Exhibits & Events

Poised and Forceful, highlights the work of six women artists, all of whom’s work push the boundaries of scale and abstract styles. Through their different aesthetics, processes, and materials, the uniting thread in Poised and Forceful is a decidedly feminine take on large scale abstraction.

Jacqueline Unanue and Sandi Neiman Lovitz both work in traditional water-based painting mediums on oversized canvas. Their bright, bold, and abstract patterns build a sense of overwhelming wonder. The artists in Poised and Forceful do not just approach abstraction within the realm of painting. For Leah Macdonald, she uses photo collage and encaustic wax to build up layers to obscure references and add brightly floral inspired patternry. Dianne Koppisch-Hricko prints oversized fabric panels with differing dyes to create the illusion of natural landscapes. The softness of both Macdonald’s and Koppisch-Hricko’s materials are perhaps the most “feminine” in Poised and Forceful. But, for both Macdonald and Koppisch-Hricko, their unusually large scale breaks them apart from their contemporaries.

Where others in Poised and Forceful create work that is soft and subtle, Maureen Drdak’s and Yeh Rim Lee’s work boldly arrives with unapologetic materiality. Drdak, spending years traveling the globe to learn the ancient smithing techniques of chasing and repoussé, integrates hand-formed copper elements into her paintings, merging the physical and the illusion. Lee embraces ancient ceramic and fiber processes for her work. By building up layers of different glazes, laces, and base forms, Lee’s work takes on a dizzying dimension and tempestuous surfaces.