From Beginning to End: Rose Simpson, Jess Riva Cooper, and Fonda Yoshimoto

From Beginning to End

October 30-December 18

Reception: October 29 from 6pm-8pm

Our lives are inextricably linked. The artists in this exhibition explore birth, life, and death in different ways, all attempting to understand their own relationship with the world.

Our lives have a beginning and end whether we believe it is predetermined or by chance, we all experience our world in different ways. Some believe that personal stories and memories are what define our lives. Some fixate on illness and our progression towards death while others take comfort in the fact that they are part of a cycle that is ongoing. Even though we look at life differently we will experience birth and new beginnings as well as mourn the loss of someone close.

This exhibition asks the viewer to reflect on and question their own personal feelings about life and death, and leave with a deeper understanding of their own mortality.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Rose Simpson, Jess Riva Cooper, and Fonda Yoshimoto

Rose Simpson, Ceramics MFA 2011

Jess Riva Cooper, Ceramics MFA 2010

Fonda Yoshimoto, and Ceramics MFA 2010

Ceremony

In the pueblo southwest, the tradition of Bpeni-we Geh honors the dead. The belief is that the deceased will continue to need sustenance in the afterlife, however food must be delivered to the dead in a very specific way. A pot is made with care and contemplation for the deceased loved one, and left unfired. Food is collected and placed within this vessel and broken, allowing both food and vessel to travel to the other side, the afterlife.

This installation is inspired by the Bpeni-we Geh traditions. Simpson, Cooper, and Yoshimoto will use clay to make small vessels as part of a daily ritual, continually adding to the installation. These simple objects are made with reverence, in contemplation of a loved one who has passed, or to support someone else who has suffered a loss.

From Beginning to End