February 26 – April 30, 2022
Instruments of Memory presents artistic work that investigates materiality in relation to history, place, time, and remembrance. This exhibition features new and recent work by four artists based in Los Angeles, California: Dana Funaro, B. Neimeth, Aneesa Shami, and Patricia Yossen. With practices spanning ceramics, painting, photography, fiber art, and sound, the artists investigate how places, landscapes, remains, and objects produce and affect identity and how memory is linked to the tactile and intuitive qualities of the materials.
An extension of our site, which began as an online project documenting the work of women in the arts, IoM is a growing community that seeks to promote the work of women from different latitudes through in-depth conversations, exhibitions, and programming with different community partners. This exhibition is the first of our collaborations with Studio 203, an artist-run space in Los Angeles founded by Aneesa and Grant Zizzo.
About the artists:
Dana Funaro is an artist living and working in Los Angeles. Her work is a meditation on the human experience and an attempt to understand our relationships to one another within the cosmos. In search of a balance between control and chance, she uses materials as metaphors to explore themes of time, memory, grief, acceptance, and healing. Loss, growth, and transformation all leave behind memories that are powerfully symbolic. Materials with these inherent qualities are intrinsic in her work.
B. Neimeth is a Los Angeles-based visual artist and teacher whose research examines familial and intimate relationships. Through archives, photographs, video, writing, and sound, she explores the flexibility of memory and its connection to space. She has shown internationally at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in Singapore, Human Resources in Los Angeles, the Center for Sex and Culture in San Francisco, and ROSEGALLERY in Los Angeles. Her work has been published in the Los Angeles Review of Books Quarterly Journal and reviewed in What’s on LA, Fabrik, and Lenscratch. Her work is part of the collections in the California Institute of the Arts and Yale University Libraries.
Aneesa Shami is an artist and researcher based in Los Angeles using recycled materials to create fiber art. Her work references the sublime and world mythologies to evoke a sense of the collective unconscious within her imagery. Shami holds Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees in both Fiber and Art History from the Kansas City Art Institute. She was the Textile Arts | Los Angeles AIR at Helms Design Center in 2018, and was a Fellow for the Mildred’s Lane Attention Labs: Order of the Third Bird in 2015. Shami’s work has been exhibited nationally in galleries and museums. She recently created costumes for Planet City (2020), directed by Liam Young, which was commissioned for the NGV Triennial 2020 in Melbourne, Australia. Aneesa Shami is also the co-owner and director of Studio 203, an artist-run space in Los Angeles that collaborates with artists to create exhibitions and host workshops and performances.
Patricia Yossen was born in the rural town of Santa Fe, Argentina. She studied education and sculpture and her life in the countryside has a profound influence on her artwork and pedagogy as an art educator. In 1996 she moved to Mexico City, where she studied techniques in stone carving and ceramics. In 2005, she moved to New York, where she worked in the education department at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Museo del Barrio. Yossen received an MFA in sculpture at Pratt Institute and subsequently relocated to Los Angeles, where she currently works as an art educator at Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA), the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), and is a Professor at Occidental College where she leads the ColLABorate workshop. Her work as an artist has been shown at numerous galleries in Argentina, Mexico, Spain, New York, and Los Angeles.
About the curator:
Claudia Pretelin is a Mexican art historian, independent curator, and arts administrator based in Los Angeles, California. She holds a B.A. in communications and received her M.A. and Ph.D. in art history from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Her academic work has specialized in the fields of photo history and contemporary art. Through an interdisciplinary approach, her curatorial practice focuses on understanding the processes by which individuals and groups remember and interpret memory in its different manifestations. She has lectured in Mexico, Argentina, and the United States and has organized exhibitions and events in different art museums and art galleries including Rochester Contemporary Art Center (RoCo) and Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE). She is the Founder & Curator of http://www.instrumentsofmemory.com, an online site that documents conversations with women in the arts, a community that seeks to promote the work of women in different latitudes. Through this platform, she has organized, Above And Under The Surface (2021) and Instruments of Memory (2022).
