VOICES: I REMEMBER

Voices: I Remember

Group Show Artist: Mimi Czajka Graminski

Guild Hall Gallery

June 5 - November, 2021

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Curated by Bibiana Huang Matheis

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“A man's work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened.” Albert Camus

 

An homage to her child-self, Graminski returns to first loves – dresses and drawing. During her childhood she discovered the joy in making something with her hands, creating something where there was nothing before. Slowly, leftover scraps of wool, fake fur, and trim from family friends who worked in the garment district came to life as distinctively shaped doll clothes. They were inspired by everyday inexpensive cotton house dresses her mother wore, outfits her older sister made: a skirt with a matching green plaid cape, a big orange sweater. Vivid memories still circulate of the grass-green, red and pink dotted-swiss dress made by a cousin visiting from Sicily. A ten-year-old Graminski watched, fascinated, as her older cousin took her measurements and made a pattern out of newspaper. A day later, a dress magically appeared.

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Drawing, then as now, is taking refuge in the meditative quality of creation; shutting out all else, processing memories and current happenings. Harkening back, the process is once again uninhibited, without rules, playful, led by an inner voice, instinctual. Current and past thoughts and feelings swirl around and land in the work, creating a form of completion.

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The elements in the installation are inextricable links between different times. Each piece of clothing captures the whisper of a person; each drawing - a point in time, a mood, a snapshot of an experience. And together they form one version of identity.

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ARTISTS RECEPTION - June 5, 2021 - 1:00 - 3:00 pm

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Exhibit is open during museum hours:

Wednesday - Saturday, 12 to 4pm