SAN ANTONIO, TX.- Blue Star Contemporary, San Antonio’s first and longest-running contemporary art nonprofit, announces the opening of three new summer 2021 exhibitions.
The solo exhibitions feature the work of Doerte Weber, Joanna Keane Lopez, and Terran Last Gun. Doerte Weber presents Shed, a collection of weavings reflecting on COVID-19, everyday life during the pandemic, and climate issues. Joanna Keane Lopez is a multidisciplinary artist whose work blurs boundaries between contemporary sculpture and architecture through the medium of adobe mud. Her BSC presentation will include a newly commissioned sculptural work. Terran Last Gun presents an exhibition of ledger drawings, a form which rose to prominence among Native American artists in the mid-1800s and continues today.
In her work, Doerte Weber, reflects on the emotions brought by the COVID-19 pandemic as she worked on more than 45 handwoven towels. As Weber worked on the loom, she experimented with patterns, colors, designs, and inscriptions. The resulting work is a direct reflection on the feelings of frustration, worry, and acceptance.
Joanna Keane Lopez is a multidisciplinary artist whose work blurs the boundaries between contemporary sculpture and architecture through the medium of adobe mud. By working with materials of adobe architecture, earthen plaster, and alíz (a clay slip paint) her work addresses sculpture’s relationship with land. Through the passing down of knowledge of the vernacular architecture techniques of the greater Southwest, Joanna creates work that seeks healing and reparation of fragmentation towards land, home, family, and community that is connected to her own multi-generational roots in New Mexico.
Terran Last Gun creates a visual interpretation of nature, the cosmos, cultural narratives, and recollections in reduced geometric aesthetics and vibrant energetic color harmonies. Often referencing Piikani painted lodges and visual iconographic vocabulary, his work explores the varying relationships between color, shape, nature, and sky. Piikani or Blackfoot painted lodges are visual masterpieces of the Great Plains and are pre-European invasion classic art. Through various art making approaches, Terran Last Gun seeks to connect the ancient to the contemporary while creating visual color stimulation. His presentation at BSC, features ledger drawings which explore and visually dissect the three visual tiers of most Piikani painted lodges with a focus on the top and bottom zones, and the various narratives that accompany them and make connections to the land and sky.
These three exhibitions accompany The Sitter, which opened last month, featuring works by artists who use contemporary portraiture and figuration to build narratives and generate conversation around the subjects’ actions, experiences, or identities. Exhibiting artist include La Vaughn Belle, Suzette Bross, Ruth Leonela Buentello, Carmen Cartiness Johnson, Madison Cowles Serna, Natan Dvir, Sarah Fox, LaToya Hobbs, Loc Huynh, David Johnson and Philip Matthews, Zora J Murff, and Cruz Ortiz.
For the first time at Blue Star Contemporary, the exhibitions are accompanied by an interactive app featuring
in-depth exploration through gallery texts, visitor prompts, and information aimed at giving visitors a broader context to engage with the works of art. The newly launched app is free to download and available at the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. “Last month, we saw great energy and excitement in our galleries as people enjoy their new freedom and venture off to see art in person,” said Mary Heathcott, Executive Director. “This app has allowed our visitors to have an enhanced on-site experience, but it has also allowed them to spend more time with the exhibition content once they are back home and take time to reflect on the work they saw.”
All BSC’s summer exhibitions will be on view through September 5, 2021.
