2008 Exhibitions

Mercy Center at Madison Fall 2008 Exhibition

Baskets and Masks – A Celebration of African Craft
October 6, 2008 - January 2, 2009

An extraordinary selection of museum quality, hand woven baskets from Botswana supplied by Originals from Africa and culturally profound African masks created by artist Johnny Mikiki Bombenza. 

Originals from Africa:  The most famous of all the craft products of Botswana, South Africa is the hand woven basket. As an integral part of the Botswana agricultural culture, baskets have been made and used for thousands of years. Today, the baskets of Botswana are equal to the world’s finest art forms and are considered to be collectors items.  The main producers of baskets are the women of the Bayei and Hambukushu tribes in northwestern Botswana. The baskets displayed here are created by the 24 women of Etsha Weavers Group and take
six weeks to complete. This complicated art form has been passed
down from generation to generation and pieces are truly one-of-a-kind.

Johnny Mikiki Bombenza is a gifted artist from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central Africa who has devoted his career to creating beautiful and culturally profound African masks.  Apparent in each mask is not only a ‘story’ but the significance of spiritual belief. Each mask has “a reality that is not tangible”or other worldly. His masks talk of war, marriage, death, hunting, baptism, widow’s grief, the sun’s blistering heat, and the lineage of the village chief. These masks are spoken to, celebrated and ceremonial.  They are not just works of art; they serve a very important role in the Congolese culture.  They embody the spirits of loved ones who have passed away, sages who warn of danger and of good hunting and fishing. They are meant to be spoken to and they speak back. They are the voices from within each of us.

This exhibition was in support of Mercy Center's Fair Earth Bazaar that took place in November 2008.

  


Mercy Center at Madison Summer 2008 Exhibition:

A Prophet's Ink
Drawings by Brian Kavanagh, Catholic Worker Artist
July 7 - September 23, 2008

A Conversation with Brian Kavanagh
Gallery Talk
Sunday, September 14, 2008 at 3:00pm
Mary Daly Art Gallery at Mercy Center

The artwork of Brian Kavanagh, best known for his provocative illustrations in the bimonthly Hartford Catholic Worker, will be featured in Mercy Center at Madison’s Mary C. Daly Art Gallery July 7 through September 30, 2008.

Fidelity to the biblical call for justice can take many forms. Here it is in ink drawn on paper. For some fourteen years - mostly on the pages of the Hartford Catholic Worker newsletter - Brian Kavanagh has made outrage and sorrow and hope powerfully visible.

The thought provoking and powerful exhibition features 24 pieces of Brian’s art, dating from 1997 to the present.  Mercy Center is honored to be presenting this collection as Kavanagh does not usually exhibit his work.

The Hartford Catholic Worker, established in November 1993, is published by the St. Martin De Porres Catholic Worker community in the north end of Hartford. According to its website, www.hartfordcatholicworker.org, the group is focused on “working and praying for an end to violence and poverty.”  

Mercy Center at Madison Spring 2008 Exhibition:

              Ellen Hoverkamp  -  "Her Neighbors Garden"            
             April 4 - June 30, 2008


            ARTIST STATEMENT:

   “Scanner Photography” involves using a flatbed scanner as an imaging device. In other words, the scanner is my camera. My compositions are an unconventional form of still–life, meant to preserve a souvenir of the harvest and of the day.

 First, I arrange cut flowers and or vegetables, sometimes combined with shells, ribbons or feathers directly onto the scanner’s glass platen. Next, I work in Photoshop to adjust color, sharpness and clean any haze and lint from the digital image. I never retouch past the point of being true to life. All objects are on one real layer. My compositions are usually not digitally assembled from separately scanned images. My floral compositions are informed and inspired by traditional botanical illustration, particularly “Language of Flowers” bouquets. The Vegetables and other food used in my arrangements are locally and organically grown.

 My exploration of alternative photographic processes began in 1989, using reprographic equipment, particularly the color laser copier to document floral based ephemeral compositions. My series entitled, “Garden Delights” was featured in an invitational group show at the Hilles Gallery of Creative Arts Workshop, New Haven, CT in 1991. I have also been an art teacher for West Haven Public Schools since 1978. Printmaking, painting and video editing occupied my art making interests until a major change in family responsibilities led me to find a way to make art at home.

I began scanning floral arrangements from the flowers from my neighbors, family and friends. My first website portfolio of this work appeared in 1998. An article in our local newspaper spread the word of my scanning project, leading many gardeners to invite me to pick their flowers for my art in exchange for a few personalized note cards, documenting that season’s harvest.  This generosity continues today and the “neighborhood” has certainly expanded.  I feel very fortunate now to be part of a community of wonderful growers and gardeners, all of us as custodians of nature’s beauty.

To view more work created by Ellen Hoverkamp, please visit:  http://www.myneighborsgarden.com