ConTEXT II seamlessly demonstrates the harmonious integration of text and art. When integrated into a piece of artwork, text carries substantial weight and impact, infusing it with greater depth, significance, and sentiment. Whether it’s used to express a message, provide additional context, or serve as a visual element, text enriches the viewing experience, making it more vibrant and engaging. It’s like a secret language, inviting you to immerse yourself in a world where art and words intertwine.
ConTEXT II
Best of Show- Wrapped
James Bolton
watercolor
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Director's Choice- Writing Lines
Isabella Cardim
thread drawing on cotton fabric
Key Biscayne, Florida
For this series, “Writing Lines,” I referenced a punishment imposed on me during my childhood, which consists of copying a sentence exhaustively to reduce disruptive behavior. My parents believed that if you repeat something enough times, you will begin to believe it and change your behavior.
Director's Choice- The Flame
Payton Brown
oil on canvas
Morgantown, West Virginia
This painting, “The Flame” was painted with the intention of invoking feelings of nostalgia among viewers. Painting subject matter such as signage is a way for me to pay attention to and appreciate the fine details of things in our everyday lives, often thought to be mundane or ubiquitous, but fascinating in my opinion. I selected this specific sign, which reads “The Flame,” because of the concepts of warmth in relation to it; when I think of warmth, I think of comfort, which I often find through memories and my own experiences that I am nostalgic about. Often times, the moments from my past that stand out to me the most are the ones that did not seem like monumental events at the time, but still proved to be very impactful. Similarly, there is a great deal of beauty in everyday objects, such as signs for example, that show a history of our lives and serve as artifacts of our existence.
DO YOU STRUGGLE
S1E2, In a Bamboo Grove (藪の中,Yabu no naka)
Yori Hatakeyama
egg tempera on masonite board
Los Angeles, California
ATN(Akutagawa Television Network) "Mental Scenery (或精神的風景画)" S1E1-6.
Inspired by six short stories of Akutagawa Ryunosuke who was one of the most famous modern writer in twentieth century in Japan.
Right Matters
Rosalind Daniels
quilted fiber
Cabot, Vermont
This piece is a fiber abstraction of Colonel Vindman's words from the first impeachment trial. He believed that he would be safe testifying because he was certain that “In America, right still matters.” My hope is that these words are and will remain true.
Hope, No Spoon
Paul Atkinson
photography
Raleigh, North Carolina
A patient room in the prison medical building (State Correctional Institution - Cresson, PA)
Access Denied
Laura White Carpenter
ceramic, cork
Providence, Rhode Island
A partial list of the rationale for banning books in public libraries in the United States in 2022, taken directly from the American Library Association website.
Not Yet
Cheryl Wassenaar
vinyl on signboard
Saint Louis, Missouri
In this sculptural piece from The Series of Wayward Signs, I use fragments of conversations overheard while navigating directional signs in a busy airport. The signs are now stacked uselessly against the wall, in shades of grey that take on new meaning in our post-pandemic environment.
Protect Us
Stephanie Cunningham
wood, lead, wax, graphite, punctured paper
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
A fragile word form, PROTECT formed by puncture wounds, is surrounded by lead sheet. Multiples of the scarred word surround the word US. This work is in response to a hostile sociopolitical environment. The work can be hung in a tight or loose grid configuration.
For Matthew, Forever
Lybi Cucurullo
ink on paper
North Salem, New York
Performance art meets sculpture, as artists writes and rewrites "I'm sorry," thousands of times, in a neverending Mobius echoing the cycles of love and intimacy.
The Extreme Self
Mary Lihong Peng
digital
New Haven, Connecticut
A visual commentary on the power of media technology to "massage" identities in the Digital Age, an age rife with "Extreme Selves", digital bits of self we leave behind in the cloud and our ending up everywhere and nowhere all at once.
Follow The Thoughtless Breath
Jonathan Farber
digital
Reno, Nevada
The artwork is based on a quote by the psychologist and psychedelic pioneer, Ram Dass, to assist with meditation.
Box people 100 미확인 비행물체 (Unidentified Flying Objects)
Yale Kim
mixed media- oil on wood, arduino circuit
Oakland, California
A village of 100 box people arranged in the form of a poem. Each box corresponds to each Korean syllable in the poem. Some of the boxes are made from the wooden scraps that were left over from making the original box people. All of the boxes are painted in colors that resemble natural light.
Truth
Fakku-yu
Moe Wakai
handwoven cotton, hand-embroidered cotton
Chicago, Illinois
This artwork, resembling a hanging scroll, spells "fuck you" in Japanese ("fakku-yū") to address American resistance towards accommodating immigrants, particularly non-English speakers. It prompts reflection on language barriers and cultural assimilation in a subtle yet bold manner.
