Edward Hopper House Presents Artwork of Joanne Howard, Through October 19

Edward Hopper House Art Center presents Dream House, a mixed-media installation by Joanne Howard, now through October 19. Conceived specifically for Edward Hopper's former home, the exhibition explores the relationship between positive and negative space through a variety of media, including ceramic sculpture and drawing.

In creating work for this show, Howard began by thinking about the space that was left vacant after Hopper's departure. This emptiness is manifested here as an exploration of negative space, as in the drawings of newel posts, the etched mirror, the rotating ceramic sculpture, and the puzzle/photograph.

"I am interested in the permanence of the inanimate 'fixtures' in the house (staircase, newel post) versus the impermanence of human existence," she says. "In addition to being a beautiful presence in the entrance of this otherwise rather austere interior, a turned post accentuates the tension between positive and negative space. The curves also take on associations of human physiognomy. Centrifugal force is what creates a turned post. The motion of rotating or spinning, conjures up a sense of the passage of time and also for me, a sense of reverie. Presenting a hand-built ceramic sculpture that echoes the symmetry of a wheel-thrown vessel on a spinning pedestal underscores these themes. The swirl gesture continues in the larger etched mirror, capturing an image of absence or negation in a circular, gestural stroke."

In additional to the ceramic sculptures and representations of newel posts, Howard calls attention to the slow erosion of the worn wooden treads of the staircase by creating a "rubbing" on Tyvec rather than paper, which emphasizes its architectural detail. The varied detail on the bottom of each stair rubbing again reveals the passage of time and the impermanence of human presence.

Joanne Howard received a BFA from Syracuse University School of Visual and Performing Arts and an MFA from Hunter College. She also studied at the Skohegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine. She has exhibited throughout the United States and has designed theatre sets around the world, including the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Dance Theater Workshop, NY, The Chocolate Factory, NY, Chaillot Theater, Paris, France, and Les Subsistance, Lyon, France.

Viviane Silvera: On My Way

(selections from an ongoing series)

Sept. 3 - Nov. 2, 2014 in the Hopper Hallway Gallery

Reception: Friday, September 5, 6-8 pm

The paintings in this exhibition, from Viviane Silvera's ongoing series, Film Project: Therapy, pay homage to Edward Hopper's work through the literal and unspoken relationships between light, the psychological, the solitary, and the cinematic-dominant themes in Hopper's work.

In her last two series of paintings, Therapy: Part One (2011) and Therapy: Part Two (2013), Silvera used film images as source material for paintings. extracting and re-imagining compositions from film stills that deal with the subject of psychotherapy. In this current project, Silvera created her own film using two actors, about a therapy session, from which she is creating paintings, a selection of which are shown here.

Starting with a screen image as a point of departure, Silvera abstracts the figures, transforming the specific into the archetypal during the translation from film still to painted image-leaving the narrative up to the viewer's imagination. The interior setting is as important in conjuring a narrative and a mood as the figures themselves. Shadowy interiors became metaphors for the struggle between the conscious and unconscious, the past and present, and what is illuminated versus what remains mysterious and unknown.

The project will conclude with editing the paintings (which have been shot as a stop-motion, throughout the painting process) into a short film. Thus, the images began in film, were re-imagined and recreated as paintings, and will go back into film, transformed.

Viviane Silvera was born in Hong Kong and was raised in both Hong Kong and Brazil before moving to New York City at the age of 15. After earning her BA from Tufts University, Viviane returned to New York City where she received her MFA from the New York Academy of Art. Viviane has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions and is represented in many public and private collections around the country. Her work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Gotham magazine, Time Out New York, The NY Press, American Artist and Sculpture Review magazines as well as in various catalogs and papers.

Edward Hopper House is the birthplace of artist Edward Hopper (1882-1967) and was his primary residence until 1910. Since 1971 it has been a non-profit art center with a mission to preserve Hopper's birthplace and to encourage community engagement with the arts. GALLERY HOURS: Wednesday-Sunday, 12-5 PM or by appointment; docents are available on weekends to give tours; call Hopper House to arrange tours for groups at other times (for additional fee). Admission: Free for members and under 16 yrs.; $2 students; $5 seniors; $7 adults. Free for all visitors on the first Friday of each month, made possible by First Niagara Bank Corporation.

For more information, visit: www.edwardhopperhouse.org,Facebook: www.facebook.com/edwardhopperhouse.