Exhibition Dates: November 25th- Dembember 1st, 2024 (visible 24 hours/day)
Artist Reception: Monday, November 25th, 7-9pm
Artist Statement and Bio:
Rosie Ganske, born in San Antonio, Texas, is a mixed media artist working in drawing, collage and upcycling. While pursuing a BFA in studio art at the University of Texas at Austin, she has shown locally in group exhibitions at the Visual Arts Center on campus, in East Austin at Austin Bouldering Project, and at Icosa Collective with her printmaking class. Interested in gaining all-around, and especially art installation experience, she is a current intern at Icosa Collective.
My art practice has stages of play and meditation. I keep my childlike curiosity and joy of discovery alive in my search for, and experimentation with, new artmaking materials. As an elementary-schooler, I played a witch and spent time with my coven of neighborhood friends collecting natural materials to brew potions that we’d use on our brothers. I’m still in love with collecting, be it plants, wrappers or discarded items on thestreet that I see potential in, and hope I can make something transformed and magical out of. It’s a joy to find ways to reuse byproducts of everyday processes and materials that have been deemed trash. Guided by material properties, my approach varies, though I often consider translucency, light, layering, texture and pattern. Transformation of a specific material is where I dream and play until I figure out what I want to do. From there, I work meditatively in small steps, to process, alter and combine natural and man-made materials meticulously into intricate sculptural assemblages and functional lighting pieces. These are richly and warmly colored, sometimes metallic or
glossy, and often made of many small parts that are stitched, glued, woven, or otherwise made into one body.
“Twister”, an installation comprised of chip bags, twister mats, mesh produce bags and hot glue, is a trial of material transformation on a larger scale, and a record of a small portion of the waste that my family generates. Colorful chip bags, meant to grab the attention of consumers, are left exposed as what they are in a few pockets, but the majority have been shredded down to bits that only give away their physical qualities. Separated into horizontal bands of warm colors, glinting with bits of silver, these plastics become the sunrise of a new day, of change, and of pristine time, in the solitude of which, I find the greatest joy in ‘playing’ as a mode of creation, with the things that are readily available to me. Once, this was the paper and markers my parents provided at the mini art table in our kitchen. Now, the endlessly accumulating meshes and metallic plastics saved inside our pantry door, wrappers saved by my friends, and objects
gathered along my everyday routes. Though I’m constantly rescuing items, I have a limited capacity and have to be selective. I dream of another dimension in which discarded materials would be deposited and stored for makers and re-users as soon as they are let go of, and this is part of a larger dream about safe and creative spaces to inhabit in the future.
Image: Window Dressing I, Gabel Karsten
About
Window Dressing highlights the work of new members, emerging, local, and underrepresented artists with short-run shows on view while the main gallery is closed for installation. Window Dressing artists will explore the potential of our storefront window space, experimenting with the possibilities of limitation. Exhibitions are on view 24/7 through the gallery’s front glass.
Would you like to apply for a Window Dressing Show?
We are always accepting WD proposals and our committee meets twice a year to determine scheduling.
Selection Process
Your application will be kept on file for one year. Applicants will be made aware that they may be considered for an ICOSA exhibition at any point for one year following the submission of their application.
How to Apply
Please email the following to info@icosacolective.com with “Window Dressing Proposal” in the title:
Proposal
CV
Portfolio website URL
Three images of your work
*Incomplete applications will not be considered
Questions?
Contact us at info@icosacollective.com