A new opening in the James Watrous Gallery on the third floor of the Overture Center features textiles chosen, created and arranged by Marna Goldstein Brauner and large glass sculptures by UW-Madison professor and glass artist Steve Feren.

Marna Goldstein Brauner: Ivoroid & Organdie

Goldstein Brauner, a textiles professor at UW-Milwaukee with an extensive exhibiting career, has contributed works that highlight her interest in celluloid as a material (both film-type images and collars) as well as artificial imitations of reality. Ivoroid is a plastic ivory substitute.
"For over 30 years I have been creating work that is thematically based on the absurdity of life in the face of inevitable death," she wrote in an artist statement. In previous work she has used cemetery statuary -- Goldstein confessed that she is "fascinated" with cemeteries -- and in this exhibit she uses Victorian cemetery sculpture depicting parts of the human body.
Celluloid was used in the first half of the 20th century to make knife handles, washable collars (which Goldstein Brauner burns patterns into) and cuffs, toys, table tennis balls, and picture frames. It's meant to imitate ivory. Goldstein Brauner collects these things from various flea market and online sources, according to gallery co-director Randall Berndt.

Some celluloid objects, can be creepy, like teeth or frames surrounding faces that appear ghostly. By assembling these items, Goldstein Brauner points out the immortal elements in the domestic.

A central piece in the exhibit is a giant apron entitled "Curiosities -- You're Ruining My Epiphany," an assemblage of aprons yellowed with time, sewn together, attached to a red and white hospital quilt and screen printed with disembodied heads. The images appear to be taken from a medical field guide.

The material is identified as "vintage organdie" and is strongly evocative of WWII nursing. Another striking part of the exhibit -- my favorite -- is a display called "Swashy Zippy Ones (2006)," a series of vintage cloths and images paired with text drawn from a font textbook.

Steve Feren: Notes on the Interior

Next to the Goldstein Brauner display stand two of the largest sculptures ever to be displayed in the Watrous Gallery. Steve Feren's enormous statues, defined as "tour de force glass art pieces" by Berndt, depict a man and a woman in many-layered sectioned glass.

The statues, surrounded by metal sculpture that reminded my gallery-visiting companion Maggie of a Torii Japanese gate, show a collage of vintage images ranging from shells, diagrams, animal figures and rope knots. It struck me as a physical, bodily representation of the human quest for knowledge.

"I use glass 'paintings' to express the internal journey and my search for connection," Feren wrote, drawing imagery from "the foundational knowledge of natural environments and scientific theories."

Feren's piece "Winter Locked (2006)" shows what looks like a wall of ice behind a black-and-white photographic image of a ship, surrounded by pastel colors. "Ghost Father (2006)" is brightly colored and a bit disturbing, with a horror movie-like picture of a dark hood with no head. The piece is made out of glass and aluminum.

This side-by-side exhibit runs at the James Watrous Gallery in the Overture Center, 201 State Street. An opening reception runs from 5:30-8:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 8 with artist talks beginning at 6:30 p.m.

Go to the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters for more information.