The University of Southern Indiana’s New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art (NHGCA) is proud to present Weee, curated by Chase Westfall and featuring works by artists Rachel Stallings Thomander, Steven Stallings Thomander and Kiki LaPomme.
Weee is open now through November 4, opening with a reception from 4-6 p.m. Saturday, October 14, in conjunction with New Harmony Second Saturdays. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
In Weee, artists Rachel Stallings Thomander, Steven Stallings Thomander and LaPomme explore and experiment with collective identity–its ideals, forms, rewards, limits and complications. The three siblings (two by birth, one by marriage) offer varied and personal perspectives on the often vexing question, “What does it mean to be and make in community?†The angles of these perspectives vary dramatically, reflecting the real, physical distances that separate the siblings—split between the East and West coasts—and the elasticity of the family relationships which hold them in a warm but wobbly orbit.
The works are not collaborative but developed in conversation. Much is shared among them by way of sensibility and strategy: color, curiosity, humor and play are family values, expressed equally in the material characteristics of the works. The pieces are further united by their surprising formal sophistication and the earnest critical inquiries to which they attest.
Rachel Stallings Thomander is a Colombian American artist, educator and curator based in Santa Cruz, California, where she lives with her husband and son. Her work addresses Latinx identity, early childhood education, and exchanges between craft, design and art. She holds an MFA from UC Berkeley. She has exhibited work at Tropical Contemporary, CTRL+SHFT, Nous Tous Gallery, Guerrero Gallery, Richmond Art Center and Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.
LaPomme is a multimedia artist living in Southern California. She has most recently done illustration work for herbal and wellness company, Solarray, as well as forming material for the children’s education and gardening project, “Something.†When not drawing in the studio, she is either making with the Scary Sugar artist’s collective, or making music, often with experimental pop band, Pigimichi.
Steven Stallings Thomander is a Colombian American artist, filmmaker and musician from Provo, Utah. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in studio art from Brigham Young University with an emphasis in new genres and is currently pursuing an MFA from Columbia University.
