The Maude Kerns Art presents “Beyond Language” and “Unspoken,” featuring the work of five local artists: Zoë Cohen, Suma Z. Elan, and Rebecca Mannheimer with Beth I. Robinson and Beverly Soasey, The public is invited to the Opening Reception on Friday, February 24, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm, with musical entertainment by Taylor Irving on acoustic guitar. “Beyond Language” and “Unspoken” is on display through Friday, March 24.
In “Beyond Language,” abstract artists Zoë Cohen, Suma Z. Elan, and Rebecca Mannheimer explore mark-making as personal narrative. All three painters share similar processes that involve the layering of materials and techniques that are both additive and subtractive. Their intuitive approach allows them to take advantage of chance occurrences and marks that appear during the process of painting. Their work represents “expression that goes beyond words.” Rebecca Mannheimer describes each artist’s finished set of paintings as a personal narrative that reveals each individual voice. She says: “A kind of storytelling and sense of history emerges.”
Zoë Cohen has a BFA from the University of Oregon. She has shown her work locally at Oregon Art Supply, the Jacobs Gallery, Maude Kerns Art Center, UO’s Erb Memorial Union, and the UO Museum of Art (now the Jordan Schnitzer Museum), as well as at the Portland Art Museum and the Blackfish Gallery in Portland, the Benton County Museum in Philomath, Oregon, and various out-of-state venues. Cohen was awarded a Commission Award for the EMU Building in 1991. She is currently an instructor at Oregon Art Supply.
Suma Z. Elan uses art therapy in her private practice in psychotherapy to further healing. She has exhibited her work in various venues in Eugene and Springfield, including the Maude Kerns Art Center, the Springfield Mayor’s Art Show, the Jacobs Gallery, and the UO’s Erb Memorial Union, with solo exhibitions at DIVA and the Eugene Public Library. In addition, Elan has participated in selected group exhibitions throughout Oregon, including at the Eye for Art Gallery in Brookings, the Coos Art Museum Biennial; and the Giustina Gallery in Corvallis.
Rebecca Mannheimer has a BFA in Painting from the Pacific Northwest College of Art. She also studied ceramics and graphic design at the University of Oregon. Mannheimer was affiliated with the Blackfish Gallery in Portland from 1984-86, and has exhibited her work locally in the Small Treasures exhibit at the Jacobs Gallery, the Mayor’s Art Show, Oregon Art Supply, and DIVA, as well as other venues in Oregon. In Portland, she has shown her work at the Verum Ultimum Gallery, the Blackfish Gallery, the Multnomah Art Center, the Portland Art Museum, and at the Artquake Exhibition on multiple occasions.
Beth I. Robinson and Beverly Soasey are inspired by a shared love of found objects, collage, cut edges, and “narratives that are missing, left out, or forgotten.” In “Unspoken,” they collaborate through dialogue and shared observation to produce pieces from a varied collection of objects. “The viewer will witness dual representations for each object.” Their collaboration “captures narratives beneath the surfaces, individual perception, and the things often left unsaid.”
Beth I. Robinson has a BFA with a concentration in Book Arts from the Oregon College of Art and Craft and an associate degree in Specialized Technology & Visual Communications from the Art Institute of Philadelphia. A book-based artist with years of experience as a picture framer and paper restorer, Robinson focuses in her work on responses to the process of bereavement. She has shown her pieces locally at the Jacobs Gallery, the Hoffman Gallery and Guardino Gallery in Portland, and in other venues throughout Oregon and the US. In 2015 she had a solo show at the Piacentini Studio and Gallery in Bend, Oregon.
Beverly Soasey attended Lane Community College in Graphic Design and the University of Oregon in Fine Arts. She works primarily in mixed media and assemblage, blending objects and media with a focus on textures, patterns, and color. As she says, “the process begins with the search and ends in a story.” Soasey has an extensive exhibition history in galleries throughout Oregon and in New Jersey and New York. She has shown her work at the Karin Clarke Gallery, the UO Museum of Art (now the Jordan Schnitzer Museum), the Arts Center in Corvallis, and the Mary Lou Zeek Gallery in Salem, among many venues.
On Thursday, March 16, frpm 6:00 – 7:30 pm,, the public is invited to an Artists’ Talk in conjunction with “Beyond Language & Unspoken.” All five featured artists will be present to discuss their work.