That's not nice
Briena Harmening
spray paint on moving blanket
Nashville, Tennessee
Autobiography and the South inform my work. The conversations between text and material, nostalgia and current politics mix, creating conundrums that I play with and try to reconcile. This piece was created in response to the hypocrisy of new anti trans laws by christian lawmakers in Tennessee. I want to move, but I am stuck.
Love seemed easy at first but...
Nina Ghanbarzadeh
ink on mulberry, graphite, thread on printmaking paper
Muskego, Wisconsin
I Learn To Remember To Not Forget
Margaret Jo Feldman
laser cut slate chalkboard, chalk
San Francisco, California
A school shooting is a traumatic event that can cause both emotional and physical scars. Each of these slate chalkboard panels is laser cut with a phrase spoken by either a student, a teacher or a 911 operator during a school shooting that occurred between 2012-2022.
2-Ply: The Sh!t Show that was 2020
Nikyra Capson
printed cotton
Pocatello, Idaho
52 rolls of toilet paper printed with social media comments and news headlines that document each day of the first year of the pandemic. The size of the font correlates with the number of deaths for that day.
Won't Be Water / Fire Next Time
Micah Kraus
gunpowder and ignited gunpowder on rag paper
Akron, Ohio
The gospel song, "It's Gonna Rain," proclaim that the apocalypse will happen by fire rather than the rains that Noah experienced in the Old Testament story. This message resonates with me as our country endures extreme political polarization amidst a global ecological catastrophe.
Is to as
Lisa Cooperman
mixed media textile on gifted napkins with packing material, fabric, and passementerie
Stockton, California
You Are Safe
Gary Westford
oil on canvas
Salem, Oregon
As we are all sadly and profoundly aware, innocent Americans’ have been mass murdered at supermarkets, theaters, beauty shops, churches, synagogues, shopping malls, concert halls, athletic events, in quiet neighborhoods, and on city streets and street corners. The seven floating spheres represent skin tones for human flesh… All Of Us. The Empire State building stands as a monument to American greatness…
1st Time
Darkie: The Derrick Tabron Statement
Steven Cozart
charcoal, pastel, and digital on paper bag
Santa Fe, New Mexico
This piece investigates Colorism within the Black Community and is the result of an interview with the subject, giving recognition to the Paper Bag Test. Specifically, a paper bag was compared to the skin. Social status was contingent upon if the person was lighter or darker than the bag.
Look Underneath
Chester's Cricket
Méchante 2
Debra Archibald
acrylic on canvas
Toronto, Canada
Dear Diary
Gray Winburne
stoneware
Brookline, Massachusetts
A diary entry to myself about my progress with body liberation and queer acceptance.
Death By Landscape
Joshua Graham
mixed
Salt Lake City, Utah
Portrait of a Book Report: Tanya Tagaq
Josh Steinbauer
pen, marker
Brooklyn, New York
Over the course of pandemic isolation, Josh Steinbauer started a portrait series of the authors keeping him company. The process involves blind contour sketches modeled with volumetric cross-hatching to create watery, unsettling portraits coupled with hand lettered text of the authors’ words.
Everything Was Beautiful (State Hospital)
John Diephouse
photography
Lansing, Michigan
Mono-Vision
Amy Bumpus
paper on canvas
Tucson, Arizona
Mono-Vision is a statement about humans occupying a wider view than what is right in front of our nose. It's about the we, not the me. We are a social species and the best way for us to survive is community. I create my images using hand cut paper from old National Geographic magazines.
Early Sunday Morning
Richard Eyster
drybrush watercolor
Lynn, Massachusetts
The room is dead quiet.
There is a faint, residual odor of old man and gunpowder.
Lisbeth stops in the doorway.
THE TITLE IS THE BEST PART
Here I am Standing Like an Idiot Again
Mayela Cardenas
digital
Gunnison, Colorado
Plotner, Judith
Judith Plotner
fiber/ mixed media
Gloversville, New York
Konstantin I
Mariya Volynskih
watercolor on paper
Irbit, Russia
Antiquity is an inexhaustible source of inspiration for many generations of artists. This is a huge stream of Love, giving us the power to create beauty.
The World is Yours
Patched Heart
Julie Harris
cloth and stitching
Sayreville, New Jersey
I use my artmaking as a way of exploring the personal, especially that which is often hidden. My inspirations stem from art themes of the broken, the abandoned and the forgotten.
