Reflection Gallery to host reception for "Passweird" exhibit Nov. 6

HANCOCK -- The Finlandia University Reflection Gallery will be hosting "PASSWEIRD," a solo exhibition showcasing the work of illustrator Matthew Carlson. The work will be on display Nov. 6 - 28.

Poster for "Passweird," a solo exhibit opening Thursday, Nov. 6, at Finlandia's Reflection Gallery in the Jutila Center. (Poster courtesy Finlandia University)

On display will be a series of illustrations completed for the project passweird.com, a collaborative effort between Carlson and web developer Cody Peterson (Portland, Ore.) The site will randomly generate you a distinctive and 'weird' personalized password. In addition to the full color illustrations, the website will be on display offering an interactive component for the audience.

An opening reception for the exhibit will be held at the gallery at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 6. The reception is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

Matthew Carlson is a creative working out of Omaha, Nebraska. He is currently employed at design firm Grain and Mortar. He has lent his services to an abundance of projects ranging in scope from apparel design, business branding, event promotion, and the non-profit sector. His skills as a talented illustrator have landed him clients like Google, RedBull, and Springboard for the Arts.

Carlson holds a Bachelor Fine Arts degree from the University of Nebraska Omaha, where he studied painting and drawing. In addition to design work, he has been heavily involved in the Omaha Arts scene, both exhibiting in, and curating shows at a variety of venues. In addition he also works freelance under the moniker Plaid Mtn.

The Finlandia University Reflection Gallery is in the Jutila Center, 200 Michigan St. in Hancock.

Reflection Gallery to host "Chardin and Lord: Selected Works" through April 30

HANCOCK -- The Finlandia University Reflection Gallery in Hancock's Jutila Center will present a multi-disciplinary exhibit of work by artists Carrice Chardin and Erica Lord from April 4 to April 30, 2013.

"Chardin and Lord: Selected Works" includes viewer-interactive sculpture, installation, photography, performance, and video.

An opening reception for the exhibit will take place at the gallery from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 4. The artists will present a brief talk about their work. The reception is free and open to the public; refreshments will be served.

Carrice Chardin and Erica Lord have much in common: both have ties to Finlandia University and the Copper Country, both left the area to continue their educations, both have exhibited nationally and internationally, and both have recently returned to reside in the Copper Country.

Carrice Chardin: Caves (Removals Series), Media: Mixed - polymer clay, boar hair, led lights, wood, glass, mirrors, hardware, shadows, 2010. (Photos courtesy Finlandia University)

Chardin describes her work as viewer-interactive installations, which become "uniquely complete for each person as they enter and take on their own role within the piece. Through this interaction, each viewer’s history and perspective become integral elements in the interpretation of my work."

In her work, Lord explores issues of representation and identity, stating, "Through my work, I explore worlds in which translation is suspended -- the space beyond singular identities -- where worlds collide, merge, or resist each other."

Erica Lord: I Tan to Look More Native, Giclée print, 2006.

To address this mixed or multiple identity, Lord employs art, performance, and ritual. She says she is discovering ways to "find a root and affirm my position as a shifting self, understanding that in order to survive, identity and culture cannot be static."

Chardin received a bachelor of fine arts in illustration from Finlandia University in 2008 and completed a master of fine arts in sculpture at the University of the Arts, Philadelphia. She has exhibited throughout the United States, including at the Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery and the Hamilton Hall Gallery in Philadelphia, and the Sharjah Art Museum in the United Arab Emirates. Chardin resides in Hancock and teaches drawing, painting, and sculpture at Finlandia University.

Lord received a bachelor of arts from Carleton College, Northfield, Minn., and a master of fine arts in sculpture and photography at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has exhibited at numerous galleries and museums, including the Smithsonian Institution in New York and Washington D.C., the Musée du Quai Branly, Paris, and the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario. Lord taught at Finlandia in 2012; she resides in Houghton.

The Reflection Gallery is located on the second level of Finlandia’s Jutila Center campus, 200 Michigan Street, Hancock.

For additional information, call 906-487-7500 or e-mail finlandiareflectiongallery@gmail.com.

Reflection Gallery to host art by Kristin (Wanhala) Stanchina through Sept. 28

HANCOCK -- The Finlandia University Reflection Gallery, Hancock, will host an exhibition of paintings by Upper Peninsula artist Kristin (Wanhala) Stanchina through Sept. 28, 2012.

