June Ahrens send me an email
Artistically, I transform discarded objects to create a visual language
that evokes the experiences of impermanence, loss, fragility and pain,
but most of all, healing and survival. This work has evolved from my experiences
with the homeless and other marginalized communities.
Whether I use pieces of soap, used pillows, discarded furniture, or eggshells,
the tension between self and other is always present. The work is based
on an awareness that tactile materials, expecially those with a previous
life, can provide a visceral response. It is about isolating these materials
to focus the viewer's attention toward exploring and examining their own
thoughts and feelings.
I feel I must step out of the comfort zone, out of the walls of my studio
where I have some measure of control, to create individual pieces, installations
or collaboations that involve other people. I then integrate these fragments,
and somehow the imprint of each person, the exchange of feeling, thought
and idea, becomes an unseen force in my work.
June Ahrens has a BFA from SUNY at Purchase (Summa Cum Laude). She has
received numerous grants and awards.The Connecticut Commission on the
Arts selected her for an Individual Artists Grant, and a Distinguished
Advocates for the Arts award. She has also received grants from Duracell,
Poloroid, and the NEA. Some of her one person shows include, the Housatonic
Museum, Bridgeport, CT, Marist College, Poukeepsie, NY, Silvermine Galleries,
New Canaan, CT, and Green Street Windows, NY, NY. Selected group shows
include: The Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield, CT, The Katonah Museum, Katonah
NY, The UN, New York, NY, and The Neuberger Museum, Purchase NY. Her work
is in the colletcion of the Housatonic Museum, Bridgeport, CT, The Contemporary
Gallery of Art, Sacred Heart University, Fairfield CT, and Akus Gallery,
Eastern State Connecticut University, Willimantic CT.
Click on thumbnail at right for better view.
