The Esvelt Gallery is honored to present [re]siding by Stacy Isenbarger. The exhibition runs from April 1 – May 2, 2024, with an artist talk on April 11 at 3 pm in the Esvelt Gallery with a reception to follow at the gallery. Stacy Isenbarger’s creative pursuits include sculpture, installation, mixed-media drawings, and supporting community exchange through art.

There has been much worth letting go of in recent years, yet I still feel an atmospheric pull to try and tie the air back together, to weave something grounding where I am. Consumed by various distractions, disappointments, and environmental consequences, throughout [re]siding, I’m reacting to the weight of distance and a lost sense of home. Through each piece, I am attempting to hold space for desired reconnections, renewed sense of hope, or maybe even some bluer skies.

Since 2018, I’ve been working on a series of mixed-media wall relief pieces called Sheds, some of which will be featured in this exhibition. In this series, oddly shaped upholstered forms are entwined with hand-sewn velvet root forms, bare tree branches, and interior trimmings. As these constructed elements pull themselves together or break apart, the familiar materials of home are juxtaposed with the natural and confront the division between the ideal of homes and the ecology of our domestic environments and personas we craft to survive them. In reaction to changes in how we navigate the boundaries between our communal and domestic spaces, my work also considers our physical, personal, and political boundaries. Collisions of textures and materiality put viewers at odds with the familiar, inviting them to confront distance, restraint, and the claims they stake with each other.

Stacy Isenbarger’s creative pursuits include sculpture, installation, mixed-media drawings, and supporting community exchange through art. Isenbarger’s artworks provoke a sense of tactile memory. Her collisions of textures and materiality, within precariously occupied spaces, invite viewers to confront the sentimentality of distance and the tangles of restraint. As an Associate Professor of Art + Design at the University of Idaho, she celebrates her opportunities to explore creative communication and empowerment. She received her BFA at Clemson University & her MFA from the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia. When she's not teaching or making—and sometimes when she is—she's usually dancing since the act continuously validates her joy of community acceptance and shaking up space.

The Esvelt Gallery would like to thank ASCBC for their continued support.

Gallery Hours:
Monday thru Thursday: 7:30 am - 5 pm
Friday: 7:30 am - 12:30 pm