Artwork by Kristin (Wanhala) Stanchina. (Photos courtesy Finlandia University)

An opening reception for the artist will take place from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the gallery on Thursday, Sept. 6. The reception is free and open to the public; refreshments will be served.

"I am from" is a collection of work that illustrates Stanchina’s past, present, and future. Stanchina, from Tapiola, Mich, is 100 percent Finnish.

"I was interested in exploring what that means," Stanchina said of her Finnish ethnicity, adding that because Finnish traits include stoicism and a certain level of privacy, she found that collecting family photos and memories was a challenging undertaking.

As she sorted through old family photographs, exploring hazy memories and poking through her family’s history, Stanchina says she discovered a better sense of her past and present, although the journey was not an easy one.

"A lot of family history is lost, or half-recollected, simply because the Finnish are often so fiercely guarded that family secrets are not revealed, even to one another," she says.

To elucidate the snippets of family history she discovered, Stanchina used paint, collage, photography, and repurposed objects.

 Artwork by Kristin (Wanhala) Stanchina.

"I seek to invoke a sense of the past and my imagery is sometimes vague and obscured -- the way a memory often is," she explains of her artwork.

In the exhibit, Stanchina notes that objects, events, and places are all of equal importance "because that’s what our memories consist of: a jumbled assortment of imagery that forms a sense of who we were, who we are, and who we will yet become."

"I am from" includes imagery from a 1970s childhood and from family life in general. Artwork topics include depictions of the 1913 Italian Hall disaster, as well the aftermath. Stanchina’s paintings are in black and white, color, and found patterns of faded fabrics.

Stanchina spent most of her childhood in Houghton and attended high school in Iron Mountain. She holds a bachelor of fine arts, with concentrations in drawing and painting, from Northern Michigan University, Marquette. She has been teaching art at Iron Mountain Public Schools since 2001. Stanchina resides in Iron Mountain with her husband and daughter.

The Reflection Gallery is located on the second level of Finlandia’s Jutila Center campus, 200 Michigan Street, Hancock, MI 49930.

For additional information, e-mail finlandiareflectiongallery@gmail.com or call 906-487-7500.

Graphic design exhibit at Reflection Gallery in March

HANCOCK -- The Finlandia University Reflection Gallery, Hancock, will host "The History and DNA of a Designer," a graphic design exhibit by Robert Grame, March 1 to March 31, 2012.

Dallas Community Lighthouse Proposal Designs by Robert Grame. (Image courtesy Finlandia University)

An opening reception for the designer will take place at the Reflection Gallery from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Thursday, March 1. The reception is free and open to the public; refreshments will be served.

As a practicing designer, Grame believes strongly in the social and ethical responsibility of design. He is driven to broaden connections and develop new relationships in regard to non-profit and not-for-profit design.

"As a design generalist, I believe in pursuing balance in terms of creative output between industry related activities (print/interactive publication work, information architecture and identity) and personal experimentation (digital illustration, motion and typography)," Grame explains.

Grame’s experimental/expressionistic efforts are focused on creating statements about typography and producing digital illustrations. His personal experimentation fuels the network of ideas and aspects of his professional activities and informs and strengthens his efforts in industry.

Robert Grame is the head of the Graphic Design degree program at Finlandia University. He has taught at the University of Texas at Arlington, the University of South Dakota, the University of Wyoming, and Kansas State University. He has held industry positions with FryeAllen, Inc., an advertising agency in Topeka, Kan., and with KSN News Channel 3 of Wichita, Kan.

Grame received a master of fine arts from Kansas State University, Manhattan. He has completed national and regional design activities with organizations including the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA), the Jentel (Wyoming) Artist Residency Program, the U.S. National Park Service, among others.

Grame has received awards including the Sixth District Case Bronze Award for the 2000 Department of Theatre and Dance Film Festival Poster, and he was Runner-up Recipient of the "Millennial Design Contest" awarded by Adobe Systems, Inc.

Grame’s work has been exhibited internationally in numerous juried and invitational venues, including shows at The Smithsonian Institute Arts and Industries Building, Washington D.C.; the Luxun Academy of Fine Arts, Senyang, China; and the "United Designs" Biennial International Design Exhibition in Amman, Jordan, among others.

The Reflection Gallery is located on the second level of Finlandia’s Jutila Center campus, 200 Michigan St., Hancock.

For additional information, please contact Yueh-mei Cheng, professor of studio arts, at 906-487-7375 or e-mail FinlandiaReflectionGallery@gmail.com.

