2731 Prospect debuts two new exhibitions this week. The gallery presents a solo show by San Francisco artist Lauren DiCioccio and a group show of emerging local/regional photographers. The gallery hosts an opening reception for both on Friday, May 6, from 6 to 9 p.m.
Familiars features San Francisco-based artist Lauren DiCioccio’s hand sewn and embroidered soft sculptures. Inspired by the classical theme of the still life, DiCioccio depicts common, everyday objects with trompe l’oeil technical sewing skills and creative use of materials.
“In 2005, I started working in the medium of soft sculpture, using hand-sewing and hand-embroidery to make a body of work that explores the beauty in ubiquitous objects of our daily life and the encroaching obsolescence many of them face,” DiCioccio says. “Using the construct of the Still Life, I aim to present these objects with symbolism associating their transience with human transience. By depicting the objects in the medium of hand-worked cloth, I hope to also introduce ideas inherent to that medium in order to draw further parallels between the objects and ourselves.”
Originally from Philadelphia, DiCioccio earned a BFA in Art and Art History from Colgate University. DiCioccio is currently an affiliate artist at Headlands Center for the Arts in Sausalito, CA. Her work has been exhibited at Alfred University, the Bellevue Arts Museum and in California at the De Saisset Museum, Laguna Art Museum, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art. She has been a resident artist in San Francisco at both the Workshop Residency and Recology and the McColl Center in Charlotte, NC.
Meanwhile, the gallery also hosts Emerge: New Photography CLE, showcasing the work of Jacob Koestler, Amelia Maslen and Dale Rothenberg. These artists were selected to show together because of their shared photographic explorations into our collective relationship to nature and the landscape. Gallery owner and director Lauren Davies follows up her highly successful collaborative project with local photographer Brandon Juhasz, Foreign Exchange (an international photo competition and exhibition), by highlighting the strength of our local photographic community, especially young, emerging photographers.
“When I arrived in Cleveland three years ago, I was immediately struck by how vibrant the photography scene is in this region,” Davies says. “I’m thrilled to be presenting the work of three young Cleveland artists working in photography who deserve to have their work seen by a larger audience. Also, we will be presenting ‘Emerge,’ a panel discussion that will focus on current trends in photography and the Cleveland photographic community on Tuesday, May 17, at 7 p.m. The panel will feature Laura Bidwell (artist, collector and co-Founder of Transformer Station) and Joseph Minek (artist and educator) as moderators in discussion with artists Jacob Koestler, Amelia Maslen and Dale Rothenberg.”
Jacob Koestler is an artist and musician from Johnstown, PA. He earned his MFA in Photography and Integrated Media at Ohio University. Koestler’s photography, video and multimedia installations are set in post-industrial settings such as the Rust Belt and rural Appalachia. His work has been published and exhibited internationally. Koestler is the co-founder of My Idea of Fun, an art and music archive of more than 300 releases, including several of Koestler’s own photography books and audio cassettes. He also performs under the name the Rural Carrier.
Amelia Maslen earned a BFA in Photography with honors from the School of Art and Design in the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. Her work has been exhibited throughout Ohio and New York, as well as internationally in England, France and Chile, and many online platforms like Humble Arts Foundation New York and Juxtapoz Magazine. At 2731 Prospect, Maslen exhibits a series of photographs captured in Alaska while in a residency at an organic vegetable farm and a reindeer farm just outside Fairbanks.
Like Koestler, Dale Rothenberg is also a musician and a photographer. Rothenberg studied Jazz Piano Performance at Oberlin College’s Conservatory of Music, graduating in 2013. During his time in school, Rothenberg split his time between the music conservatory and the photography department. In addition to his photographic career, he maintains an active schedule of jazz performances. Rothenberg’s photography examines the socioeconomic difficulties of suburban Ohio through an exploration of its nighttime landscape. His photographs have been published in books and exhibited in galleries across the U.S.
Both exhibitions remain on view through June 11. At 2 p.m. on Saturday, June 11, Jacob Koestler, Amelia Maslen and Dale Rothenberg will participate in an artists’ talk and closing reception.
(2731 Prospect) 2731 Prospect Ave., 888-273-1881, 2731prospect.com
