Exhibition Runs: March 7 – April 14, 2022
Community Celebration: Saturday April 2nd, 4:30pm – 6:30pm
Harwood Art Center and Escuela del Sol Montessori are pleased to present Encompass, a unique all ages art celebration that takes place annually. This year Encompass features three gallery exhibitions, 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. In 2022 our theme is (re)conceive: works of reclamation and highlights artists that deconstruct and reconstruct notions of social order – particularly investigating norms of domesticity, building spaces of comfort, and redefining what, and who, is home.
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 an Exhibition Reception on Saturday, April 2nd from 4:30-6:30pm at Harwood Art Center.
Masks are optional for the event, but encouraged indoors. All of the featured Encompass exhibitions will be displayed March 7 – April 14, 2022 at Harwood Art Center. Harwood’s galleries are open Wednesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information and current policies please visit www.harwoodartcenter.org.
Public Gallery Hours
This exhibition is installed in our galleries and is open to view by the public on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10am-2pm.
(re)conceive: works of reclamation
A group exhibition that deconstructs and reconstructs notions of social order – particularly investigating norms of domesticity, building spaces of comfort, and redefining what, and who, is home. Featuring MK, Lindsay Brenner, Jami Porter Lara, Linda Montagnoli, Margarita Paz-Pedro, Kei and Molly Textiles & Robyn Tsinnanjinnie.
MK
About MK
mk is an artist living in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In 2017, they received their BFA in Photography and Digital Media from the University of Houston and are completing their MFA in Photography at the University of New Mexico. They are originally from a small rural town by the name of Sulligent, Alabama. A driving force for the majority of their work, mk has expanded on the concept of home encompassing place, family, and the self. Using found items, stories, and the longing to be back in their small town, mk investigates coping mechanisms through the function of photographic memory. They work in a variety of mediums ranging from photography, printmaking, and sculpture to pursue and question their upbringing, identity, family, and the terms of loss and memory.
Lindsay Brenner
Artist Statement
The materials to make this piece have been created by cutting old fabric material from stained or torn garments to recycle into yarn. The garment has been cut into long spirals to create long strips of “ fabric yarn”. I then began to crochet a new, wearable garment- recycling the old garments- into a wearable dress.
For the performance, I wear the dress and continue to crochet it , making it longer, as I’m wearing it.
This performance is a demonstration of endurance as well as creativity. The performance can invoke multifaceted meanings, depending on the viewer’s interpretation from recycling, humor, ridiculousness, “feminine” work, voyeurism, “cocooning”/nesting/safety/softness, solitude…etc…
About Lindsay
Lindsay Brenner was born in St.Louis Missouri. She has a bachelor’s degree in studio art from St.Louis University. Throughout her artistic career, she has explored many kinds of media including paint, fiber, recycled items, clay, natural objects, drawing and more. She has had the opportunity to be exposed to many cultures and ideas, including living in southern Morocco for 27 months as a peace corps volunteer. She has also had the privilege of working with people with developmental disabilities and has recently become an educator. She is currently working to earn my teaching certification credentials to become an elementary/special education teacher.She is fortunate to have had many enriching experiences in her life and hopes artwork can be a reflection of the stories she’s lived.
Jami Porter Lara
Artist Statement
About Jami
Jami Porter Lara is a conceptual artist who is interested in the ways humans use ideas about what is natural to naturalize human political constructs. Through a broad range of formal approaches such as sculpture, print-making and sign-making, as well as sewing and embroidery, Porter Lara explores the ways in which the fictions of identity create lived reality.
She has exhibited widely, including the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC, the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. Her work is in numerous public collections, including the Cooper Hewitt and the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and has been featured in Art 21 Magazine, CFile, Hyperallergic, and on PBS. Fellowships include MacDowell, Yaddo, and Tamarind,
She is currently represented by Gerald Peters Contemporary in Santa Fe and Simon Breitbard Fine Arts in San Francisco.
Linda Montagnoli
Artist Statement
I see things in shapes and colors. My (Re)custructed Rugs are sometimes viewed as abstractions, but they begin with a theme and through the creation process they evolve. The time and thought spent creating my pieces is meditative- and I imbue my rugs with prayer. My work is constructed from yarn, and other materials less traditional to rug making like lace, charms and other ornamentation. I am passionate about my artwork, and I have worked hard to legitimize this artform, overcoming opposition from many who have dismissed it. When creating each piece I think of the person who will own it- I love to see people happy when they see my rugs.
About Linda
Linda Montagnoli is an Italian American textile artist living and working in Albuquerque, New Mexico. From a young age she was artistic, creating drawings, paintings and poems daily. She learned traditional sewing and other textile techniques from her mother, which she has evolved into a fine art practice. Artmaking has been a staple of her life and Linda is prolific in her work. She has been involved with local arts organizations such as ArtStreet of Albuquerque Healthcare for the Homeless and OFFCenter Arts and has exhibited her work in many local galleries. With her unique style and vision, Linda has built a body of work that is recognizable and collected.
