Supporting Women Artists Project (SWAP)
We are so excited to introduce our four SWAP artists for the 2006-2007 inagural year. Each of these artists has proven to be dedicated to both their work and to the development of young women in the arts. We are so thrilled to kick off the program with such devoted and creative women!
Claire Brassil
Claire Brassil creates delicate pencil and gouache drawings of surrealscenes based on family photos and tales of everyday life. Suggesting memories of a life already lived, the scenarios are psychologically charged
and often suffused with a sense of melancholy. The images give an immediate
sense of playfulness and innocence, that upon closer inspection reveal
complex relationships and power dynamics.
Claire received an MFA in Painting from Cranbrook Academy of Art and a BA in
Women’s Studies from Vassar College. She currently shows work with Kathleen
Cullen Fine Arts in New York City.
Kara D’Angelo
Kara’s work explores the use of abstracted structures to suggest the human form. These gestural interpretations become a remnant of someone or something that is absent. The apparitions evoke a moment in time in which a sense of movement occurs beyond the body. The viewer’s own imagination can explore the potential of each informational vessel.
Basic hand construction techniques are used to assemble simple materials such as cloth, paper or wire. Multiple units are constructed and then combined for lyrical portrayals. Each time these individual units are configured together it is an impromptu act. The completed whole reveals the manipulation of planes and spatial articulations. This allows for a constant change of interpretation, which becomes an integral part in the perception of each work.
Kara received an undergraduate degree from the Savannah College of Art and Design, and Master of Fine Arts degree from The University of California, Davis. Her work has been represented by the Bettcher Gallery in Miami, Florida since 2004.
Francis Holstrom
Fran Holstrom’s paintings expose the raw nature of paint while holding fast to the history of abstract art. Working from series to series in a search for the every shifting “truth” in abstraction, her inventive techniques inhabit a middle ground in which we are uncertain whether the image is being built or is in a state of erosion. The artist is inspired by her childhood spent on a sustainable farm in Wisconsin and the urban decay of her current surroundings in New York City. Melding two drastically different experiences, she seeks to uncover a unique language in paint.
She holds an MFA in painting from Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute and a BA in interdisciplinary visual arts from the University of Washington in Seattle. Her work has been featured in many group shows throughout the country. She currently shows with the Baumgartner gallery in New York City.
Elizabeth Schuppe
Elizabeth has been influenced by the Abstract Expressionism of the 1950’s. Her work is an exploration of color and space. Letting color dictate, she creates atmospheres both harmonic and dissonant.
Elizabeth has a bachelor’s degree in Studio Art from Skidmore College. She currently lives and works in New York City.