Fugitive


Fugitive
four-person exhibition in Astoria, Oregon at AVA Gallery
September 14 – October 6, 2019

Jesse Jones, Jessica Schleif and Dawn Stetzel 

With the word fugitive as a prompt, three women connect through walking, dialoging and gathering. Discarded objects from north coast waterways, trash piles, and a science lab are the basis for the installations. Each artist brings their own practice to the task of creating sculpture and meaning from limitless garbage and marine debris.

FUGITIVE
noun
1. a person who is fleeing, from prosecution, intolerable circumstances

adjective
2. having taken flight, or run away
3. fleeting; transitory; elusive
6. wandering, roving, or vagabond
(www.dictionary.com)

FUGITIVE as it pertains to plastics
Cascading Exposure as Plastic Degrades
“Most plastic additives are not bound to the polymer matrix and easily leach into the surrounding environment, including air, water, food, or body tissues. As plastic particles continue to degrade, new surface areas are exposed, allowing continued leaching of additives from the core to the surface of the particle in the environment and the human body.”
(Center for International Environmental Law www.ciel.org/plasticandhealth Feb 2019)

Opening Reception Saturday Sept 14th 5-8pm

AVA Astoria Visual Arts Gallery
1000 Duane Street (on the corner of 10th and Duane at street-level in the restored historic Van Dusen Building)
Astoria, Oregon 97103
503-741-9694

Thurs 3pm-6pm
Fri & Sat 12pm-5pm
Sun 11am-3pm

Second Saturday Art Walk open until 8pm
additional viewing hours are open by appointment, please call 503-440-3007

photos below are of walks in margin areas along the coast connecting and collecting trash

after talking and collecting midstream in our process we all 3 realized this quote had an importance/relevance in what we had been thinking and feeling grounded at this time and in this place

“Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously headed for early success, but rather an ability to work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed. The more unpromising the situation in which we demonstrate hope, the deeper that hope is. Hope is not he same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.”
Disturbing the Peace by Václav Havel

click here for biographies and art statements from all 3 artists

click here for photos of studio process in making Pack and Kayak Catapult

AVA Astoria Visual Arts Gallery
1000 Duane Street
Astoria, Oregon USA