POROUS SEDIMENTS to Open 3/7 at 707 Penn Gallery

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust announces the opening of artist Haylee Ebersole's exhibition Porous Sediments. On view at the Trust's 707 Penn Gallery March 7-April 13, 2014, the installation features an array of vaporous sculptural objects with surfaces suggestive of skin, soap, ice, and rock. An opening reception will be held Friday, March 7, 2014, from 6-8 p.m., at 707 Penn Gallery.

The objects on display allude both to the cyclical nature of existence and to the slow forming processes of geological structures. Using a variety of techniques-printmaking, drawing, sculpture, and performance-Ebersole engages in temporality, investigating the transformative potential of ideas, materials, and actions through an alchemical approach.

"While the term porous describes the material nature of this work, it also embodies a particular way of thinking and making," says artist Haylee Ebersole. "In my practice, each process is permeable where the actions and residuals from one become the generative premise for the next."

A primary element of Ebersole's work is its potential for change. Working with gelatin, which she suggests mimics qualities of the human body, fluctuating in response to moisture and heat, creates possibilities for continuous transformation. The displacement of air and shifts in humidity levels may cause the delicate gelatin sculptures to waver or suddenly collapse. In Ebersole's process, each gelatin form is eventually reconstituted, representing a cyclical state and continually coming into and out of being.

Haylee Ebersole received a bachelor of fine art in printmaking from Metropolitan State College of Denver, Denver, CO, and a master of fine art in printmaking from Ohio University, Athens, OH. She has presented her artistic research at several conferences hosted by the College Art Association, Mid America College Art Association, and the Southern Graphics Council International. Ebersole has extensively exhibited her work nationally, with numerous exhibitions in her home state of Colorado and in Ohio.