EMILY GHERARD
CLOSER TO THE BONE
J. Rinehart Gallery is thrilled to announce our second exhibition of new work by Seattle-based painter, draughtsman, and printmaker, Emily Gherard. Gherard’s exhibition, Closer to the Bone, continues the artist’s work in response to Käthe Kollwitz’s drawing, The Mothers.
Closer to the Bone will be on view in the gallery and online November 18 – December 23, 2023. A Preview Reception will be held on Saturday, November 18, 2023, from 3-5pm. Public Opening Reception will be held on First Thursday, December 7, 2023, from 5-8pm. An Artist Talk will be held in the Gallery, Saturday December 16, 2023 from 1-3pm (advanced registration required).
Gherard’s exhibition, Closer to the Bone, includes a collection of powerful emotional narratives conveyed through off-balance compositions. Monochromatic paintings on transparent fabric stretched over shaped frames evoke a unique narrative through Gherard’s contrast use of mark-making and materials. Continuing her tradition of deriving compositions and forms from historical figurative paintings, in this new work, Gherard draws inspiration from historical works by Edouard Vuillard, Kathe Kollwitz, and Victorian Hidden Mother photos. Of her work the artist states: “I am interested in the idea that the work's emotional content can come through the labor of making, and can exist without the obvious figurative narrative”.
Emily Gherard is best known for her process-based work built from the accumulation of repetitive marks. Gherard received her MFA from the University of Washington, and her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. Her work has exhibited at The Museum of Northwest Art, Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, Whatcom Museum and The Henry Art Gallery. Gherard was awarded the prestigious Joan Mitchell Fellowship Award in 2021. She has been a finalist for the Neddy Art Award at Cornish College of the Arts, and for the Betty Bowen Award. Her work can be found in numerous collections, such as the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Swedish Medical Center, and Microsoft Permanent Collection.
Gherard has taught for the last fifteen years throughout the Puget Sound area, including University of Washington, Western Washington University, Cornish College of the Arts, North Seattle College, and Bellevue College.Gherard currently lives and works in Seattle, WA.
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CLOSER TO THE BONE
Working in direct response to historical images has been a throughline in my practice. I derive the forms in my paintings and wall sculptures from the gestures and postures of figurative paintings. I gravitate towards work with a powerful emotional narrative conveyed through off-balance compositions and contrasting visual elements. I am interested in how the original content can be depicted through scale, form, and materials, existing without the pictorial image.
In this show, I continue to reference historical images of motherhood and build and expose layers of material as a metaphor for memory, conflicting narratives, and vulnerability. The title, Closer to the Bone, is based on an Ursula Le Guin quote that “motherhood brought her closer to the bone” which I found deeply poignant. I use the transparent material and visible frame structure to blur the relationship between the figure and the ground. My forms dissolve into their background. They are like the women draped with fabric in Victorian Hidden Mother Photographs or the dizzyingly patterned paintings of the Post-impressionist Edouard Vuillard’s sisters and mother. These women are enveloped, swallowed, and defined by the domestic spaces they inhabit.