CONSTRUCTING PLACE
new works by KRISTEN NECESSARY
JUNE 10-11, 2012

Opening Reception: Sunday, June 10, 4-8pm
Open Hours: Monday, June 11, noon-4pm

ACRE Projects
1913 W 17th Street, Chicago 60608

CONSTRUCTING PLACE is a search to find the elegance, the humor, and the humanity in our constructed environments. Necessary explores the ways people structure place and how, in turn, a place can shape a people. Investigating this interdependent relationship of place and identity, with a focus on domestic space and vernacular culture, is the foundation of this exhibition and her artistic practice.

An acute awareness to the influence of place on identity developed as a direct result of Necessary’s upbringing in the coalfields of Central Appalachia. This background in an area that is heavily stereotyped and otherwise constructed by the assumptions of both locals and outsiders has proven to be an influential presence. Now, as she travels in and through vernaculars, the digital camera assists in collecting the traces of an experience in a place. In the studio, photographic notes and bodily memories create compositions that catalogue, conflate, and distill images of the everyday. In this process, representation becomes re-presentation with the intent of provoking awareness to the quotidian core of life experience.

The work is constructed by combining various methods of printmaking, drawing, photography, and collage. Merging traditional fine art techniques with the language of decorative craft culture, these explorations exhibit as installation, works on paper, and artist books.

Support for this event has been provided by the Iowa Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.

KRISTEN NECESSARY can presently be found Iowa City, Iowa. Born and raised in the coalfields of southwest Virginia amidst the cultural region of Central Appalachia, this experience continues to exert a strong influence on her artistic work and conceptual awareness to the influence of place on identity. Kristen spent several years living in Richmond, Virginia where she earned a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University. She then studied Printmaking and Drawing at The University of Iowa and was awarded an MFA in 2011. Her work is shown in national and international exhibitions and located in many collections, including the Denver Art Museum. Kristen Necessary is currently in Iowa City working with Public Space One, a progressive non-profit arts space, to establish a new open-access workspace and print shop dedicated to fostering a divergent community of makers and thinkers.

More information about Kristen Necessary can be found at www.kristennecessary.com

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Tags: ACRE, Kristen Necessary, Pilsen