Image credit: All photos by Gina Cline
Press
Download Press Release here
Meet Claudia Pretelin| Voyage LA
Studio 203
3440 Motor Ave Suite 203 Los Angeles, CA 90034. http://www.thestudio203.org
Gallery Hours: Thurs – Sat, 1pm – 4pm
Special last week hours: Friday 04/29 & Saturday 04/30, 11am – 5pm
Related programs
Untold Stories: tracing diasporic memories. Workshop with art historian and curator Claudia Pretelin
1:30-2:30 pm
Location: Studio 203
A workshop and memory activation with art historian, Claudia Pretelin.
In this theoretical-practical workshop participants were invited to delve into their personal archives bringing mementos and objects of remembrance. Through a memory activation, they shared their our own diasporic stories and memories on what we/our families/our ancestors have lost or left behind, and how we use those stories to find and build our own community.
Advance registration was required.
Pop-Up Art Sale at Studio 203
April 16
2pm to 4pm
Location: Studio 203
A one day event featuring small objects by artists participating in ɪɴꜱᴛʀᴜᴍᴇɴᴛꜱ ᴏꜰ ᴍᴇᴍᴏʀʏ at Studio 203. This pop-up sale included small batch ceramics by B. Neimeth, and studio samples plus handwoven textiles by Aneesa Shami. Support local artists and add to your personal art collection!
This event was free and open to the public.
Rememory Landscapes
Workshop with Aneesa Shami
Apil 16, 2022
11:00 am to 1:00 pm
Inspired by the idea of the “rememory” found in Toni Morrison’s Beloved, this workshop shares how to capture the abstract notion of memory through material exploration. Using reclaimed fabric, collage methods, and applique techniques, the ReMemory Landscape relies on a making-while-meditating mindset. Participants will explore how to depict their personal memories of specific landscapes through the use of fabric collage and abstract imagery.
Sliding scale participation fee: $65, $75, $85
All materials included with fee!
10% of all workshop proceeds to Able ARTS Work, a non-profit organization providing inclusive arts programs & services for marginalized and underserved communities.
Instagram live conversation with artist, B. Neimeth and curator, Claudia Pretelin
April 10, 9 am
Instagram @instrumentsofmemory and @b.neimeth
In this IG live conversation, B. Neimeth and Claudia Pretelin talked about the artist’s practice and the art-making process of the art installation included in the Instruments of Memory exhibition.
Replay the conversation here.
Instagram live conversation with artist, Aneesa Shami and curator, Claudia Pretelin
April 2, 11 am
Instagram @instrumentsofmemory and @aneesashami
In this IG live conversation, Aneesa Shami and Claudia Pretelin talked about the artist’s practice, her work as a co-owner and director of Studio 203, and the collaboration with Instruments of Memory.
Replay conversation here.
Art Talk
March 20, 2022
1:30pm-2:30pm
A conversation with artists B. Neimeth, Aneesa Shami, and Patricia Yossen moderated by curator, Claudia Pretelin at Studio 203. The artists discussed their practice, and broader considerations presented when making work and using materials that explore history, memory, and place.
This was an in-person conversation at Studio 203 (3440 Motor Ave STE 203, Los Angeles, CA 90034) Pre registration was required. Free and open to the public. Limited capacity.
Círculos de Confianza | Trust Circles
Workshop with Patricia Yossen
March 12, 2022
1:00-2:30 pm
A ceramics workshop led by artist Patricia Yossen in conjunction with the exhibition Instruments of Memory, featuring Yossen’s work “Círculos de Confianza/Trust Circles” at Studio 203.
The work Círculos de Confianza | Trust Circles refers to a practice of gathering in a community to craft, converting the quotidian into a vibrant exchange of ideas, emotions, and experiences. There is a transformative, liberating aspect to this practice, which can be described as collective self-expression. Following this practice, the artist will share how she works with porcelain and offer materials for the participants to work with and make their own creations.
This was an in-person event at Woodbine Park (next to Studio 203) at 3409 Vinton Ave. Open to adults at any level of experience. $20 participation fee.
All materials provided.
