355

Exhibition Opening Reception: Friday, January 27, 6-8pm

355 is collaborative installation by MFA candidate in Jewelry + Metals, Alexis Spina, and MFA candidate in Printmaking + Book Arts, Katherine Miller. The original 9,000 square foot piece highlights 2041 individual objects left behind after the closure of a 20th century textile mill in Athens, Georgia. Spina and Miller collected discarded objects of industry and human presence from the buildings and property of the mill site which were then intuitively arranged in a grid formation, covering the entire area of one of the mill’s warehouses. This exhibition, with additional work by Stephen Parks, an MFA candidate in Visual Communication & Design at VCU, rearranges the objects in the gallery giving them another life while serving as an access point for discussing architectural and object value, environmentally ethical reuse, physical labor, gentrification, and local history.

As a Pittsburgh native, Alexis Spina’s work is strongly influenced by industrial and residential architecture, focusing primarily on the interior/exterior of spaces that have been left behind. She received her BFA in metalsmithing form Edinboro University of Pennsylvania in 2015 and is currently working towards her MFA in jewelry and metalwork at The University of Georgia.

Katherine Miller is an artist from St. Louis, Missouri, and received her BFA in Studio Art with a specialization in Printmaking from Southeast Missouri State University. She is currently a MFA Candidate in Printmaking & Book Arts at the University of Georgia and makes print-based work focusing on color and perception.

Stephen Parks attended Edinboro University of Pennsylvania for his BFA with a concentration in Applied Media. He is currently a first-year Visual Communication/Design MFA candidate at Virginia Commonwealth University where his pursuits involve creating multidimensional work using found materials and the historical identity of objects.