May 4 – June 9, 2024
Gallery Route One Artist Members Renée Owen and Mirka Knaster present their joint exhibition, RUST: A Topography of Time, a textural conversation entwining the artists’ interpretations of the diaspora, lines stretched across the globe, with the patterns and colors of rust creating a metaphor for the changes and loss woven through the refugees’ plight.
The exhibit explores what compels men and women, children and the elderly to flee their homeland, leaving behind entire families and all they have ever known to disperse over dangerous routes to find a new home This exhibit, as well as the collaborative conversation between the two artists, explores these questions, hinting at answers unfolding through the tactile exploration of their artwork. Whether working with rust-dyed fabric, cast paper pulp or found rusty wire and objects, the immersion in materials evolves. Colors, layers and the haptic act of stitching or shaping are transmuted into a visual poetry that conjures up the pathos of rough seas, remote mountain passages or desolate desert terrain that displaced people navigate in their desperate search for safety. A collective narrative unfolds, which speaks to our own personal histories and cultural roots, reminding us that we are all connected fragments of humanity.
Renée Owen began her creative journey playing with the visual poetry of words, shapes and colors, and making artist’s books. Now she forges a new language, creating sculptures of paper, felt, wire, wood and found objects, often working in multiples and with an ethos of sustainability. She shows her artwork widely, in exhibitions and in print and online journals, and it can be found in public and private collections. She also serves her artistic community as Curator and Coordinator, engaging audiences with her creative approach to exhibitions. More of what moves her can be found in her award-winning books of poetry, This One Life (Backbone Press Book Award) and Alone on a Wild Coast (Snapshot Press Book Award), both available at Gallery Route One or from her website. In addition to making art, Renée enjoys performing her poetry with music and hiking the wilds near her Northern California home.
www.reneeowenartandpoetry.com
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Mirka Knaster creates 2-D and 3-D pieces using textiles, paper, and other materials in a studio overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Her award-winning work is in private collections in the U.S. and England and has been exhibited internationally. As an independent curator, she has highlighted artists from other cultures as well as immigration and environmental issues. Born along the Adriatic Sea and educated in the U.S., she earned degrees in three cross-cultural fields. Worldwide adventures deeply inform her sensibility and exploration of fiber art. Nature, East Asian aesthetics, 20th-century abstract art, and meditation practice are her most significant inspirations.
