Category Archives: Arden Bendler Browning

"Seepages" curated by Caroline Lathan-Stiefel

On June 25th, our next exhibit Seepages will open. Curated by Caroline Lathan-Stiefel, Seepages is a collaborative project by artists whose works are a response to inhabiting and navigating contemporary urban and suburban environments. Their work explores the idea that urban, suburban, and natural realms are not separate entities, but rather permeable, fluid spaces that connect and seep into each other.

Participating Artists: Caroline Lathan-Stiefel, Arden Bendler Browning, Van Stiefel, Thomas Vance, John Otte, Kate Stewart & Ward Davenny.

Exhibit Dates: June 25-July 31
Opening Reception: Friday, June 25 | 7 – 10 
Conversation with the Artists: Saturday, June 26th @ 3pm

 Made of textiles, crafts, and recyclables, Caroline Lathan-Stiefel’s sculptural installations reference both man-made and natural elements. Allusions to architectural forms, chain link fences, plumbing fixtures, fungi, and stalactites cover, divide, encircle, and fill the spaces in which they are situated.  For her sculptural installation Hinterland, Caroline collaborated with her husband Van Stiefel, who has created an accompanying sound installation. Mixed with musical elements and computer-generated sound, Van Stiefel’s sound installations consist of processed recordings made in and around their Pennsylvanian home. 

“Ambient sounds recorded in and around our suburban home (birds, ice melting, neighbors grilling, distant motors) are blended with real time audio processing of the original recordings in eight channels. The computer shifts the various sounds among eight car speakers placed within the sculpture, exploring realistic/illusionistic representations of space.” (Van Stiefel)

Thomas Vance, “Untitled”, pencil/colored pencil on graph paper, 15 5/16″ x 9 3/16″, 2010.

 

Arden Bendler Browning’s daily travels through Philadelphia’s “dichotomous landscape” strongly inform her multi-perspective images, which include both small drawings on paper and wall-sized paintings on tyvek.

Arden Bendler Browning, “Rubble”, drawing on paper, 15″ x 22″, 2009.


John Otte’s finely textured mixed media paintings and collages suggest devastated abstract landscapes that are both elegiac and highly-charged.

John Otte, “Sugar & Shit”, collage, 11″ x 17″, 2009.

Kate Stewart’s paintings explore notions of shelter and escape in response to both real and contrived man-made catastrophes and natural disasters.

Kate Stewart, “Lawncare Vortex”,
acrylic & mica powder on paper,
24″ x 18″, 2010.

For Seepages, Kate Stewart has also collaborated with artist Ward Davenny to create a large-scale painting utilizing paint and soot. (Image Left: Davenny in action “smoking” the canvas.)

Ward Davenny, “Reclaimed Landfill”, charcoal on paper, 12.5″ x 16.5″, 2010.