Mary jane parker : marked

FIRST WEDNESDAY OPENING RECEPTION: 08/07, 6 - 9 P.M.
artICULATE aRTIST tALK: sUNDAY, 08/11 AT 4 P.M.

Mary Jane Parker explores the physical history that is recorded on ones body from birth through scrapes and cuts acquired along the journey of life. She is interested in how memories and relics emerge and how those entwine to form the narratives of times past. For this exhibition, her debut at BRG since being named an artist member, she looks at how inward emotional turmoil manifests and displays outwardly.

“I use the figure, often an adolescent or young woman, to represent someone at the cusp of their adult life.” Parker continues, “Images of pressed plants, lace and figurative elements are layered upon each other, placed underneath or sewn directly into the figure, mimicking tattoos, halos or scars. The images, made up of waxed transparent layers, create veils of memory of the uneasy past.”

Within this collection, Parker chooses sentimental items like lace doilies, and pressed plants, and casts them in the pâte de verre technique, which freezes them in time and renders them more delicate than they were in their previous, original, iteration. As a result, they transform to become a commentary, she says, on memory itself.

Parker earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drawing & Painting from Louisiana State University and her Master of Fine Arts in Printmaking & Drawing from Illinois State University.

This exhibition is presented alongside the latest works from Ross Jahnke and Amy James. All works from these four artists are on view, free of charge during normal gallery hours (12 - 6 p.m., Tue - Sun), through August 29, 2019.