Melissa Airy's "Come Home Safe" at the Quad City Arts Center -- through August 12.
Exhibit: Through Friday, August 12
Opening Reception: Friday, July 8, 6 – 8 p.m.
Quad City Arts Center, 1715 Second Avenue, Rock Island IL
Fascinating works by two artists with degrees from the University of Iowa are currently showcasing their talents at the Quad City Arts Center, with the Rock Island venue, through August 12, housing multi-media installations of Melissa Airy and oversize, jewelry-like sculptures by Ali Hval.
Airy holds a bachelor of fine arts in performance art and a bachelor of arts in art education from the University of Northern Iowa, and received a master of fine arts – with a major emphasis in intermedia art and a secondary emphasis in sculpture – from the University of Iowa in 2020. A lecturer in studio arts at the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point who previously taught at all levels of art education before entering graduate school, Airy, in her artist statement, says, "I have been on the quest to find a deep sense of home for far too long. I yearned for a location to settle in as home or maybe a person to act as home. I wanted a direction to follow to bring me the sense of familiarity of home. I hoped to possess a deep awareness of self to feel at home regardless of my external surroundings. After years of searching abstractly and conceptually, far from the home I grew up in, the pandemic made me settle.
"I stopped physically searching," Airy continues, "but never stopped emotionally seeking what I needed most. Instead of finding home like I had originally desired, I decided to start creating the home needed. Regardless of how settled I may feel, the questions remained the same. 'Have I really found it? Did I take the long road to get here? Is this my final settling place?' Regardless of the destinations of home, it has always been the signs, the signals, and the journey that point me in the right direction that hold more significance than the final destination."
Hval graduated summa cum laude with honors from the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa in 2015, earning a BFA in painting and drawing. and at the University of Iowa, she received her MFA with honors in painting and drawing with a minor concentration in ceramics. In her artist statement, Hval says, "My work is a balancing act: one between the sensuality of forms and the innocence and playfulness of the materials I use: sparkling rhinestones, oversized plastic gems, feathery pom-poms, sumptuous fabrics, glossy vinyl, and liquid latex. I am interested in how women collectively and individually discover their sexuality through clothing, experiences, and relationships. My work is an ongoing attempt to explore ways to embrace my sexuality in ways that are liberating opposed to limiting and based solely on conditioned social and familial expectation. There is some in-between area that exists between these two extreme points on a spectrum, a balance I unearth in my work to understand the relationship to my body."
She continues, "The sculptural wall pieces I make are an unconventional marriage between era-specific jewelry, bodily forms, objects of pleasure, and home decor. They embrace, highlight, and empower sensuality and femininity rather than hiding or denying it, as well as acknowledging the awkwardness, humor, and performance that can come with it. My pieces are interdisciplinary, joining the craft-based mediums of ceramics and fabric with painting and sculpture. I use ceramics in an unconventional way where I begin a piece by creating a high-fired ceramic component then add rhinestones, fabric, and eyeshadow mixed into paint to create a finished piece. The forms I use reflect my interest in adornment and the relentless critique and politicization of the body: they imply bodies, brooches, earrings, and nipple tassels, among other adornments.”
An opening reception for the Melissa Airy and Ali Hval exhibits will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. on July 8, with patrons invited to view the works, meet the artists, enjoy refreshments, and experience performance art created in response to Airy's quest to find a deep sense of home. The exhibits themselves will be on display through August 12, with regular gallery hours Mondays through Fridays 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free, and more information is available by calling (309)793-1213 and visiting QuadCityArts.com.
