FGCU’s Wasmer Art Gallery is currently hosting the Wild Garden exhibit. The exhibit features five artists local to Central and South Florida, one of which is an FGCU professor.
Grace Ramsey is an assistant professor for FGCU’s art program. Her paintings, encapsulating themes of womanhood and motherhood, were the starting point for this exhibit.
“We wanted to encourage [Ramsey] to be part of an exhibition. And the idea was that we would look at her work as the impetus as the beginning of the show,” said John Loscuito, the gallery director.
The gallery includes work hanging on every wall, on the floor and hanging from the ceiling. Different types of fabric creations, porcelain and paintings, tile work, drawings and photography make up the exhibit.
Loscuito and Ramsey began to curate the exhibit roughly a year before its opening. According to curator statements, the artist selections began with visiting creators who Loscuito and Ramsey felt could resonate with each other. They built connections between artists, their artistic narratives and materials.
Ramsey began a series of paintings prior to the installation with mystic representations of motherhood.
“[The pieces] are specifically exploring the experience of the physical and psychological experience of motherhood and I do that kind of more surreal, fantastical lens,” Ramsey said.
Jenn Clay is one of the artists featured in the exhibit. She had an interactive, quilted installation hanging from the ceiling called Longing Limbs. Clay also creates plush sculptures that embody uncomfortable emotions and make them easier to face.
“I use plushy textures of quilted textiles and manipulated fabrics to create an intuitive, comforting feeling for my avatars. This work is an attempt to soothe the uncomfortable and make ambiguity welcoming,” Clay said.
Cynthia Mason is an artist with an architect background. The installation features floor to ceiling linen sculptures with porcelain. Mason takes inspiration from climate change and the environment.
“I’m interested in drawing parallels between Pompeii and the destruction of Pompeii and our own current climate change and how we’re totally ignoring what’s going on,” Mason said.
Luca Molnar is a painter who relates patterns to historical figures and colors that elevate historical significance within the figures.
“The paintings are part of an ongoing series of monochromatic works that look at the history of labor in the US. They all kind of take a historical figure as their starting point, but also the history of different colors,” Molnar siad.
Anastasia Samoylova is originally from Russia but is now living in Miami. She is an observational photographer and focuses on the environment for this installation. The pieces featured in this exhibit are originally from her book “Flood Zone” which is a compilation of Florida environment related pictures.
“What inspired this was the dichotomy between the undeniable beauty in the south Florida landscape and my climate anxiety that arose from living there and from experiencing it as an everyday person firsthand,” Samoylova said.
The exhibit will be open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. until Sept. 28.
