Materiality -
Some works of art have the potential to transform and elevate their media in a way that connects with viewers' natural inclinations to touch and sense them. The work in this thematic group of Saint Kate exhibitions is tactile and textural, encouraging viewers to think about their physicality in a way that merely symbolic, representational, or conceptual doesn't.
Schenkelberg’s installation continues her eccentric and omnivorous investigation of mysterious objects and architecture through traditional sculptural practices. This particular work is comprised of castings the artist has made from molds from abandoned buildings capturing and preserving their decorative architectural elements. Taking a record of bygone industrial years and forgotten splendor. The piece merges the romantic history of Mediterranean archaeology with the more recent history of the industrial Rust Belt.
Other castings in the work are specific to the artist's family such as dishware and furniture, and they continue to inform her exploration of place and content. Schenkelberg sees her practice as “archaeological record keeping,” in which a language in images and a record of past times, places, and memories are unearthed and reimagined. The work is meant to appear prosaic and otherworldly at once, slipping by the viewer’s eye like a shipwreck.
Julie Schenkelberg lives and works in Cleveland, Ohio. Her practice is nomadic and she frequently relocates for months at a time, throughout places such as Detroit, Pittsburgh, NYC, Italy, Norway, and more. She creates sculptures and large-scale installations using discarded domestic and industrial materials. Her installations have been displayed at the Mattress Factory Museum, the Museum of Art and Design, NYC, UNTITLED Miami, and art spaces in the Midwest. Julie Schenkelberg received a BA in Art History at the College of Wooster, OH, and an MFA at the School of Visual Arts, NY, NY. Her work is influenced by her eighteen years of professional experience of working in the theater in NYC and elsewhere. She has received four National Endowment for the Arts Grants for her work, the Efroymson Contemporary Arts Fellowship, and a Harpo Foundation Grant. She has been awarded many residencies including Yaddo, Red Bull Arts in Detroit, The Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Art Omi, and Projekstom Normanns, Norway. Press includes Artforum, The New Yorker, PBS, Bloomberg, Hyperallergic, The Brooklyn Rail, Art F City, The Huffington Post, Beautiful Decay and Ground Magazine. She teaches at The Cleveland Institute of Art and The University of Akron.
