Islip Art Museum

Poison Play Curated by Beth Giacummo

Poison Play Curated by Beth Giacummo

April 10th - June 5th 2016

Islip Art Museum ●●●●●●●●●●● ●●●●●●●●●●● ●●●●●●●●●●● ●●●●●●●●●●●

EXHIBITING ARTISTS

Margaret DeLima Scott McIntire John Sabraw

Anne Seelbach

What happens when the modern conveniences we take for granted have toxic side effects? It's easy to enjoy the technological innovations and present-day comforts of life in what seems to be in harmony with our surroundings. However, as these luxuries of consumerism overtake the once abundant flora and fauna of our environment, they simultaneously pave a path to a dystopian future and we are forced to confront our own toxic trails. Poison Play looks to themes of tainted ecosystems and inspires works born from destruction. The artists featured in this exhibit have investigated,explored and translated our carbon footprint and abuse of natural resources into visual depictions of poisonous play.

Gallery I features the mixed media series Troubled Waters and site specific installation Marine World Maze by Anne Seelbach. Her works are a fluid, playful blend of sea life in a seemingly peaceful interaction with their natural environment.

The artist uses radioactive like pops of color, angular and mechanical shapes to

represent unnatural, manmade additions to the water: pesticides, herbicides, rain-water runoff, factory discharges and other substances. Inspired by mutations in fish as a result of mankind's attempts to control nature and nature’s reaction of adaptation, one realizes this interaction is not so peaceful. Works in this gallery reflect the conflicts with toxins in the Long Island water systems as pollutants and debris invade the waters.

Moving through the museum in and out of each gallery we are reminded of the

energy inherent in everything around us. Ten works from three different series by Scott McIntire fill IAMs Hall galleries, the science of color itself is also at play as the walls visually vibrate with color, movement and often representational depictions of local flora and fauna.

The Pollinator, a work from McIntire’s BioArt Series, address environmental concerns and the unseen fields of energy that surround us. These same fields are explored in works from his Energy Series where he uses elements we see every day, reminding us to be aware of issues causing climate change and its effects on our environment. Symbols of global warming, fracking, cellular transmissions, radio waves, and sounds are found throughout the works. Other elements in nature that we may not be able to physically see such as vibrant energy and kinetic movement are expressed through radiating color in his work.

Along the short hall wall you can also view some of the Bittersweet paintings from McIntire’s Dark Energy series, these works specifically are a calligraphic representation depicting the confluence of beauty and destruction in nature. In each work McIntire is making the invisible visible, in hopes to also to educate my audience about what is happening all around us.

In Gallery II circles of phantasmagoric color take over all walls. The viewer is enveloped in a world of hypnotic Chroma paintings by John Sabraw.

Sabraw's compositions and materials are born from manmade

destruction. Using contaminants as a result of long abandoned coal mines in Southeastern Ohio, John Sabraw has found a productive alternative for the toxins left behind. Working along scientists Sabraw has taken powdered iron minerals and developed pigments used to paint the works on exhibit. The process involves extracting Iron oxide from polluted streams and deserted caves.

The concept behind Sabraw’s art pushes far beyond the work hanging on gallery walls. Recently the artist has developed a relationship with Gamblin Artist Colors, who has agreed to produce a batch of 37 ml tubes of oil paint using the pigment. These paints will be distributed to artists around the world and the resulting artworks curated into a touring exhibition highlighting our efforts and generating broader discourse on developing more sustainable art practices. Margaret DeLima explores imagery that affects the viewer on a personal level in the hopes that it builds meaning with everyday life interactions. Deconstructing heavy matters with a nearly weightless medium, she translates issues of societal situations. Employing ethereal tissue paper, destined to decay, is a reminder of the repetitive cycles of environmental transience.

