Hot off the writing desk!
A thoughtful in depth essay about Kelly Popoff's American Snapshot exhibition
by
Megan Winegardner
Communion, oil and wax on canvas, 26 x 30 inches 2022. Kelly Popoff
Kelly Popoff Paints a Child’s Inner World
Children’s Gaze
The inner world of children, their experiences, sorrows, interests—while easily abandoned in memory after onset of adulthood—is a shared past. This collective inner life captures artist Kelly Popoff’s fascination; her investigation of their gaze—their place in the world, the special qualities of their private selves—discovers fundamental truths of the nature of American childhood. With startling clarity Popoff materializes—through the blur of remembering—rich, collective interiorities, and reveals the reality of displacement, lack of agency, and restraints that form the core of the lived experiences of Americans who have not yet reached the age of maturity. The artist’s own experiences of a Midwestern, Catholic-schooled youth formulate a starting point for her paintings, yet she also draws from the familiar lives of others, displaying a solidarity that bridges the gap between oneself and these other children. She portrays ourselves to ourselves—we are reintroduced, we remember. In American Snapshot Popoff constructs a space for recollecting, and, through the dimness of our most distant and fragmented memories, she holds a place for us to confront the internal world of childhood, which exists as both other and self.
READ MORE HERE
Girl 1, oil on oil paper 15 x 11 inches, 2021. Kelly Popoff
Couple 1, oil on oil paper, 11 x 15 inches, 2021. Kelly Popoff
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EKPHRASTIC WRITING WORKSHOP
Melhop Gallery º7077 is hosting a writing workshop with Karen Terrey of Tangled Roots Writing
Join us for an evening of deeper reflection on the current exhibitions in a playful and generative creative writing workshop
“From the wall to the page: making story and poetry from art” June 22nd at 6 – 7:30 pm.
In this creative writing workshop, we will talk about how writers can respond to visual art as inspiration for new writing in poetry and prose. What is happening in this artwork? What story is being told? How does this artwork connect with you personally? As a storyteller or a poet, you’ll discover new methods to understanding art as well as new jumpstarts for art-inspired (ekphrastic) writing. Arrive early if you’d like to view the show with snacks and beverages. We will begin at 6 pm with a short discussion with insights into the art of …, , and then sit down to write from a fun series of writing prompts. This is a supportive, playful, and generative workshop for creatives of all art mediums and all levels of experience.
You are welcome to arrive at 5.30pm to soak up the exhibition in a private viewing before the workshop begins, snacks and drinks will be provided.
Tickets are $45, workshop is limited to 9 attendees
Contact: Karen Terrey, tangledrootswriting@gmail.com to join this workshop.
Payment by Venmo, Zelle or check to Karen Terrey, PO Box 476, Truckee, CA 96160
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An exhibition of invited artists playfully exploring non-traditional approaches to the landscape genre. This exhibition runs through June 2022
In Nevada, we exist between many extremes; from blue skies every day, to freezing snow blizzards, scorching desert heat, earthquakes as tectonic plates collide, dust devils across playa, hailstorms in summer, to uncontrollable wildfires ravaging the landscape.
After these last strange years of internalization, absence from friends and excursions, living more and more through the screen, how are contemporary artists thinking about our surroundings, exploring landscapes of the imagination or no-such-places, where the mind, heart and eye can rest or dream…
EXHIBITING ARTISTS
Victoria Wagner
Julia Schwadron Marianelli
Michelle Lassaline
Sidne Teske
Scott Mcleod
Rachel Stiff
Kim Franke
Wes Lee
Teal Francis
Ahren Hertel
Galen Brown
Swinge Whip, mixed media on canvas, 2019, 50” x 44” Rachel Stiff
Green Mountain, oil on Redwood, 2019, 12"x 5"x7" Victoria Wagner (represented by Maybaum Gallery San Francisco)
Day 162, charcoal, pastel and acrylic paint on paper, 2017, 11” x 17” image size, framed, Wes Lee
Untitled, (Blue beside White), ink on museum board, mounted on aluminum, on wooden frame, 2022, 27” x 3.75” x 1.75” Galen Brown
contact hello@melhopgallery.com for further information about these works and to visit the exhibitions that run through end of June, 2022
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Looking forward to seeing you!!!