Terrarium: New Work by Karen Gelardi

September 3 – September 27, 2008

Karen Gelardi, Tree Components, 2008, fabric, cotton batting

Karen Gelardi, Inverted tree in progress, 2006, drawings printed on cotton and linen fabric, cotton batting, thread

Karen Gelardi, Rope, 2008, drawings printed on cotton and linen fabric, thread

The exhibit features organic foliage that seems to grow all over the gallery walls in a range of materials that reflect Gelardi’s fertile imagination.  She explores how nature can heal itself and adapt in component-based systems that that can dovetail with contemporary consumer systems and manufacturing culture.  Her work often begins with drawings from nature or memory, and the vine and floral forms are transferred via various print methods to sewn fabric forms, artist books, posters, 3-d polymer prints, and plastic sculptures. 

Gelardi is unveiling an experimental installation titled "assembly: a collaborative book project" where participants play the role of curator, sponsor, viewer and collector, all at once.  Her books are made with a single drawing reproduced to form a thick stack of pages, so the pattern repeats from the cover to cover on every page.  For every purchase of the book, Gelardi will include it in the exhibition as a sculptural element for an installation.  After the exhibit, she will mail the book to the collector.

For more information, visit http://karengelardi.typepad.com/assembly/ and www.karengelardi.com.