DeLima entices the viewer to enter Gallery III with her site-specific interactive installation The Imprinted. The floor, filled with 500 small papier-mâché ducks are grouped in cornered spaces and huddled together necks stretching toward the viewer as they meander around the perimeter of the space. As viewers activate the space a relationship develops, and one may even find a favorite duck. This relationship is humorous but one for thought as DeLima considers the concept of imprinting or how “young animals come to recognize other animals or people as a parent of habitual trust,” and how that expectation of protection is betrayed for an artificially constructed market of animal products. Additionally the images placed along two walls of the installation walk viewers through DeLima’s industrious construction process and prompt the viewer yet again to consider the inhumane processes used to deconstruct the bodies of the living creatures forthe food industry.

There are many ways that the environment is currently being exploited, as long as there are people bringing awareness to this fact, there will be art to reflect and shed lighton this important issue that affects us all.

~ Beth Giacummo

Margaret DeLima

I am a sculptor, trained in clay and working in paper. With nearly weightless paper, I deconstruct heavy matters. In my work, I am interested in the transience of what cannot be contained. Forms in paper are ironic urns for how we attempt to contain memories, struggle to keep them alive and eventually allow them to fade into obsolescence. I utilize materials that are challenging to preserve and conserve, asking the viewer to contemplate time, space, place and material. I employ ethereal tissue paper, destined to decay, as a reminder of the repetitive cycles of the creative process. I memorialize discarded trinkets, playthings, and hand-built paper miniatures, knowing the impossibility of the objects’ endurance through time; like nostalgia held dear, they will grow faint and disappear. I pose questions in my work, asking my audience to find personal connections in the imagery. I aim to delight the viewer with approachable content and gently reveal challenging themes. I am a lifelong learner, building meaning with every life interaction. I am curious about our common experiences and our unique understandings. I remember and reveal stories to remind you of your own. Margaret DeLima holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts and an MS in Education. Her art practice explores the functions of reliquary through mixed media works in paper and found objects, and investigates memory, body, and relationship via autobiographical stories. She teaches art and design courses at Molloy College, Suffolk Community College and NYIT. Her work has been shown at the Athens Institute for Contemporary Art in Athens, GA and at the Brevard Art Museum in Melbourne, FL. She was recently Artist in Residence at Blueberry View Artist Retreat in Benton Harbor, MI.

Margaret DeLima The Imprinted, 2016 Mixed Media

Margaret DeLima The Imprinted, 2016 Mixed Media

Margaret DeLima The Imprinted, 2016 Mixed Media

Scott McIntire

When I look at an object whether from nature or manmade, I perceive more than the

object themselves. Surrounding everything we see with the naked eye, are multiple

and complex energy fields that are present but not visible in order to create a more

complete reality. I’ve incorporated into my paintings this unseen and vibrant energy

that comes from electromagnetic radiation, cellular transmissions, radio waves and

sounds. The science of Color itself is a major element in my work and enables me to

project the kinetic movements of the energy fields in these paintings.

The bittersweet paintings from my dark energy series are a calligraphic representation

depicting the confluence of beauty and destruction in nature. The energy fields in this

series come more from naturally derived elements as opposed to the man made. The

unseen here is the conflicting emotion one must confront when observing our natural

environment.

Scott McIntire Bittersweet 5,2015 Enamel on Canvas 8.675” x 23.5”

Scott McIntire Fear of Fracking, 2014 Enamel on Canvas 48” x 60”

Scott McIntire The Pollinator, 2015 Enamel on Canvas 24” x 36”

John Sabraw

As an artist I am interested in what has proven to be the most complex puzzle, the epitome of emergence, the deepest well our sciences have examined; the brain. The instantiation of form and function united, from the molecular to the level of Neuroscience as a discipline, my work seeks to address the beliefs, theories and findings of the biological phenomenon of consciousness. Beginning with biological form or data, my work departs into the world of aesthetics as I manipulate the idea through the use of scale, metaphor, material and form. Unlike articles and raw data, scientific ideas in the form of art inherently demand subjective judgment and interpretation, and my goal as a science-based artist is to provide my viewer an alternative way to understand the wonders of biology we have discovered in ourselves.

