Time and Again, Mother Nature's Embrace, installation at galerie 103, Kauai, Hawaii, 2017. “My original intention of people seeing themselves in Mother Nature led to an unexpected joy of people standing within her “embrace”, literally seeing themselves in Her. Such Fun!
Time and Again, galerie 103 project rooms, Dec 10 2016 - Feb 28 2017
glass beads and acrylic on wire and the wall!
Installation Art, Beads, Kauai Hawaii
roots. galerie 103, solo exhibition
Kaua'i, October 12 – December 7 2013
Mixed Media Sculpture and Installation
Installation Art, Farms, Beads, Kauai Hawaii
In her exhibit roots, multimedia artist A.Kimberlin Blackburn employs symbolic and conventional usage of roots and trees.
With a tender eye on nature, these works touch on the historical references and ethereal, contemplative serenity she uncovered in her daily life. Blackburn flawlessly yet imperfectly transforms raw and vintage materials found in her home and on the farm into a varied-scale forest of trees. From discarded rusty hardware and tree stumps, to white painted lace and her signature bead work – understated but still evident -- materials alone create a wide spectrum of meaning, allowing ample opportunity for interpretation.
Bruna Stude, curator
galerie 103
Two towering bejeweled white trees on the gallery's white walls and three groves of smaller beaded white trees usher the viewer into A.Kimberlin Blackburn's exhibit, "roots," as if through the tunnel of white light that beckons those who experience death and then come back to this world. And just as they tell us, at the end of the tunnel is love, here the four letters spelled out with old saws--several five foot choppers, a couple with hand hewn teeth--all, brown with rust. But it is the tangelo tree in the center of the gallery that clues us in to the theme of rebirth and transformation--a beloved tree, known in life, whose fruit sweetened the walks under its branches. Mounted on a base of giant timbers, the tree is skinned of its bark and pinned together with rusted bolts and metal plates--the ghost trails of tools lost in the grass and tangled undergrowth from farm days long ago. The three large sculptures in this room have been pieced from scavenged rubble on family land, land that was worked and known intimately for generations. The repurposed trunks, limbs, root balls and tool scraps pack a powerful emotional punch, their nakedness exposing their strength and their vulnerability at once.
Lighting casts shadows on the walls which add dimension and a certain theatricality to these delicate works. The salvaged white lace from an heirloom table cloth, party gowns and children's holiday dresses, wrapped onto birch armatures evoke a mystical, primeval forest. And there midst the smallest trees, a figure roughly carved, of raw redwood stands as guard or guide, linking the whiteness of the lacy, bead encrusted fairy trees to the exquisite corpses of orchard favorites in the next room. All suggest the backdrop of a theater performance, an otherworldly set--it's the Dance of Life that Blackburn reveals for us.
Evelyn de Buhr, Artist, Author, Kaua’i
Thousands of small glass beads laid into acrylic paint usually on a wooden armature, talkstory of life on the island, Beads, Kauai Hawaii
Glass Beaded trees and images of Mother Nature, mostly all white. In particular, The Conversation, a piece about ancient Goddess rituals when the snake bite venom brought the vison and the ancedote was in the venom. Her Slippers, made for Art & Soul Exhibition at Pegge Hopper's Gallery in Honolulu.
Breathing life, upcycling antique linens, especially honoring the incredible handiwork of generations gone. Images of the revered Mother, journeys both inward and outward and a self portrait.
Collaging with paint, fabrics, lace, broken zippers and more.
Visual stories, Beaded Installation and early beaded sculpture of beloved friends.
Millions of glass beads laid in acrylic paint, telling stories of farm life, meditative spaces and personal journeys. The slipper piece, Blended, made in response to supporting ethnic diversity and public education. In Her Garden is in the Smithsonian American Art Collection and In the Taro Patch is in the collection of Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts.
Collage in an Altered Golden Book. Combining many material & techniques: family photographs, my art works, beaded symbols, all together for the story and your viewing pleasure.
