Ravens, Crows Are Subjects of Gallery Art Show
The work of award-winning visual artist Karen Bondarchuk is on display in the Flora Kirsh Beck Gallery at Alma College.
Bondarchuk’s exhibit runs through Feb. 9th. Admission is free and open to the public. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays. A gallery reception takes place at 7 p.m. Feb. 9.
As a visual artist, Bondarchuk’s work ranges from sculpture and drawing to video and book making. Her current works center on ravens and crows as the subjects for her artwork. The sculptures are assembled from scavenged tire rubber from the sides of Michigan’s Interstate 94, while her drawings range from ink to charcoal to mixed media.
Artwork by Karen Bondarchuk
Her work with birds “uses scale to convey the notion of these intelligent creatures being ‘bigger than us,’ beyond our comprehension, and worthy of our attention,” states Bondarchuk in her artist’s statement.
The scavenged sculptures have received special attention due to their unusual materials.
“The material reinforces both the deathly prostration of these birds and the faltering automobile industry,” states Bondarchuk. “The human scale of the prone sculptures is a reminder of our own vulnerability, while also evoking a cyclical sense of life and death in that the dead material is given new life and form.”
Bondarchuk’s artwork has been exhibited widely throughout the United States and Canada, earning a place in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Canada along with inclusion in the yearlong, cross-continental Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum’s “Birds in Art” exhibition.
Her pieces are meant to “explore the artificiality that often defines our relationship with the wild,” states Bondarchuk, “and the reality that most encounters with wildlife are by human design.”
A native of Canada, Bondarchuk received her MFA in sculpture from The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, and her BFA in sculpture and video from NSCAD University (formerly the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design) in Halifax, Canada.
Bondarchuk is currently the foundation area coordinator, and an assistant professor of drawing and sculpture, at the Frostic School of Art at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, where she has taught since 1997.
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Posted: Tue, January 17th, 2012 at 1:42PM
