Closing Thoughts | Toward a Tender Place
Read Hannah Zartman's exhibit statement.
It was the closing day for Toward a Tender Place this past Saturday. On that day, we had our first Artist Talk of the year in the afternoon! Covid unfortunately led to Hannah Zartman being virtual, but that didn’t stop us from being present in the gallery and following the talk collectively.
Dr. Lisa Huebner spoke first, introducing Hannah—a former student of hers—and talking briefly about her project The Women’s & Gender Studies Collection. The Collection is a free and open resource available to everyone (we’re happy to partner with Lisa this year for additional artist talk programming).
The floor was then handed over to Hannah, who spoke about the inspirations, guiding themes, theoretical frameworks, and processes regarding their art practice. You can watch the recorded talk here.
While it is sad when an exhibit comes down after living in our gallery for two months, we’re excited for Hannah (this was their first solo exhibit post-grad!) and look forward to future collaborations.
In honor of the closing, I want to leave you all with the exhibit statement for Toward a Tender Place:
I’ve become more attuned to gentleness in the world and myself through birding. I’m simply a witness to the details and beauty of the birds and nature around me, and this has led me to curious places in my artwork.
Through this work, I want to lead myself and the viewer toward the same tenderness I feel when seeing a sparrow flutter to its nest in a missing brick of a building, or when seeing a “V” of geese and feeling the depth of care they have for one another. Knowing I exist and am situated in the same place as this much softness, allows me to believe that I, and those around me, also contain the same love and tenderness mirrored to us through the natural world.
This body of work holds many things: it holds my curiosity, my queerness, my love, my pain, my uncertainties, and my quietness. My hope is that the pieces lend themselves to you as windows to see more of me, more of this world, more birds, and, perhaps, more of yourself.
Printmaking as a medium has taught me to think intentionally about layers and repetition - building and moving with intention - in order to see a larger image. By using methodical processes such as silk screen, relief print, and crocheting, I’m able to once again connect to natural cycles of repetition that remind me that growth, change, and multiplicity are intrinsic to our world.
The pieces in this show also mirror a movement through, around, back, and in, as I discover more about myself and my environment with the intention of moving closer to tenderness.
The artwork from Hannah Zartman’s show is now available for purchase on our gallery shop! Check it out. Follow our Instagram to see more images from Saturday.
Thanks for being here xx