Carolyn Wren: Task at Hand

Rodman Hall Art Centre/Brock University

Carolyn Wren: Task at Hand

Curated by Marcie Bronson

May 24 to August 11, 2019

Opening Reception: Thursday, May 23, 7 pm
Artist Talk: Thursday, June 6, 7 pm

For over twenty years, St. Catharines-based artist Carolyn Wren has explored the relationship between identity and place. Known for her large-scale drawings and relief prints that poetically conflate landscapes and the human body, during the last decade she has turned her attention to the written narratives that have shaped her worldview. By transcribing texts such as Homer’s epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey, and Virginia Woolf’s iconic feminist essay A Room of One’s Own, Wren manifests personal and cultural terrain in monumental physical forms.

Alongside significant early works such as The War Map Dress Trilogy, this exhibition premieres recent drawings and immersive, experiential installations. The structure and labour of Wren’s method is the thread that binds her work; be it hand carving, printing, writing, or embroidering, Wren finds meditation in the repetitive tasks of life.

Born in St. Catharines, Ontario, Carolyn Wren studied visual art at the University of Western Ontario. Wren has been exploring themes of lost knowledge and metanarratives in her recent work of transcribing iconic texts to create her installations. In the past she has used relief print methods and processes in non-traditional ways. Key exhibitions include Dwell, Open Studio, Toronto (2017); The Bible Project, Rodman Hall Art Centre/Brock University, St. Catharines (2015); Searching for the Sublime, Kelowna Art Gallery, British Columbia (2011), Remembrances (with Tobey C. Anderson), Art Gallery of University of Sherbrooke, Quebec (2011); Biennale international du lin de Portneuf, Quebec (2009). She has been exhibiting her work since 1990 in group and solo shows across Canada in public galleries and artist-run centres.

Rodman Hall Art Centre / Brock University
109 St. Paul Crescent, St. Catharines, Ontario L2S 1M3
905.684.2925 | brocku.ca/rodmanhall

Facebook: RodmanHall
Twitter: @RodmanHall
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Gallery Hours
Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday: 10 am to 5 pm
Thursday: 10 am to 9 pm
Saturday & Sunday: 12 to 5 pm
Closed Monday and statutory holidays

Admission is by donation ($5 suggested)
Partially Accessible

Contact: Danny Custodio, 905.688.5550 ext. 5802, dcustodio@brocku.ca

Image: Carolyn Wren, A Room of One’s Own (production detail), 2018-19, hand embroidery on canvas
Photo: Dominic Alexander Abrams

Rodman Hall gratefully acknowledges the support of the Ontario Arts Council.