Agency, Industry, Infinity: Robin Jebavy and Rosemary Ollison
April 1 - May 28, 2016
Oil on canvas, 84 x 72 in.
Acrylic on canvas, 68 x 41 in.
Oil on canvas, 84 x 72 in.
Portrait Society is pleased to introduce two artists, Robin Jebavy and Rosemary Ollison, in an exhibition that explores domestically situated productivity.
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Robin Jebavy (b. 1981), who earned her MFA from the University of Iowa in 2008, creates large scale, complex paintings from still life arrangements of glassware. Jebavy repeats, enlarges, and multiples the clear reflective objects into ornate, pulsating, compositions. The domestic and private realm of glassware, with homey notions of preciousness and utilitarian beauty, becomes induced with a visual and mathematical language that generates increasing expansive and abstract visual fields. Through the repetition and expansion of patterns, Jebavy’s compositions move from an initial simple reference of still life objects toward something infinite and enveloping. Her work was most recently featured in a solo exhibition at the Lynden Sculpture Garden in March 2015.
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Rosemary Ollison began making art in 1984 and also works from a domestic ideology. Similar to Jebavy, she collects and arranges things: glass, bracelets, leather, beads, bones and jewelry. Ollison then repurposes these materials into sculptural veils of pattern and beauty. Ollison has re-designed her small apartment with ingenious compositions of fabric rugs, quilts and pillows; towering duct tape sculptures; hanging curtains of woven leather; and inventive drawings. She also designs clothing, writes poetry and actively keeps journals. Allison says she creates in dialog with God: “When I am creating I am satisfied, I am free! I no longer just exist, I am alive! I do not feel worthless, hopeless, alone, sad, afraid, ashamed, guilty, down hearted, unloved, uncared for, doubtful, and discontented and the like. . .I can see the real me in my works.”
A four-channel video installation by Milwaukee’s Ted Brusubardis will accompany Ollison’s exhibition.
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Artist Bios
Robin Jebavy received a B.A. in Visual Arts and Philosophy from Bennington College in 2004, and an M.F.A. in Painting and Drawing, with a Sculpture minor, from the University of Iowa in 2008. She has received many awards, fellowships and grants for her work. Jebavy has recently been offered a residency grant at Vermont Studio Center, a residency fellowship at PLAYA in Summer Lake, Oregon, and was selected as a Robert Johnson Fellow at VCCA for a 2014 summer residency and was awarded a Mary L. Nohl Suitcase Export Grant to fund her solo show at ICON Gallery in Fairfield, IA. She has also had solo exhibitions in Iowa City and Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Milwaukee, WI. and in Waterford and Waukesha, Wisconsin. Her paintings have been included in group exhibitions in Des Moines, Fairfield, and Iowa City, Iowa; and in Delafield, Kenosha, Milwaukee, and Waukesha, Wisconsin. Robin Jebavy maintains a studio in Waukesha and teaches drawing at Carroll University.
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Rosemary Ollison is a self-taught artist who lives in Milwaukee, WI. She began making art in 1984 and for the next 25 years, explored numerous media. She has exhibited her work at the UWM Union Gallery, Indianapolis Public Library, Walker’s Point Center for the Arts, Uihlein Peters Gallery, Peltz Gallery, and Alphons Gallery. This is her first exhibition at Portrait Society Gallery.
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Ted Brusubardis is a trained percussionist, artist and composer. He earned a BFA from UWM in Economics, and Art & Technology. He uses formal elements of sound design, documentary filmmaking and music composition in his multi media pieces. His work depicts the investigation of identity, through constructed narratives. Brusubardis’ art has been presented locally and nationally, including the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, Walkers Point Center for the Arts and Whittier College in Los Angeles. This is his second video installation at Portrait Society.
Press
Review, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Mary Louise Schumacher
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Review, Shepherd Express, Kat Kneevers
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Interview with Robin Jebavy, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Jessica Schafer
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