Rachel Epp Buller

Today I look forward to attending the opening of Outpost, an exhibition curated by Ann Resnick for the E.B. White Gallery in El Dorado. In Ann’s words, “Life on the perimeter requires different strategies; coping skills, if you will. It takes a deft hand to negotiate boundaries, seen and unseen, with a world that doesn’t recognize where the edge is.” The works in the show all address the notion of boundaries and edges – geographical, psychological, emotional, sexual, social, and political. Outpost features work by Elizabeth Stevenson, Stan Baden, Kenn Bass, Dana Fritz, Matt Blackwell, Levente Sulyok, Cindy Tower, Mike Odom, and Bert Carpenter, along with a catalogue essay by yours truly. I’m particularly excited about Elizabeth Stevenson’s “secret” site-specific installation. A link to the essay and images from the show: here

Outpost runs through March 30, 2012.

Last week we welcomed John Hitchcock as the Greer Visiting Artist at Bethel. What a stimulating few days! A powerful exhibition in the gallery, a thought-provoking lecture, and a great workshop on screenprinting with the art students. Thank you, John!

More photos of the day here and here

I’ve been following The Adventures of Lactating Girl for awhile now, mostly because I was intrigued by the title of her blog. She’s candid and funny and immersed in the baby and toddler years. She’s now taking a postpartum “maternity leave” from her blog and showcasing the work of other women / guest bloggers in the meantime. Today she published “Collaborations in Art and Breastfeeding,” a piece that I wrote about my own work melding nursing and creativity. Click here to read it.

As a new member of the local Carriage Factory Art Gallery, I am participating in a members exhibition opening this Thursday, January 26, 5-7pm.

After a week of matting and framing and wrapping, I am ready to deliver the new work for my upcoming show. “Those Were the Days” opens at the Steckline Gallery at Newman University on Friday, January 27. I started this series of monoprints a year ago, after experimenting with some image transfer techniques with the awesome Heinrich Toh. When we returned from Berlin and I returned to the prints, I reworked many of them into mixed media pieces. What began as a private production on family history became a larger meditation on my Mennonite cultural heritage as I fragmented and recontextualized historic photographs, settlement and migration maps, and references to historic language and writing.

Newman folks put together a nice press release about the show here.

After a whirlwind trip back to Berlin last week, I can say with confidence that progress was made, even if there is still a long ways to go. I am working with museum colleagues to stage an exhibition, looking ahead to January 2014. In the meantime, there is much book-writing to be done, grant funding to be located, and all the exhibition details to be put into place. It feels overwhelming, in many respects, but exciting, too. I am thankful for supportive colleagues at the AdK and the Verborgene Museum who believe in this project.

Welcome, 2012!  I spent so much of 2011 in Berlin that I’m very excited to be making a quick trip back next week. Many, many thanks to the generous funding of the Gerda Henkel foundation for making this trip possible. I have a few research details to follow up, some meetings to set up with colleagues, and I think I hear some pastries calling my name, too. Mostly, though, I plan to make it a week of intensive writing and exhibition planning. Time to get this show on the road!

Staying in our old neighborhood - convenient and nostalgic