Monte Vista Projects is pleased to present Who is afraid of matter, a solo exhibition by Yucca Valley artist, Heidi Schwegler.
There is a frozen slurry between the cushions of everyday life. Here lies the miscellaneous deaths of unnamed stuff–a melted piña colada-flavored gummy bear, matted strands of human hair, a faded corner of a torn-up lottery ticket, billions of molecules of pollen and dust–coalescing into a sticky joint that holds it all together. This incoherent accumulation is not separate from you; find yourself here amidst these fugitive substances. Who is afraid of matter: it is not a question. And you are the fear.
About Heidi Schwegler:
Heidi Schwegler combines found objects with traditional craft techniques to create enigmatic sculptures with complex narratives and cryptic associations.
Born in 1967 in San Antonio, Texas, Schwegler studied at the University of Kansas and the University of Oregon, where she received her M.F.A. in 1998. Her work has been presented at the Bellevue Art Museum (Washington state), the Portland Art Museum (Oregon), Disjecta Contemporary Art Center (Portland, Oregon), as well as in numerous one-person and group exhibitions. In 2015, The Art Gym at Marylhurst University (Portland, Oregon) held Schwegler’s fifteen-year retrospective, Botched Execution.
Schwegler has been awarded fellowships from MacDowell, Oregon Arts Commission, and Ford Family Foundation. She was artist-in-residence at Yaddo, the 18th St Arts Center, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, and Bullseye Glass Company.
Work by the artist is represented in the permanent collections of the Portland Art Museum (Oregon), the Crocker Museum (Sacramento, California), Schneider Museum of Art (Oregon) and the Hallie Ford Museum (Oregon). Formerly a professor and graduate program chair at the Oregon College of Art and Craft, Schwegler is the founder and executive director of Yucca Valley Material Lab, a not-for-profit artists’ workshop and residency program. She lives and works in Yucca Valley, California.
Image: Fugitive Bits. Bronze, glass, 13.5 x 14.25 x 9.75, 2021 (image credit: Rose Cefalu)
