Join us for the Opening October 29th 6-8 pm
Sarah Lindley "Poppenhuizen"
We are
pleased to announce our gallery's presentation of this extraordinary exhibition
of Sarah Lindley's ceramic sculptures based on 17th and 18th Century Dutch
Cabinet Houses. A genre of Dutch furniture, poppenhuizen were
exquisite, miniature houses appointed with all the comforts and luxuries
of the Amsterdam homes they reproduced in every tiny detail. Lindley's
half-scale, skeletal renditions express her interest in the cabinets'
architectural structures, as well as their careful proportions and design
flourishes. Though ostensibly a doll's house, Petronella Oortman's
poppenhuis cost 30,000 guilders in 1670, almost enough to purchase a real house
at that time; thus these follies were clearly not child's play.
Likewise, Lindley's sculptures transcend their role as beautiful
decorative objects, painting an imaginary, yet informative picture of the elite
interiors of this period of material and artistic abundance. Lindley creates
more austere poppenhuizen but applies the same obsessive and confounding
craftsmanship found in the originals by making them in clay. The results are
exquisite contemporary sculpture full of rich, metaphorical
content.
Sarah Lindley received her BFA from the famed ceramics department at
Alfred University in NY and her MFA in ceramics from the University of
Washington. She currently teaches sculpture and ceramics at Kalamazoo College in
Michigan. Lindley has received numerous grants and awards for her work and has
recently completed a prestigious residency at the Kohler Co. Factory in upstate
NY. In addition to her significant solo shows, Lindley's original,
furniture-based sculpture has been included in challenging group exhibitions as
far flung as France and Korea.
Digital Images
available upon request.
Contact: Rebecca Cross