"Process Portrait" a group exhibition of interdisciplinary and
multidimensional works by Eve Arbel, Caity Ballister, Anjelica Colliard, Hannah Lee Hoffman, and Smith|Allen.
What: Group Exhibition: Process PortraitWhere: Firehouse Art Collective, 1790 Shattuck AveBerkeley, CA 94709
Exhibition Dates: February 8 – March 2, 2013
Reception: Friday, February 8, 7-9 pm
Press Contact: Stephanie Smith, slsmith538@gmail.com
"Process Portrait" is an exhibition of works that focus on the process of art making, where the final product reflects exploration and growth throughout time, functioning equally as a portrait of the process and as an independent work of art. Ranging from Eve Arbel’s textured oil paintings and Caity Ballister’s folded tortilla installation to Anjelica Colliard’s drawn animations, Hannah Lee Hoffman’s sewn paper works, and Smith|Allen’s 3d printed drawings, it is a cross section of the possibilities of art, materials, and self-expression.
Upcoming Event dates for "Process Portrait" at Firehouse Gallery North:
Storytelling Night: February 13, 7-9pm
Drink and Draw: February 20, 7-9pm
Closing Reception: March 2, 7-10pm
Texture, dimension, and color saturate Eve Arbel’s canvases, their sheer materiality captivating to the
viewer. Her work is dynamic, oscillating between abstracted and representational imagery and between
dimensions, building up layers of paint, dripping solvents, or collaging paper. The artist describes her
process as “a surrender to the process of applying paint,” and her work as “a diary entry.” Arbel’s paintings
are dynamic and introspective, each piece capturing a moment within her unconscious or a specific emotion
as it arises, though its form could reveal itself as a precariously balanced castle in Utopia (2012), or with
textured paint application in Peace and Quiet (2012). United as one, her works paint a comprehensive and
open portrait of the artist herself. Eve Arbel recently graduated from University of California at Berkeley
(UC Berkeley), where she was awarded an Excellence in Painting. She is currently an Artist in Resident at
Foundry Nights in West Berkeley, and has exhibited at the Worth Ryder Gallery and the Alchemy Café. In
2013, she will exhibit in Nabolom Bakery, Foundry Nights, Wine on Piedmont, and Sweet Adeline Bakeshop.
She lives and works in her home studio in Oakland.
Caity Ballister is an interdisciplinary artist who embraces art and practice, finding inspiration
in relationships, history, memories and the everyday: objects, moments, and emotions, her
work reflects life experience. Ranging from whimsical performance and bizarre video to
abstract painting and minimal sculpture, her work is raw and honest in its exploration of the
world around her, using accessible materials and her own experience as a guide: a compressed
ball of earplugs gradually grows and inflates to the soundtrack of her own masturbation;
discarded objects and clothes dismantled, reassembled, and repurposed in a wall-size
installation. Ballister plays with art history and expands on moments of surprise allowing the
viewer to rethink their own reality and to share in a common understanding. Through her
broad practice, Ballister tells stories, equally poetic and accessible, and paints a portrait not only of herself, but of the human experience. Caity Ballister recently graduated from UC Berkeley where she was a member of the honors studio and also received the certificate of Excellence in New Genres. She lives and works in the East Bay.
Skewed perspective, quirky narratives, and delicate line work capture the essence of Anjelica Colliard’s
work, which strives to “capture and understand an essence of experience that is uncanny or unexpected.”
Through the delicacy of the free drawn line, her work expresses the imperfections of human relationships
with the environment, with others, and with oneself. Originally a two-dimensional artist, she has begun
combining digital media with the hand-drawn, literally bringing life to her narratives that “visually layer
time” and confuse past, present and future. Colliard is interested in capturing an aspect of authenticity of the
world, creating portraits of relationships through her drawings, wordless comics, and intaglio prints. Anjelica
Colliard recently graduated UC Berkeley with honors and was awarded Excellence in Printmaking. She currently lives and works in Oakland.
Hannah Lee Hoffman is an artist who works with imagination and the environment, drawing from
nature and its elements, from herself and her community, and the world and its materials. Whether
hand sewing organic flowers out of discarded magazine pages or hosting community art events at
Make Harmony in San Francisco, Hoffman engages in an art practice that is social and collaborative,
creating portraits of community and human connection. Her work focuses on art as a continual, daily
practice, where the final product embraces its process, showing seams and the connections that hold it
together. Hannah Lee Hoffman graduated from UC Berkeley, and has shown at the Worth Ryder
Gallery in Berkeley.
Smith|Allen is a collaborative duo that combines the possibilities of hand and the digital and the
process of translation, juxtaposing hand drawings with 3-D printing technology and novel materials.
Combing Smith’s interest in installation, material, and dimension with Allen’s architectural background
and computer modeling skills, the duo is focused on work that is visually and experientially engaging
for the viewer. Examining forms such as dysfunctional ladders or tree cells, their work is a portrait of
functionality, translation, and change. Bryan Allen received his Masters in Architecture from University
of California at Berkeley, and currently is a post-graduate researcher at UC Berkeley. He has exhibited
at Wurster Hall and Headquarters Gallery in Berkeley, and at numerous spaces in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Bryan Allen lives and works in Oakland. Stephanie Smith is a Bay Area artist who graduated from UC
Berkeley with honors. She has shown at Yerba Buena Gardens, the Worth Ryder Gallery, Headquarters Gallery, and Café Local 123 in Berkeley; she lives and works in Oakland.
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