New Funk Center Exhibition Explores Artistry of ‘Stuff’ from Four Artists

‘Transformers: Re-contextualizing Our
Material Culture’ Opens Sept. 17

MELBOURNE, FLA. — Transformers: Re-contextualizing Our Material Culture opens a three-month run Sept. 17 at Florida Institute of Technology’s Ruth Funk Center for Textile Arts.

The exhibition features the work of Jodie Mack, Garry Noland, Julie Peppito and Gerry Trilling – contemporary artists whose paintings, sculptures, films and tapestries transform the “ordinary stuff” of our lives into works that reflect the splendid and the strange.

The handmade films of experimental animator Jodie Mack use collage to explore the relationship between graphic cinema and storytelling. Her films use domestic and recycled materials to illuminate the elements shared between fine-art abstraction and mass-produced graphic design. The London-born artist currently works as an associate professor of animation at Dartmouth College, where she co-organizes an experimental media series, EYEWASH, and is serving as the 2015-16 Sony Music Fellow.

Garry Noland’s abstract collages illustrate his fascination with unusual and often overlooked materials such as PVC pipe, bubble wrap and duct tape. Noland, a studio artist since 1980, has had recent exhibits presented at the Daum Museum of Contemporary Art in Sedalia, Missouri, and the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls. Formerly based in the Midwest, Noland recently moved to Los Angeles.

Julie Peppito’s artwork, often composed of discarded materials, is a combination of psychedelic collage, miniature quilts, botanical illustration and Americana. The hybrid forms are metaphors for the way we connect to ourselves, to each other, and to the planet. Based in New York City, Peppito has been the subject of six solo shows and has exhibited extensively across the U.S.

Gerry Trilling is a conceptual artist whose work is rooted in the history and assimilation of the American Jewish diaspora. Her parents escaped the Holocaust, relocating to St. Louis, Missouri, where she grew up in a community of immigrants. Trilling’s experiences there have greatly influenced her body of work, particularly as it relates to the concept of home and community. The artist is currently in a three-year residency at Studios Inc. in Kansas City, Missouri, where she will be presenting a large, pattern-based show in May 2017.

Transformers is curated by contemporary artist China Marks and presented in conjunction with Radiant Messenger: Drawings by China Marks, which will go on view at the Foosaner Art Museum starting Oct. 22.

Starting Sept. 17, regular hours for the center are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and noon to 4 p.m. Saturday. The center is located next to Evans Library on the Florida Tech campus, 150 W. University Blvd. in Melbourne. Admission is free.

For more information, visit http://textiles.fit.edu or call 321-674-8313.

Related Programs

There will be two public gallery talks presented in conjunction with Transformers. Garry Noland will hold a gallery talk on Tuesday, Oct. 18. And Gerry Trilling will hold a gallery talk on Tuesday, Nov. 15. Admission to each is $10 per person. The lectures will be held in the Funk Center’s galleries and begin with a reception at 5:15 p.m., with the talk starting at 6 p.m.

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