"Art with a Repurpose" to open Dec. 1 at Reflection Gallery

HANCOCK -- The Finlandia University Reflection Gallery will present a juried exhibit of artwork by Finlandia students, faculty, and staff Dec. 1, 2011, to January 29, 2012.

The exhibit, "Art with a Repurpose," is co-presented by the Reflection Gallery and the Finlandia Campus Enrichment Committee.

An opening reception will take place from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1, at the Reflection Gallery. The reception is open to the public and refreshments will be served.

The artwork in the juried exhibit will use repurposed materials in a creative way. Materials may include magazines, water bottles, scrap metal, and other repurposed materials.

"In this day and age, manufactured goods should be used to their full potential," says Yueh-mei Cheng, Finlandia professor of studio arts. "With this exhibit, the Reflection Gallery wants to encourage students and others to see purpose in previously discarded products."

The Reflection Gallery is on the second level of Finlandia’s Jutila Center campus, 200 Michigan St., Hancock.

For information, e-mail finlandiareflectiongallery@gmail.com or call Yueh-mei Cheng at 906-487-7375.

Margaret Parker’s “Shirts and Skins” at Reflection Gallery, Nov. 2 - 27

"Army Time," by Margaret Parker, is part of her sculpture and installation exhibit, "Shirts and Skins," at the Finlandia University Reflection Gallery Nov. 2 - 27, 2011. (Photos courtesy Finlandia University)

HANCOCK -- The Finlandia University Reflection Gallery, Hancock, will host a sculpture and installation exhibit, "Shirts and Skins," by artist Margaret Parker, Nov. 2 to Nov. 27, 2011.

An opening reception for the artist will take place at the Reflection Gallery from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 3. The reception is free and open to the public; refreshments will be served.

Parker will also conduct a public workshop while she is on campus, working with students and community members to create a second installation in a first floor lounge at Finlandia Hall, the university’s residence hall on Summit Street.

The drop-in workshop, sponsored by the Finlandia Campus Enrichment Committee, will take place from 9 a.m. to noon, and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on both Tuesday and Wednesday, Nov. 1 and Nov. 2.

To make this installation activity possible, the Reflection Gallery needs t-shirts -- lots of t-shirts -- in any condition. Drop-off locations are in Finlandia Hall, Room 211, and at the Jutila Center campus. Shirts must be dropped off by Nov. 1, or workshop participants can bring them the day of the first workshop.

The Finlandia Hall community installation will also be on display through Nov. 27.

Parker’s Reflection Gallery space installation will reference the form of a human torso. The Finlandia Hall installation will create an archway.

"Wounded," by Margaret Parker.

"Since 9/11, I've been exploring what it means to be human in a global age and what kind of space can help us create an understanding of global humanity," Parker writes in her artist statement. "What consumes me when I make art is how to express these themes that are so complex and so pressing. If art is not attempting to engage these themes, it is not reflecting our deepest lives."

According to Parker, "Perfection in art doesn’t really interest me; I’m more interested in something that reaches for what’s hard to say, something more rough and more human. T-shirts have given me a way to show how individuals have been utterly altered by two wars in the Mideast and the era of terrorism."

"Abu-Ghraib" by Margaret Parker.

Viewer participation is very important to Parker’s intent.

She explains, "Once the viewer sees the piece is made from a T-shirt, they must figure out how it was taken apart. I’m very interested in that spatial reasoning because it pulls the viewer backwards into the creative process, making an image that reverberates in the memory."

Parker has a bachelor of fine arts from the University of Michigan School of Art, Ann Arbor. She has created sculptures and art installations in Michigan, New York, and Maine. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is included in the collections of the United States Capitol, the State Department Art Bank, the Maine Maritime Academy, University of Michigan Rackham Graduate School, Chelsea Medical Center, and many private collections. Visit Parker’s website at www.margaretparkerstudio.com.

Parker helped found Art Pro Tem, a community-based non-profit organization established in 2004 that sponsors experimental art in non-traditional spaces. She is a founding member of the Women’s Caucus for Art, Michigan Chapter; a member of the Arts Alliance of Washtenaw County; and has served on the City of Ann Arbor Public Art Commission since 2004, chairing the commission from 2006 to 2010.

The Reflection Gallery is located on the second level of Finlandia’s Jutila Center campus, 200 Michigan St., Hancock.

For additional information, please contact Yueh-mei Cheng, professor of studio arts, at 906-487-7375 or e-mail FinlandiaReflectionGallery@gmail.com.