701 Center for Contemporary Art presents a Solo Exhibition by latest Artist-in-Residence, Janet Orselli
Janet Orselli: re:Visions
Exhibition: January 17 – March 3, 2019
Object Tales: Thursday, January 17, 6 pm
Opening Reception: Thursday, January 17, 7 – 9 pm
Reception Admission: $5 suggested donation for non-members
Contact: Hannah Shepard
701 Center for Contemporary Art
701 Whaley St., 2nd Floor, Columbia, SC 29201
(803) 319–9949
www.701cca.org
(Columbia, SC) — 701 Center for Contemporary Art will kick-off 2019 with Janet Orselli’s re:Visions exhibition, running from January 17th to March 3rd, 2019. Orselli is the latest Artist-in-Residence at 701 CCA. She combines and assembles found objects and surrounding spaces to transform their meaning and the viewers’ experience. “I want the installation to speak about the innocent physical world that seems to be lost but can be chosen to re-enter at any moment,” said Orselli.
The opening reception of re:Visions takes place on Thursday, January 17th from 7-9 pm. One hour prior to the opening reception, Orselli will give an artist talk in the form of storytelling from the point of view of her objects.
Using a process of connection, Orselli puts pieces and parts together to create a new whole from objects that were once treasured. Each object speaks of what it once was, its unique history, yet at the same time, it becomes something new and unexpected. She continues by explaining the intent behind her work: “Always, I hope to surprise and present the world in a new, unseen way.”
Janet Orselli, a Columbia native, was the 701 CCA Artist in Residence from October 2018 through January 2019. The exhibition will include work created during her residency. From Tyron, N.C., Orselli holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from Clemson University. She was selected to participate in artist residencies at Anderson Ranch, Colorado, Spring Island, S.C. and Kaiserslautern, Germany. She received three Regional Artist Project Grants from the NC Arts Council and was awarded a national Pollock-Krasner Foundation Fellowship. She has been included in numerous group exhibitions and had over a dozen solo exhibitions including OK Harris Works of Art, NYC and the Gibbes Museum, Charleston, SC. Orselli asks her viewers to rely on their senses, as her works encourage a slower pace, referring to a time past in which objects were cherished and made with care. “As an only child,” says Orselli, “My friends were the wooden toys, books, and games that accompanied
my mother and her parents and grandparents through thick and thin times… Playing with them was an imaginative, sensory experience.”
At an early age, Orselli felt that the old and worn was precious and more valuable than the new. They seem to change slowly as if awaiting some magical moment of metamorphosis. She chose to make art from leftovers of the past, “I use these objects to create a language, tell a story and build a world.”
“If objects can change – then so can we!”
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