Solo Exhibitions by Rebecca Gilbert and Virginia Batson May 8, 2008

Artist members Rebecca Gilbert and Virginia Batson, artists working with experimental drawing and printmaking methods, will debut new bodies of work at NEXUS. Both exhibitions open Thursday May 8 and run through Friday June 6.

Rebecca Gilbert will be exhibiting ghostly, layered glue etchings along with wheat pasted woodcut installations in an exhibition entitled Dirt Thirst.
Dirt Thirst is about intense yearning; it is about emotional cravings manifesting themselves physically in the search for a quintessential bluebird of happiness. It’s about the excitement and optimistic hopefulness associated with setting new goals and imagining change. At the same time, it’s about the struggle to achieve, the fear of failure, success and change, as well as the fear of the absence of change. Dirt Thirst is the feeling that something is missing from life and the mission and the struggle of working toward realizing what is missing while keeping together what one has so far.

Virginia Batson presents her second solo show at Nexus, entitled substance, sustenance. This is Batson’s first exhibition since the birth of her child.
“After having deeply immersed myself in the extraordinary – and completely ordinary – processes of pregnancy, natural birth, breastfeeding, and conscious parenting, I’ve never felt so intricately enmeshed in the procreative fabric of the world,” Batson says. “The natural processes of growth and evolution continue to inspire me in the studio. My art-making process seeks to approximate the beauty – random and patterned – created by cellular growth.”
A series of small drawings begun during her pregnancy explore reproduction, gestation, and microcosmic growth with a restrained palette: pencil, needle, glue, and the artist’s hair.

paraphrase/NEXUS, a monthly series in which performance based artists create new work that responds and relates to current exhibitions, will take place on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 8pm. This month’s installment features dancer/choreographers Michele Tantoco and Liza Clark.

Rebecca Gilbert – Dirt Thirst & Virginia Batson – substance, sustenance
May 8 – June 6, 2008

Opening Reception Thursday May 8 – 6 to 9 PM
paraphrase/NEXUS Wednesday May 28 – 8 PM
with dancer/choreographers Michele Tantoco and Liza Clark
Gallery Hours Wednesday through Sunday 12 to 6 PM
There is no fee for admission

Official Website: http://www.nexusphiladelphia.org