Artworks Gallery Presents:
Charles Hahn: Complexities, and Nuances of the Human Spirit
(solo show)
Katherine Mahler: Wayfinding
(solo show)
Exhibition dates: May 7-30, 2021
SHOP THE EXHIBIT ONLINE
Charles Hahn | Complexities, and Nuances of the Human Spirit
Charles Hahn’s current project, “Complexities, and Nuances of the Human Spirit,” concentrates on characterizing the striking aspect of each person’s sensibility and inner self. The artist’s goal is to capture, in engaging black and white photography, the essence of an individual while letting the environment play second fiddle to the images of vibrant sentient beings. This body of work celebrates the subjects as individuals with their distinct souls, a center of being with a human quality to be appreciated. The way time moves on and things disappear; the photographs capture a moment in the past that one experiences in the present. Therefore, every photograph is ultimately about the passing of time, while preserving the spirit of the moment.
Since his youth, Charles Hahn spent untold hours in the darkrooms at school and at his home. It was during these early years that he cut his teeth on black and white film developing and processing. Early on he embarked upon a journalistic essay by photographing Chippewa Street, a seamy street in his hometown of Buffalo, NY, documenting in photography a world that would soon cease to exist. This first foray into street photography would be the predecessor of future projects, including work done in Winston-Salem where he currently resides. Although the people and places are different, the storytelling is eerily similar telling the stories of people who are usually overlooked.
Katherine Mahler | Wayfinding
The work presented in “Wayfinding” by Katherine Mahler draws upon memories of time spent on the Great Lakes and Niagara River, serving as a metaphor for navigating the pandemic. This series began as a way to remember places and times from the artist’s childhood in the Buffalo-Niagara region of New York and Ontario, Canada. Memory and maps, along with other wayfinding inspiration, speak to how we learn to find our way, literally and metaphorically and the guideposts and markers we need to navigate successfully from place and time.
The work for this show represents ideas about what becomes essential to know, what details are important to pay attention to, observations about the cultural abandonment of collective action in favor of individualism, and trusting your instincts amid chaos. This series of work emerged in the winter of 2021 and is still evolving.
Katherine Mahler is an art educator and holds a BA in Studio Art from Kenyon College, a BFA in Art Education from Michigan State University, and is an MFA candidate at Lesley University.
The exhibit is free and open to the public.
Artworks Gallery, Inc.
564 North Trade Street
Winston-Salem, NC 27101. Gallery phone: 336-723-5890
May Gallery Hours: Friday and Saturday 11-5 Sunday 1-4
Open for Gallery Hop: May 7, 2021, 7 – 9 pm (Meet the Artists Reception)
Or by appointment at shop@artworks-gallery.org