Artist John Sabraw was born in Lakenheath, England. An activist and environmentalist, Sabraw’s paintings, drawings and collaborative installations are produced in an eco-conscious manner, and he continually works toward a fully sustainable practice. Sabraw is a Professor of Art at Ohio University where he chairs the Painting + Drawing program and Board Advisor at Scribble Art Workshop in New York.

John Sabraw Chroma S1 1, 2012 Mixed Media on Aluminum Panel 36”x36”

John Sabraw

Chroma S4 Dragon, 2016

Mixed Media on Aluminum Panel

48”x48”

John Sabraw

New Blue River Chroma, 2015

Mixed Media on Aluminum Panel

36”x36”

Anne Seelbach

My current work addresses the pollution that is in many of Long Island’s water systems. Chemicals and industrial waste contaminate streams, lakes, bays and ocean. These “Troubled Waters” paintings reflect a conflict between the laws of nature and our artificial attempts to control - and/or - ignore the environment. Angular and mechanical shapes are incorporated into the paintings, representing unnatural, man-made additions to the water: pesticides, herbicides, rain-water runoff, factory discharges and other substances. Pollutants and debris crowd the waters. Fish mutate into imaginary forms. The marine environment may adapt, or not, to the changes in our waters. Nature will react to this disruption. The cut and pasted works-on-paper, hang on the wall without a frame. Without a constricting edge to confine them, the shapes and spaces expand physically and conceptually creating an immediate experience for the viewer. Each piece is expressive of this new underwater reality.

Anne Seelbach received a BA from New York University and an MFA from Hunter College, City University of New York.She is Inspired by the seasons, tides, marine and wildlife at the shore, she continues to explore the mysteries of nature where earth and water meet. She lives and works in Sag Harbor, NY.

Anne Seelbach Collision, 2016 Acrylic, plastic cloth, plastic mesh, gasket and paper on composition board 34” x 22” x 3” Photo Credit: Gary Mamay

Anne Seelbach Sunken Structure, 2016 Acrylic on paper, plastic grid, plastic mesh, color pencil 24" x 27" x 5” Photo Credit: Gary Mamay

Anne Seelbach Marine World Maze, 2016 Sparkle cloth, plastic grid, fish lures, vinyl tubing, plastic beach debris, acrylic on paper 80" x 91" x 12" Photo Credit: Gary Mamay

Islip Art Museum

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●●●●●●●●●●● The Islip Art Museum is a division of the Town of Islip Department of

Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs, and is managed by the Islip Arts

Council, a non-profit agency in Brookwood Hall, 50 Irish Lane, East

Islip, NY 11730

Beth Giacummo, Museum Curatorial & Exhibitions Director/Sr.

Curator

Eric Murphy, Museum Curatorial & Exhibitions Assistant/ Docent

Jay Schuck, Museum Assistant

Dan Lachacz , Museum Photographer

Ryan Murray, Intern

Islip Arts Council

Lynda A. Moran, Executive Director

Victoria Berger, Program Director

Town Board

Angie M. Carpenter, Supervisor

Thomas Owens, Commissioner

Steven J. Flotteron, Councilman

Trish Bergin Weichbrodt, Councilwoman

John C. Cochrane, Jr., Councilman

Anthony S. Senft, Jr., Councilman

Olga H. Murray, Town Clerk

Alexis Weik, Receiver of Taxes

Thank you to our donors, Islip Arts Council Members and donors, and

sponsors. The staff of the Islip Art Museum thanks the artists for their

participation.

Visit us at www.islipartsmuseum.org and www.isliparts.org

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©2016 Islip Art Museum

All rights reserved. All materials in this catalog are copyrighted. No part of this publication may be reproduced or

used in any form without written permission of the publishers.

For information contact Islip Art Museum, 50 Irish Lane, East Islip, NY 11730