Respite and Repose: an exhibit about rest and letting go

Gwen Hill-Pollara is a local ceramicist. This year she brings you a show about the need to hang up your angel wings, your burn out, your hero roles and rest. She has invited the very talented local ceramicist and fiber artist, Brenda Jones, to join her in this exploration of what it means to rest and let go of all the hard work that we do in this world. She will be showing her hand pieced giant aprons and Gwen will be showing her new clay works.

About the Artists:

 Gwen’s work in clay, lyrical and moving, is an expression of a fantastical intersection of the human and natural realms. Her work aims to reveal the heroine/hero archetype. Like an excavator of the primordial landscape, Gwen uncovers the ancient origins of the tender-hearted warrior. Clay provides the perfect elemental contact with the Earth itself and to the human creative lineage. Her pieces have been described as “projecting a secret garden with a touch of sadness.” Gwen is a pioneer of the inner and outer landscapes of this life. She grew up in the soggy bottoms and rocky crags of the Mississippi River Valley exploring under rocks, around bends and out yonder. Summers brought her to the Ponderosa Pine haven of the Rocky Mountains. She has traveled out beyond into the thick wilds of nature and ancient roads of human civilization. Gwen received her biology degree from SEMO University, with a minor in Fine Arts. Buddhist philosophy and meditation is the connective tissue that joins “heaven and earth” in her life’s endeavors. When not in the studio, she is writing with friends, coaching personal growth clients or herding chickens.

Brenda Jones is a contemporary sculptor living outside of Colorado Springs. She grew up in the 1960’s in southeast Kansas; her work pays homage to the gender roles embedded in that time and in rural America. Her pieces are adorned with nostalgic yet delicate narrative imagery as a way to critique traditional women’s roles or expectations. In her words, “I tell stories in my work and I invite you to interpret these on various levels as you take the visual journey.” Her artwork has been shown across the U.S. She has received “best of show”  in several exhibitions and scholarships from SAIC, Anderson Ranch, and Fulbright travel studies to Argentina and Japan. Her pieces are always on the move. She is currently represented by 45 Degree Gallery, Colorado Springs and Strecker-Nelson gallery in Manhattan, KS.  She received her MA in Art History and Ceramics from Wichita State University and was teacher of art in schools in Kansas and Missouri