Exhibition Runs: March 6 – April 13, 2023
Community Celebration: Saturday April 1st, 4:00pm – 8:00pm
Harwood Art Center and Escuela del Sol Montessori are pleased to present Encompass, a unique multi-generational art event that takes place annually. Featuring five invitational exhibitions, open studios, hands-on art making projects, live music, food trucks, and activities for all ages, Encompass is both a reflection of and an offering to our community; this year, we are focusing on “Remembrance & Renewal”.
Reception + Community Celebration
Encompass is Harwood’s capstone celebration for the year. We invite everyone to this free event as we come together in community! You are invited to the Exhibition Reception + Open Studios on Saturday, April 1st from 4:00-8:00pm at Harwood Art Center.
All five of the featured Encompass exhibitions will be displayed March 6 – April 13, 2023 at Harwood Art Center.
Public Gallery Hours
This exhibition is accessible to view by the public on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10am-3pm.
Archive of Memory: A Visual Journal Retrospective
The antiquated library is a collection of sketchbooks and journals created over a lifetime and provides tangible documentation of an artistic process that is always under the threat of erasure due to epilepsy. The process of living with ongoing brain trauma means linear time is interrupted by the demise of both long and short-term memory. These books, part of an existential retrieval practice that uncovers clues to the artist’s whereabouts in the form of a fragmented paper trail, are containers that reveal stories which should never be forgotten, but that they no longer recollect. With their disability and deterioration, their books are a form of resilience and a legacy they hope to share with others to inspire healing. This hall of records is more than a retrospective, it is an Archive of Memory.
About Juliana
Award winning artist Juliana Coles received her MFA from the Academy of Art, San Francisco. Coles developed “Visual Journaling” in 1992 for the Epilepsy Society as an active meditation technique that is now used by therapists, teachers, and professionals around the world. Her Visual Journals have been featured in over 30 publications and as part of the “1000 Journals Project” her work was exhibited at the SFMOMA. Coles, a teaching artist since 1997, presents workshops nationally as well as in Mexico, Greece, Egypt, and Portugal. Coles’ work has been licensed by Warner Brothers for their “Roswell” and “Longmire” series. Juliana is a Clark Hulings Foundation Fellow and residencies include Green Olive Arts in Morocco, and Otis’ inaugural Residency program in LA. Most recently Coles received the NM Purchase award, a grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation, and the Resiliency Residency from the City of Albuquerque’s Urban Enhancement Trust Fund.
Artist Statement
As a student at the Academy of Art in the late 80’s/early 90’s, my education was influenced by the Bay Area Figurative artists. My work itself was inspired by German Expressionism as well as post war Pop Artists who were revolting against pretentious or “High Brow” Art. In the time of Desert Storm and the Rodney King trial we took to the streets and were arrested under martial law. While San Francisco was a mecca of social activism, I was intensely engaged with the second wave feminist ideal that the personal is the political. Beginning with the figure and adding narrative, my art is a raw investigative expression of personal reality where, as an epileptic, seizures interrupt recall and alienate concrete memory. My mixed media paintings, drawings and artist books are never preconceived but spontaneously emerge from the unknown through a radical layering process of breaking down and rebuilding.
