Wendy Given, You, Darkness

Tuesday, September 18, 5 – 7pm, 6pm talk

1953 NW Kearney Street (Guild Mortgage Building)
Exhibitions are in the gallery inside the Guild Mortgage Bldg.
Thursday 9/6, Tuesday 9/11, Thursday 9/27, 1 – 5pm

Presented by VERNISSAGE FINE ART
Contact MaryAnn Deffenbaugh for an appointment
maryann@vernissagefineart.com
971-277-4118, vernissagefineart.com

For this exhibition, Wendy Given presents vivid, uncanny photographs and sculptures resonating in the dark, unstable ground between consciousness and collective memories of the nocturnal, the nonhuman, and the wildness that resides in each of us.

Given’s practice stems from a profound interest guided by the natural world, folklore, myth and magic—magic as a term meant to conjure the notion of the interconnectedness of all life forces. Nature is prescribed as a foundation of verity, power, and mystery in her work—both intelligible and arcane. While Given’s subject matter dwells on primeval belief systems, the resulting work is distinctively contemporary—reflective of modern culture’s mode of assimilating and processing myth. Her visual craft conveys an intense yearning to honor and utilize our inherent awareness—to regain the unspoken understanding of the fact that we are all, and always will be (as humans), integral to and dependent on the natural world.

Vernissage Fine Art curates the gallery space inside the Guild Mortgage Building, formerly the Oregon Jewish Museum. Viewings of exhibitions are at monthly evening receptions, special viewing hours and by appointment. September afternoon viewing hours are:

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Wendy Given is an artist living and working in Portland, Oregon. She studied fine art and was trained in painting, printmaking, photography, and sculpture during her BFA undergraduate work at Atlanta College of Art in Atlanta, Georgia. She received her MFA from Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, California. Given has exhibited nationally and internationally and is represented by Whitespace Gallery in Atlanta, Georgia, and Vernissage Fine Art in Portland, Oregon. She is also the PDX Art Program Coordinator/Curator for the Port of Portland and a wilderness guide with Portland’s Signal Fire Artist Residency.

wendygiven.com