Closing Reception & Artist Talk: Erica Podwoiski- "Blue Whispers"

Join us for a special closing reception and artist talk with Erica Podwoiski as she takes us on a journey through her captivating exhibition, "Blue Whispers". Get ready to gain a deeper understanding of her creative process and to be immersed in her residency installation focusing on the life cycle of moths.

Q&A and a final artist walkthrough of the exhibit will occur after the talk. Erica is inviting all community ceramic moth makers who were included in the exhibit to come retrieve their moths.

About the exhibit and the artist

Podwoiski was selected as the 2024 Summer Artist in Residence for the Firehouse Artist Occupied Series. This program invites emerging and established artists working in all media to explore their practice while engaging with the community. In “Blue Whispers”, Podwoiski focuses on capturing the ephemeral nature of moths through the visual vocabulary of cyanotype.

Invented by Sir John Herschel in 1842, cyanotypes are photographs with a distinctive blue tonality produced by treating paper with an iron-salt solution. The treated paper is then developed using only the sun. What is created is a one-to-one scale documentation of the printed object. Podwoiski takes the ability of the medium to mark a moment in time and connects it to a moth’s fleeting life cycle. Rather than creating a visual document, her images are abstracted and multilayered. Gone are the stark white silhouettes, and what remains is an allegorical narrative of life, death, and decay.

“A group of moths is called a universe, an eclipse, or a whisper. After dusk, whispers of moths quietly dodge and dart predators as they seek out mates, lay their eggs, pollinate plants, and try to survive the night. These works are inspired by the poetic nature of the moth’s short and wild life,” shares Podwoiski.

Podwoiski combines the cyanotype method with traditional drawing as well as found and donated objects from Longmont. This oasis of biodiversity includes local plants and insects, pressed flowers and human detritus. Blue Whispers also showcases drawings and ceramic moths created by members of the Longmont community.

“Moths teach us that time is cyclical, and existence is fleeting; the sun prints capture the ephemeral moment when the moths were here.”

During her two-month residency, Podwoiski worked in the Firehouse Art Center’s South Gallery. “A wise person told me that these projects are all about ‘broad strokes and little details.’ As a detail-oriented person, this residency pushed me to focus on the broad strokes and relinquish some perfectionist tendencies. It also taught me that art making doesn’t happen in a vacuum. My work has been made so much richer as a result of the many conversations, studio visits, and interactions with visitors during my stay. I received such generous and valuable feedback from the community during this residency, along with many wonderful donations that are featured in the cyanotypes. This residency also inspired me to tap into the skills of other creatives, which resulted in several collaborative pieces that I can’t wait to share.”

ARTIST BIO:

Erica Podwoiski is a visual artist whose work explores intimate encounters with the natural world. Born and raised in Metro Detroit, Erica received her BFA from the Columbus College of Art & Design in 2010 and her MFA from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2017. She has exhibited at the Gallery of Contemporary Art (GOCA) in Colorado Springs, inside the Denver-based pop-up art truck Hey Hue, at the Galerie im Körnerpark in Berlin, and with the artist-founded Buckham Gallery in Flint, MI. When not teaching adult classes in the 2D arts, Erica can be found pressing flowers, appreciating moths, and collecting dead bugs for inspiration.

About the Residency Program

The Firehouse Art Center hosts two residencies each year, working in the South Gallery for three months before a culminating solo exhibition in the Main Gallery with the opportunity to guest curate the accompanying South Gallery.

The Artist Occupied program at the Firehouse Art Center is intended as a professional development opportunity for emerging and experienced visual artists.Bring you work to a new creative level as you connect visitors to working artist environments and processes.

Previous resident artists include Heather Kegel, Sean Faling, Jessica Forrestal, Chris Blume, Kaitlyn Tucek, Roberta Restaino, Chelsea Gilmore, Barbara Rudlaff, Amy Hoagland, Janelle Anderson, Jono Wright, and Nancy Eastman.

Support the Firehouse

If you’re feeling inspired to support our resident artists, their projects, or the Firehouse Art Center, please visit https://firehouseart.org/donat... and give today by becoming a monthly supporter or by making a one-time donation. Thank you!