Venus Fragility Trap
Martha Shade
hand-stitched embroidery floss, dish towel remnant
Seattle, Washington
This piece utilizes language to examine meaning in the context of our current cultural moment. The stitched text becomes part of the design itself, covering both the background and the figure. Words create the shadow and light on the face. Its legibility is secondary to the overall visual aesthetic.
Sestina, Verse 3
Alice Sims-Gunzenhauser
monoprint, paint, venetian plaster, color pencil, graphite
Ewing, New Jersey
When I was young and dreaming the joy of a gallop / I never thought to include a precipitous slope / or complication of layout to make intentions veer. // Which is the danger, the headlong rush or the lilac's / fragrance slowing speed to a rustle / of whispers of flight pinned on to a mirror?
Period Menstruation is the flowing poetry of women
Siyi Tang
flatbed print on arcylic sheet
Savannah, Georgia
Balboa
MY SERENITY
Vincent Dion
acrylic and mixed mediums on canvas
Newtown, Connecticut
The catalyst for MY SERENITY, composed of textured hand-painted dots based on color blind studies and eye charts, was the onset of a vision problem, the Covid lock down and no gainful employment. I was struck with the quandary of had I been given too much serenity, or was it completely taken away.
The Story Continues
Rachel Davis
mixed media- antique Asian paper, botanicals from my garden
San Rafael, California
shoreless
S-H-E
Reunion
Calculating The Odds
John Diephouse
digital
Lansing, Michigan
Central States
Amy Broderick
hand-cut and hand-woven atlas pages and color-aid paper
Jupiter, Florida
Nothing Encrypted
Richard Helmick
colored pencil on watercolor paper
Portland, Oregon
There Is No Hierarchy-Gender
Donna St John
mixed media laser etching
Marne, Michigan
Text and written word is dominant in our society.The illuminated letters denounce hierarchies.The letters are etched and placed on top of a hierarchy of colors making a color field.The illuminated message of equality is intentionally hidden; sometimes lurking in the shadows.Our goal is no hierarchy.
Perception is Reality
Cloud Warrriors
Candace Knapp
clay
Brandon, Florida
Cloud Warriors is meant to suggest the impact of billowy clouds bumping into one another like sumo wrestlers in the sky. It is important to me that my ceramic sculptures have movement and dynamic energy. The words, taken from comic book battles, make my intention clear.
it's ok
Try to See
Remedios Rapoport
mixed media painted sculpture, oil alkyd on wood, gilding
Portland, Oregon
Showing the difficulty of seeing yourself, your mannerisms, your personality, your inner self, or your physical self like looking into a mirrored ball, the closer you get the more fragmented you become, a part of the whole, a fragment of reality, disguised poetry rings, as the viewer becomes the art.
freedom of the press
Sophia I
L. Katherine Roberts
collage
San Angelo, Texas
In this work, the prominent word, “trust”, speaks to the embodiment of feminine consciousness and its attributes of mystery, wisdom and strength. Aged pharmaceutical notes, fine art paper, magazine clippings and a legal form were utilized to create the piece.
Truth Lies, Honest
Say Their Names
Eldon Benz
digital
Carbondale, Illinois
Say Their Names. The names of black Americans killed by police from Timothy Thomas to George Floyd, did they have a target on them?
Deconstruction No. 7: Silence and Stone
James DePietro
oil / acrylic / spray paint
Allentown, Pennsylvania
An allegory about our mundane day-to-day existence and man’s inability to relate to our natural surroundings.
Rouge
Andy Beckemeyer
photography
Portland, Oregon
Bring That Beat Back
HER
Lori Pratico
acrylic
Oakland Park, Florida
Using transparent interweaving images HER portrays the many layers of a woman. Is she hiding or is she emerging? Will she allow herself to be seen and empowered, or stay hidden? That is left to your interpretation.
I AM / IT IS / WE ARE / OK
Micah Kraus
folio of laser cut relief prints on rag paper
Akron, Florida
Phrases of declaration flipped to instability when mirrored: I Am. Am I? It Is. Is It? We Are. Are We? Depending on tone of voice, "Ok" is an utterance of permission, acceptance, discovery or skepticism.
Suicide Blond
Gary Aagaard
oil on canvas
Tucson, Arizona
A tongue-in-cheek tribute to the Pulp Fiction art of the 1930’s & 40’s in which femme fatales lured unsuspecting men to their doom.
STOCKHOLM (syndrome)
Isabella Cardim
digital
Key Biscayne, Florida
Stockholm syndrome is a coping mechanism to a captive or abusive situation. People develop positive feelings toward their captors or abusers over time. This series of digital collages draws awareness to the physical and emotional addiction that people develop for technology.
