UD Beatrice M. Haggerty Gallery Presents ‘What Remains’
Textile and Ceramic Exhibition Arrives from North Carolina Mountain Range
Date Published: Jan. 30, 2018
The Beatrice M. Haggerty Gallery proudly announces the opening of a two-person exhibition,
“What Remains,” featuring artists Rachel Meginnes and Assistant Professor of Ceramics
Kelly O'Briant. The exhibition is curated by Penland Gallery Director Kathryn Gremley
of the Penland School of Craft in North Carolina. In 2001, O’Briant received a two-year
Core Fellowship from the Penland School of Craft, where Meginnes recently completed
a three-year residency.
Both artists will give presentations at the opening reception on Thursday, Feb.1,
at 5:30 p.m. in the Haggar Auditorium located in the Haggerty Art Village on UD's
Irving campus, followed by a reception in the gallery. The exhibition will remain
available for viewing through Saturday, March 3, 2018.
“What Remains” speaks to both the visual and the conceptual depth of the inherent
memory embedded in the works of Meginnes and O'Briant.
Meginnes’ material of choice — reclaimed textiles — forms the foundation of her process:
a physical and metaphorical layering of wear and re-adaptation. Using old, discarded
textiles, Meginnes transforms vintage quilts by beginning with the quilt tops or with
the compressed and batted stitching found inside of quilts. She then works on these
surfaces to apply paint, metal leaf, image transfers, stitching, sanding and other
various materials and techniques, creating artwork similar to an abstract painting
while still retaining traces of the original pattern, color and wear of the quilt.
Her work results in compelling objects that evoke senses of memory and loss.
In the work of O’Briant, the remainders are often phantom forms — such as a chimaera
or an abstraction of scientific theory. Her work in ceramics often explores the notions
of dark matter, light and shadow, and the passage of time. In this exhibition, O’Briant
mines the emotional effect of unsettlement and reconstruction – the physical act of
carrying the past forward. Her exhibition centerpiece, “All the Good Things,” displays
dozens of gold-lustered porcelain bowls containing porcelain seeds, which sit on porcelain
objects that resemble concrete blocks. According to O’Briant, these seeds represent
her migratory life and the generosity of the people she has encountered along the
way.
It is only fitting that this exhibition arrives at the University of Dallas, reflecting
O’Briant's extensive travels and her recent arrival on the university’s Irving campus.
Learn more about "What Remains" at the Beatrice M. Haggerty Gallery.