Art & Art History
Department

Artists-in-Residence 2010-11 (Visual Artists)

Karley Klopfenstein / Ryan Browning

Karley Klopfenstein
September 15 – November 15, 2010

Karley Klopfenstein (SMC class of ’97 Art and Sociology/Anthropology) studied sculpture at Virginia Commonwealth University (’97-’99). Following graduate school, she moved to Key West, Florida where she developed and ran Sculpture Key West, a non-profit organization that presented an internationally recognized annual outdoor sculpture exhibition.

As the Director of Sculpture Key West, Karley had contact with some of the most interesting artists and curators working in the field of contemporary sculpture. She continued to develop her own work making large-scale temporary fabric works in the beautiful tropical environment of South Florida, and showing locally in Key West and at her gallery, Charest-Weinberg Gallery in Miami. She was featured in Art in America, December ‘08 in an article by Paula Harper. In March 2009 her work was a hit at the art fair SCOPE NYC, and she sold out the show.

In 2009 she was awarded the South Florida Cultural Consortium grant, an unrestricted cash grant of $15,000. She used this opportunity to move to New York in June ’09 and devote a year entirely to studio work.

In October 2010, she will have an exhibition at the Boyden Gallery at St. Mary’s College, where she will also be the artist in residence from September-November. During this residency, she plans to give a lecture, visit artists’ studios, teach a workshop on “Guerilla Crochet” and complete a large-scale outdoor tapestry project relating to historic St. Mary’s City.

Klopfenstein’s current artistic work involves the creation of tapestries and sculptural fiber work that reflects political/social concerns. She draws upon the richness of fiber art, decoration and traditional American craft techniques as a timeless means of cultural expression. Her works also reflect a dark humor-- Carpet Bombs, Macramé Machine Guns, Freedom Rugs. She is currently working on a half-scale M1 Abrams Military Tank covered entirely in a hand made carpet designed with a tribal rug pattern from the North of Afghanistan. She has spent the past 18 months devoted entirely to this project, titled Camouflage Tank. It will be debuted at the Boyden Gallery in a two-person show with Anja Marais in an exhibition that opens on October 25.

Artist’s website: http://www.karleyklopfenstein.com.

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Ryan Browning
Spring 2011

"My art practice revolves around traditional concepts of space, new perceptual experiences like video games and virtual worlds, and the role images play in the construction of memory. Most often when I am creating work, I think of the process as being interactive: making decisions and actions as if I’m ‘playing’ the medium by exploring the context of my imagery and it’s visual possibilities, many of which are also influenced by the aesthetic of games. Through a free process of adding and removing objects, spaces, and visual elements, each work develops a unique formal character, much like the procedural development of a virtual character or setting through game-play."

Born in 1981 in Houston, Texas, Ryan Browning is a painter and interdisciplinary artist who currently lives in Frederick, Maryland. He holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary art from the Mount Royal School of Art at the Maryland Institute College of Art, as well as a BA in Art History and Curatorial Studies from Brigham Young University. His paintings, sculptures, and digital works have been exhibited nationally and internationally, including recent shows at Allegra Laviola Gallery in New York, Nudashank Gallery and Gallery 4 in Baltimore, and the Hodson Gallery at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland. In 2010 he was awarded a residency at Harold Arts in rural Ohio to build a permanent architectural structure, and was the recipient of the Trawick Young Artist Award in 2008. In 2004 he received an ORCA Mentored Research Grant, which funded travel to Armenia while studying Soviet and Armenian architectural iconography.

For more information on the artist: http://www.ryanbrowning.com.

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