A reception for “Threads of Change” was held Nov. 21 in the L.H. Jr. Horton Art Gallery. This show will be open for the public through Dec 12.
These artistic displays feature many exhibiting artists who express many different subjects, from historical racism to expressing a problem in our society and ecological issues.
One of the artists from Berkeley,Ruth Tabancy, made “plastic reef,“ “Bleached 3.0,” and the “Adapting to substrates 4.0” expressed her feelings about the reasoning behind her artwork.
“I’m really interested in the bleaching of coral reefs, like one of my artworks is called bleached. Our oceans are getting warmer and it’s killing the corrals, the waters are getting warmer due to global warming and burning too much fossil fuel, so instead of corrals being bright and colorful the organisms die and turn white,” said Tabancy during the reception.
Tabancy used and created many things from scratch like crocheting the corrals from yarn, as well as using pins, polystyrene, and canvas’ to create microorganisms and reefs.
“There are many plastics all over the world and it takes hundreds of years for plastic to decompose, like you can see all the bottles laying on the beaches and the coastal regions around the world like Indonesia, so I basically grab some of the plastics that me and others use everyday, and incorporated it into my artwork as a way to spread awareness about pollution and global warming,” said Tabancy.
Artist Robin L. Bernstein also has three of her art pieces up for display in the gallery called “In defense of nature,” “Depopulation,” and “L’dor V’dor, From Generation to Generation”.
At a young age Bernstein said didn’t think she would be where she is now as an artist, or even an artist in general.
“I always thought I was going to be a doctor when I was in college, but something was missing and then I took a painting class. It was wonderful and I really loved it. I then took art history and other classes related to it so it was very inspiring and I went for it,” said Bernstein.
Each of Bernstein’s art pieces displayed in the gallery have a meaning.
“The pieces each have a meaning, I consider myself very much in tune with contemporary times, following politics and sciences. So as I am learning, reading, and studying I have an opinion on it like my L’Dor V’Dor piece. These numbers, symbols, and words are all clothed identifiers that white supremacist groups are using to secretly identify their beliefs,” said Bernstein.
Bernstein also has unique artwork to resemble the pieces she creates to make her opinions.
“To make these pieces I cut thousands and thousands of colorful string and I press the string into wax using chopsticks, so i’ll draw my outline on the wood and cover the surface with beeswax and melt the vaseline into it to soften it, then lastly I will add pine resin to make it strong,” said Bernstein.
Other featured artists include Willaim Rhodes and Richard-Jonathan Nelson who weren’t present for the reception but their pieces show many deep resemblances that caught many eyes of visitors.
