Visit the Frederick Arts Council’s Gallery located at 1 N Market Street in the heart of Downtown Frederick between 1-4pm during First Saturday, November 4th, for a meet-and-greet with artist Esperanza Alzona as she introduces her new exhibition, Lamentation. Alzona will speak to her creative decisions and process and answer questions from visitors about her recent works. Come early or stay after for a tour through the adjacent FAC Artist Studios Open House 11am-7pm. The FAC Studios house about 25 individual artists whose practices range from music to illustration to painting to poetry and beyond.

Artist Statement:

My work in sculpture focuses on representations of concepts and qualities of humanness—the characterization of various universal emotions, sensations, thought processes, the embodiment of self-identity and manifestations of spirituality. Having a background as a professional dancer, choreographer and competitive athlete, I am used to employing the language of the human body as a means of creative expression, and in sculpture I often use aspects and parts of the human anatomy to convey ideas in physical form. Working primarily in metal renders a certain weight and material presence that I find particularly engaging, and the physicality and three-dimensional visual aspect that comes from being a dancer are what attract me to this medium. Seeing my work I wish the viewer to find resonance and relevance of “being human” as I explore and express in physical form various facets, abstractions and iterations centering around the mind-body connection and the human experience.

About Lamentation:

Lamentation is a mixed media sculpture of cast aluminum and fabric that will be the centerpiece of an exhibition of works entitled Reflections on the Human Condition. The title and inspiration for this work are drawn from Martha Graham’s iconic 1930 modern dance solo that Anna Kisselgoff of the New York Times described as “not the sorrow of a specific person, time or place but the personification of grief itself.” The sculpture is an abstract and dynamic representation of the human emotion of grief with multiple parts—hands and feet--cast in metal combined with flowing fabric shrouding faceless and profound, visceral pain. Having been myself a dancer trained in Graham technique, I used castings of my own hands and feet in the various movements and gestures used in the sculpture. The sculpture has no faces because it personifies all of us.

The materiality of the metal represents the groundedness and strength of the human spirit, and the fabric the dynamic connective tissue of emotion. The goal is to resonate with viewers in reflection upon the present human condition, relevant to much of what has been happening in our world today with disease, natural disasters, civil unrest, war and mass killings.

The creation of this work has been made possible through the generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Frederick Arts Council.

https://www.esperanzaalzona.com/ 

WHAT: Meet and Greet with Artist Esperanza Alzona and FAC Artist Studios Open House

WHEN: Saturday, November 4, 2023, Open House 11am-7pm, