Organized by Nicole Capozzi, Director of BoxHeart Gallery, the exhibition Ephemeral: MFA Thesis Exhibition by Hannah Pierce and Sara Catapano will explore narratives relating to the industrialization of our environment and its effect on living organisms, ranging from micro entities to humanity.

In relation to the theme, CrossCurrents: Clay and Culture, this exhibition utilizes clay as the primary medium to discuss cultural issues in our over industrialized, materialistic, yet intriguingly beautiful dystopia. In calling attention to our self-induced condition, the artwork to be exhibited in Ephemeral invites the viewer to question their influence on both natural environments and urban environments. Ephemeral is not only a culmination of artwork created by Pierce and Catapano, but also the final Thesis show of their Graduate careers at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. Pierce and Catapano feel obligated to document this concurrent dissidence. Along with dashes of other mixed media materials, the simultaneous strength, fragility, and malleability of clay allows two very different artists to interpret and discuss similar issues in a variety of opposing ways while still relating to one another.

Pierce uses deceptive, illustrative qualities in order to create metaphors and visual dialogues. The painted figure cut outs heavily contrast with the fully sculpted man-made objects and architectural configurations. The fragile appearance of these figures reflects the impermanence of people in relation to their more permanent industrial settings. Whether supported by one another or supported by man-made structures, the narrative reflects peoples’ undying dependence on community and structure.

On the other side of the spectrum, Catapano’s artwork employs abstracted forms that represent nature’s reaction to the disregard man has placed on the environment. Her forms flow over, pierce through and respond to a cold, minimal reality, representing human kind’s influence on the earth. Her work brings to life an imagined hybrid of micro and macro organisms referencing the anatomical and parasitic residents of our natural world as a metaphor for the thoughts and feelings of the human condition.