Entangled Experience

Admission to exhibit is free, all are welcome!

Exhibit Dates: August 20 - September 19, 2018

MPC Art Gallery, 980 Fremont St., Monterey, CA

Hours: Monday - Thursday 11:00am - 4:00pm
(or by appointment; call 831-646-3060)

Artists' Talk and Reception:

• Thursday, September 20, 2:45-4:15pm (Artists' talk at 1:00pm)

Dana Harris Seeger tells us:

My work in printmaking and painting helps me navigate through the space of memory. I ask questions like “Whose memories are these?”, “Did I make this memory up?”, and “How much do I really know about my past?” My work centers on the mysterious nature of growing up as an identical twin. We often have different memories of the same experiences. Growing up I struggled with finding my own identity as a unique individual that was part of a unit. Now I ask myself if it matters how unique I am. I will often start a piece with an object that rotates or moves back and forth such as an Estonian windmill, Ferris wheel, or carousel. Some of these objects spark real memories for me; some only show me how my past exists with me in the present. The rotating nature of these footholds keeps bringing me back to the beginning. I use the translucent nature of silk organza, acrylic Plexiglas and beeswax encaustic paint to layer the imagery in a kind of dream reality. I have started incorporating light into my pieces as a way to enhance the dimensionality of this deep and hidden space, only allowing certain elements to become clear.

Dana Harris Seeger was born in El Granada, California. She received her MFA in Printmaking from San Jose State University in 2011 and her BA in Painting from Anderson University in 2004. She has been a member of the California Society of Printmakers since 2011. In 2012 she was an Artist in Residence at Kala Art Institute in Berkeley, California and taught Lithography courses there. In 2014 she co-founded an art studio and school in San Jose called the School of Visual Philosophy. She currently runs the school with her husband, a sculptor and holds her studio there. She exhibits her work nationally and has been published in Studio Visit Magazine. She has won awards for her work including 3rd Place Print for her lithograph "Toledo" at the Triton Museum's Annual 2D Salon in 2017 as well as winning the Auvil Printmaking Award while at San Jose State two years in a row. She was recently named one of KQED's 10 Bay Area Women to Watch as well as becoming a member of the Worldwide Association of Female Professionals. She resides in Ben Lomond, California with her husband Yori Seeger, daughter Lyla and twin boys Hayden and Esben.

In the words of Chenhung Chen

My art is about dichotomy: concord and dissonance, stillness and chaos, the beautiful and the grotesque, the subtle and the powerful. I look to contrast the materials of daily life such as natural material, like wood, and industrial material, like cables. This contrast parallels with the distinction of yin and yang, female and male. From these are formed works dealing with balance, making the invisible visible, the driving force for inner fulfillment, the meditative process, human internal structures, and the transitional human condition.

In my work I am completely involved with line, having first recognized its power in Chinese calligraphy and painting, and later in American Abstract Expressionism. Through the use of line, I am able to express feelings of delicacy, power, buoyancy, strength, and constant motion. The linear qualities inherent in nature also inform my assemblage process and creative vision.

From my urban recluse experience, through mixed media works which is influenced by our DIY culture, I strive to express my perception of the inner existence: its simplicity and its profundity. Included in my 3D work are recycled materials such as copper wire, electrical wire, and an array of electronic and computer components, whose original function was to harness electrical power and transform its potential, bending it to the will of mankind—all this fascinates me. In my 2D work I experiment with material from graphite to ink, oil to acrylic, paper to canvas, as well as mundane useful objects that have linear qualities.

Admission to exhibit is free, all are welcome!

*MPC parking fee: $3 on weekdays