The power of the human spirit in the face of massive upheaval and displacement is explored by five artists exhibiting in the new The Barn Gallery show, Uprooted: Reflections on Relocation and Resilience. The show opens Thursday, March 14 at YoloArts’ The Barn Gallery in Woodland.
Uprooted: Reflections on Relocation and Resilience examines concepts of human displacement – caused by war, famine, family, or opportunity. The exhibition looks at the human spirit as a driving force to find and create a new home. Aspects of migration, emigration, assimilation, and lives left behind are represented and explored in the artists’ reflections.
The artists featured in the show are Pilar Agüero-Esparza, Susana Arias, Sandra Beard, Richard Gilles, and Kristin Lindseth. The exhibition includes works in clay, bronze, leather, photography, and paint.
Since 2011, Kristin Lindseth has focused her art on the international refugee crisis. In her artist statement she says this focus began “…with bronze sculptures and ink paintings I made immediately after the Haitian earthquake. When the Syrian civil war began in 2015, people were losing their lives in large numbers while trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to safety. Since then, there have been bombings in Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan, Ukraine, and Gaza. The sculptures I create include dwellings representing the kinds of homes being lost due to violent conflict. These dwellings are small representations of the emptiness that is left when people cannot return to their lives and must start all over.”
Artist Pilar Agüero-Esparza’s artwork examines her family’s migration using a unique artistic medium. “My parents migrated to the U.S. from Mexico in search of new opportunities and a better economic reality. My father decided to utilize the skills of his family’s lineage as shoe-makers and began to produce the specific footwear of the huarache for the nostalgia that this indigenous shoe represented to the east Los Angeles immigrant community where I grew up. I have chosen these same materials as the basis for my current works and through what I create, I want to present a distinct aesthetic made with the same processes I learned as a child.”
The artists will attend the opening reception, 5:30 – 8 p.m. Thursday March 14. Acoustic guitar music will be performed by Emmanuel Pailes and light refreshments and Yolo County wine will be offered. A hands-on art activity inspired by the exhibit will be happening in YoloArts’ East Barn Studio from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. during the reception.
The artwork can also be viewed (and purchased) online at yoloarts.org/online-galleries.
Uprooted: Reflections on Relocation and Resilience continues at The Barn Gallery through June 1.
New for this exhibit are monthly tours of both The Barn Gallery and Gibson House. The Saturday tours will begin at 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. on March 16, April 13, May 11, and June 1. The public is invited to attend these free learning opportunities to engage in a unique art exhibition and explore the iconic Gibson House.
Regular open hours of The Barn Gallery are Wednesdays and Thursdays 2:30-5 p.m., select Saturdays (3/16, 3/23, 4/13, 4/27, 5/11, 5/18, 6/1) and by appointment.
The Barn Gallery and the Gibson House are located at 512 Gibson Road in Woodland. For more information visit www.yoloarts.org or contact 530-309-6464 or ya@yoloarts.org.