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Dharma Strasser MacColl, Study for Blue Blast III

Dharma Strasser MacColl

Study for Blue Blast III

Black Clay, Thread, Lokta Paper

10.5" x 9.5" + frame

2013

Dharma Strasser MacColl, Gold Weave Interlace

Dharma Strasser MacColl

Gold Weave Interlace

Porcelain, Black Clay, Gouache, Thread, Lokta Paper

30" x 38" with frame 34.5" x 42"

2013

Dharma Strasser MacColl, Ebb and Flow

Dharma Strasser MacColl

Ebb and Flow

Porcelain, Gouache, Thread, Lokta Paper

15" x 15" + frame

2013

Dharma Strasser MacColl, Blue Weave interlace

Dharma Strasser MacColl

Blue Weave interlace

Black Clay, Gouache, Thread, Lokta Paper

31" x 32" + frame 36" x 35'

2013

Dharma Strasser MacColl, Blue Blast III

Dharma Strasser MacColl

Blue Blast III

Porcelain, Gouache, Thread, Lokta Paper

16" x 14" + frame

2013

Michiyo Ihara, Space Party

Michiyo Ihara

Space Party
Snowflake Series #87
pencil on paper
22 1/4 x 22 1/4, 2010

Michiyo Ihara, Supernatural Life

Michiyo Ihara

Supernatural Life
Snowflake Series #82
pencil on paper
22 1/4 x 22 1/4, 2010

Michiyo Ihara, Unlimited Love

Michiyo Ihara

Unlimited Love
Snowflake Series #107
pencil on paper
22 1/4" x 22 1/4"

2012

Michiyo Ihara, Mermaid Dream

Michiyo Ihara

Mermaid Dream
Snowflake Series #126
pencil on paper
10 1/4" x 10 1/4"

2015

Michiyo Ihara, GAIA

Michiyo Ihara

GAIA
Snowflake Series #131
pencil on paper
10 1/4" x 10 1/4"

2015

Michiyo Ihara, "Conservation"

Michiyo Ihara

"Conservation"

Snowflake Series #136

Pencil on paper

10 1/4" x 10 1/4"

2015

Paula Overbay Turquoise Moon

Paula Overbay
Turquoise Moon
Acrylic on Paper
9” x 9”, 2014

Framed 11" x 14"

Paula Overbay, Gale

Paula Overbay

Gale

Acrylic on Paper

9” x 9”, 2014

Framed 11" x 14"

Paula Overbay, Blue Moon

Paula Overbay

Blue Moon

Acrylic on Paper

10" x 10", 2012

Framed 15" x 15"

Paula Overbay, Turmoil

Paula Overbay

Turmoil

Acrylic on Paper

9" x 9", 2014

Framed 11" x 14"

Paula Overbay Atmosphere I

Paula Overbay
Atmosphere I
Acrylic on Wood
12” x 12”, 2014

Paula Overbay Atmosphere II

Paula Overbay
Atmosphere II
Acrylic on Wood
12” x 12”, 2014

Micro Networks

Michiyo Ihara, Paula Overbay and Dharma Strasser MacColl

June 25 – August 8, 2015

Muriel Guépin Gallery is pleased to present a group exhibit featuring three women who manifest their personal views of nature through their works on paper.  Their delicate and meticulous process lends itself to depicting the subtleties in the patterns of nature.  The intimate nature of their pieces expresses and celebrates how miniscule humans are in relation to the world in its entirety.

Paula Overbay’s colorful dot work paintings mimic the micro and macro patterns in the world.  She describes her pieces as being influenced by “…cells in a petrie dish, the murmurations of birds, the migrations of butterflies, star constellations and especially our mercurial weather.”  All minute details, almost utterances, in a world so vast.  Her work is touching upon particularly feminine roles in society as well.  Continuing the tradition of working obsessively over intimate pieces, similar in process to embroidery or knitting.  Her natural forms move like an expanding ribcage, or the ebb and flow of waves.  The familiarity of the forms make the work that much more relatable, as if someone was holding the cosmos in their hands.

Michiyo Ihara’s obsessively crafted snowflake drawings are a modest flashback to childhood imagery.  She crafts her snowflakes as vehicles for her comprehension of the universe, as she grapples with the concept of being human.  Using these snowflakes as an extension of her arm and experience, she expresses the concept that her body is a shell that mimics the infinite. Ihara believes that “from the microcosm grows the macrocosm…” letting something as small as a snowflake carry her stories, and allow the viewer to unlock something vast.

Dharma Strasser MacColl’s mixed media pieces create landscapes of unique cellular structures using natural and earthly materials.  Using lokta paper, made of the bark of evergreen trees, and clay as catalysts for her cell cultures, she becomes the sole creator of her own micro worlds.  She uses thread as the strands that connect each cell, which allows her to reinforce the feminine qualities of her invented nature.  Creating her pieces on paper makes her cultures humble and non-invasive, which is a uniquely feminine quality.  This allows her worlds to speak for themselves, working together with the viewer rather than fighting against them.

A woman’s experience is unique in that she lives as an oversight, which Overbay, Ihara, and MacColl touch upon alongside their more prominent ideas regarding nature. Their intimate format is an extension of this existence, and is tender in its expression. They all bring attention to the minute and unsung aspects of the world, especially in regards to the bigger picture.

 

This exhibition will be on view until August 8, 2015.