How Do We Look considers how two artists translate experiences in nature to abstraction. Both Laura Bidwa and Elizabeth A. Emery derive their paintings from breathing, looking around and moving in space outdoors. But even as they both arrive at abstraction, they get there in distinctive ways. Emery finds an organizing structure underneath the seeming chaos of nature, while delighting in the shapes and color within it. Currently, her finished works focus on layering and playing with color. In contrast, although Bidwa’s abstract endpoint has varied considerably over time, she has always looked primarily for gesture and color. Currently, her finished works focus on pronounced color chords and a sometimes-fugitive sense of movement.
Opening reception: Friday, April 4, 6–9pm with artist talk at 7:30pm.
Community session: Saturday, May 10, 1–3pm (rain or shine).
To complement the show, Bidwa and Emery are excited to invite visitors to join them working outdoors during a special community session from 1:00–3:00 on Saturday, May 10. Inspired by Chicago artist Leslie Baum’s Plein Air Project, they will lead conversation as the group works together about what kinds of things we notice when we’re outside, and what we each do with these experiences — how we select and pursue priorities for our drawing or painting. If weather is inclement, we’ll gather in the café space next to the gallery.
Laura Bidwa’s work has been in numerous commercial and nonprofit gallery exhibitions, as well as art fairs in New York, Miami, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. It is part of more than 100 private, corporate, and public collections in the United States and Europe. Fellowships and grants include a Greater Columbus Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship, an Ohio Arts Council Professional Development Award, and residencies in Vermont, Connecticut, Indiana, and Dresden, Germany. Bidwa was born in Long Beach, California, holds a BFA from Indiana University and an MFA from Ohio State University, and has lived in Columbus, Ohio, since 1994. She has studios in Columbus and in Long Island City, New York.
Elizabeth A. Emery is a multidisciplinary artist whose work has been exhibited at museums and galleries across the United States and supported by the Ohio Arts Council, Rasmuson Foundation, and New York Foundation for the Arts, among others. She has done public commissions in hospitals and a library and been awarded residencies at Haystack, Jentel Foundation, Rasmuson Foundation, and FRONT International. Emery’s work has been collected by the Cleveland Clinic, Progressive Insurance, American Greetings, Rockefeller Collection, Westin Hotel Cleveland, and Schein-Joseph International Museum of Ceramic Art. A former professional athlete, Emery also operates the podcast Hear Her Sports, which celebrates individual female athletes and invites conversation around women’s sports. (A special edition of Hear Her Sports was commissioned for the 2018 FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art.) She holds an MFA in ceramic sculpture from Alfred University and has lived and worked in Cleveland since 2008.
How Do We Look? will be open from April 4 through May 24 during regular gallery hours on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 12 p.m.-4 p.m., and by appointment on weekdays. To request an appointment, email info@waterlooarts.org or call 216.692.9500.
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