Margarita Paz-Pedro
Artist Statement
“The Function in Functionality” is a “set” of functional wares set upon a table that was made in relation with the forms. The set explores table settings, their origin and purpose. Most table settings are identified by Eastern and Western traditions, with not much in between. I wanted to consider the distinct Indigenous ways of eating and serving food, which is not aligned with Western traditions. For this work, I came to it from my own experience of sharing food, from my individual experience as a Pueblo person, thinking about who is at the table, what would be served and the designs that combine to make a whole. Though keeping in mind that to separate the table from the food, separates the function. Therefore, this set also looks at the function of functional work with in contemporary ceramics through an experimentation of display.
About Margarita
Born in Albuquerque, raised in Las Cruces and with family in Laguna Pueblo, Margarita has ties across NM. Her multi-ethnic background (Mexican-American, Laguna Pueblo & Santa Clara Pueblo) is core to her artmaking. She is a ceramic artist, teacher, organizer and muralist. She received her BFA with an emphasis in Ceramics in 2003 from the University of Colorado-Boulder. Then an MA in Art Education in 2008 at the University of New Mexico. In 2006, while at UNM, she did an apprenticeship abroad in Paris, France with an internationally known ceramicist, Madame Fance Franck for five months. In 2009, she was able to travel to Japan for a ceramics exploration trip as a part of an Arita Porcelain class at UNM. In early 2020, she was an Artist in Residence at Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, where she is currently in the MFA- Studio Arts program.
Kei & Molly Textiles
Artist Statement
Our focus on fabric printing allows us to teach a skill that requires the manual dexterity inherent in traditional “women’s work” such as hand sewing, weaving, or cooking. Our immigrant and refugee employees, though without previous printing experience, can quickly learn the art of screen printing if they’ve used their hands in craft. Over time, with the support of our team, they indeed learn to master the art. Our hand-printed dish towels are our most popular product, printed daily by our staff using water-based, eco-friendly inks. Our folk-inspired designs printed on traditional flour sacks material offer a sense of old-world charm – but with a modern twist! Our growing social enterprise aims to create beautiful, functional art, while our staff remind us how we are all connected in our humanity. As a team, we hope to build success greater than mere profits.
About Kei & Molly Textiles
We are Kei Tsuzuki and Molly Luethi, two social entrepreneurs who are using art as an engine for economic development in Albuquerque. Back in 2010 when we opened our doors, we knew that we could use our business as a way to impact the lives of immigrants and refugees in our community. With over 30 combined years working in the non-profit sector in women’s economic development and education, we started our printing studio to show how a business could be sustainable while doing good. Today, our staff consists of trained artisans, immigrants, and refugees from around the world, working together in craft and production, screen-printing each design by hand to service orders from stores nationwide. Their current staff includes: Hanna Bahador, Yenisey Cortes Carabajal, Thaīs Ansell Coy, Patty James-Jaramillo, Chance Kabayonga, Molly Luethi, Sadiqa Muhammad Jan, Gentille Mwiza, Liberata Norora, Rainy Nunnally, Claudia Peña Arras, Shaima Sediqi, Kei Tsuzuki, Jenni Viita and Nazifa Yousofy.
Robyn Tsinnajinnie
Artist Statement
Growing up primarily around women, Robyn would listen to the many stories that they would all share. Soon, she had noticed common fears and experiences that all women tend to share. These shared stories helped Robyn break down what demonstrates power, despite the odds stacked against female figures. She believes people misrepresent women, and what they’ve done throughout history has gone unnoticed for so long.
Robyn wants to use the assumptions made on women to her advantage with humor instead of anger. She likes to illustrate women in dominant positions while also placing them in stereotypical environments. Their positions give more power and motivation for other women to address tough realities and help create conversations that need to happen amongst everyone. Ultimately, she wishes to show people how ridiculous stereotypes can be and to allow herself and others to laugh instead of choosing anger.
About Robyn
Robyn is a Navajo artist from a small reservation surrounded by the endless color of the New Mexican desert. Her experiences with school, people, and living situations had forced her to become independent at a young age. Her independence only motivated her to pursue education and self-confidence in her art. Soon, Robyn realized that being Native and a woman is viewed as a disadvantage but learned that it’s the best advantage she can have. Her passion for painting grew from the ability to create an unlimited amount of color that would captivate herself and others. She enjoys pairing colors next to each other to create different auras and moods that help communicate her ideas and thoughts through the practice of painting. Most importantly, painting is a therapeutic practice for Robyn to help herself understand herself as an artist and a Native woman.