artist, helping her bypass the “what do the neighbors think” mentality and find her own path. This sense of personal freedom extended to her daughters being encouraged and comfortable expressing themselves in their own way.