HELD: What is the Value of the Vulnerable?
Painting by Shelly Safir Marolt
“Where does individuality end and collective begin? How are we each part of the whole?”
Enjoy a virtual tour of "HELD" & "Transformation", on exhibition at the R2 Gallery from May 7 through 27, 2021.
Carbondale Arts presented “HELD: What is the value of the vulnerable?”, a 2 person exhibition by Jenn Weede and Shelly Safir Marolt, at the Carbondale Arts R2 Gallery. “HELD” was on exhibition May 7 - 28, 2021. The public was invited to an outdoor artist talk on Friday evening, May 7, at 5:15pm at The Launchpad to hear both Jenn and Shelly speak, along with Hunter Hogan, whose show “Transformation” began the same day.
Carbondale, as a part of the American West, the wild west, the frontier, has a long history of favoring the strong, the independent, the renegade. Rugged individualism was prized. Vulnerability was exploited. What might it mean for a community to reinvestigate how it wants to be? What if it means that the ways that once succeeded no longer work well? What if it means valuing what was once a great liability? These are just some of the questions that arise in how a community is held together. At the 50-year mark of our arts community, the vital question is not who or how have we been, but How do we want to be? HELD investigates this, and offers one perspective of a new way to be.
Does it matter that we hold those who cannot hold themselves or that which cannot hold itself? Does it matter that we hold what is not ours? What does not belong to us? Or does it? Where does individuality end and collective begin? How are we each part of the whole?
HELD was a joint show honoring how we as people can hold the vulnerable in meaningful ways, while questioning if, when, why and how it matters to do so.
Ceramic artist Jenn Weede of the Fireweed Studio exhibited ceramic vessels holding aspects of nature, life and death, and the edges thereof—a wasp’s nest, an animal skull, river water, soil and seed—that ask the question: What is worth holding? Protecting? Why? The artist’s ceramic vessels represent human creation, the human hand and conscience in the world, and the found objects represent the world around us, particularly the vulnerable aspects of it.
Shelly Safir Marolt’s paintings of the vulnerable—nursing women, the homeless, hospice and home care workers tending the elderly, animals going extinct, the collective shadow of racism— illustrate that it matters, immensely, that we value holding each other when we are at our most vulnerable. These acts tend to go unnoticed, and certainly undervalued in our culture. Training an eye on the intimate moments brings awareness. This awareness, shown large scale on the walls surrounding the ceramic-nature works, is itself a form of holding the viewer as s/he both experiences and questions the value of being vulnerable and being held.
“HELD: What is the Value of the Vulnerable” was generously sponsored by Land+Shelter. Land+Shelter is a local architecture and planning company that seeks to harmonize the built environment with the natural environment and, in so doing, practice sustainable design. We partner with clients to create sustainable, modern architecture that respects the land and enhances community. Land+Shelter provides an integration of architecture, sustainable design, owner’s representation, planning services, and community outreach – since 2005. Find out more at www.landandshelter.com
This exhibition opened the same dates (May 7 - 28, 2021) as “Transformation” by Hunter Hogan.
Jenn Weede, ceramicist, Carbondale, CO
Trained as a social scientist and journalist, my work is inevitably a commentary on the world around me as much as within me. Often, it’s questioning.
Working in clay grounds me within and shifts me out of my mind into the still place beyond. From there, I can process the intangible without thoughts or words, and allow new truths, new perspectives, new understandings to unfold. It challenges my own narrative, catalyzes insights, and creates a tangible expression, reflection and reminder, of that new consciousness. Is it possible to catalyze—growth, tolerance, understanding—through functional art? Can a cup conjure compassion? Can a bowl console? Can a plate serve grace? Can clay embody consciousness?
The Fireweed Studio
Shelly Safir Marolt, painter, Aspen, CO
Though my subject matter is universal my subjects are often closer to home. I often use family members as models or subjects as jumping off points. I was an oil painter for 25 years. When I moved into a smaller home studio, oil paint wasn’t safe to use anymore. I ventured into acrylics. At first I felt like a beginner painter all over again. Everything felt new. I loved exploring different techniques and substances that can be added to acrylics. I’m still evolving every time I walk into my studio to paint but this is where I am today.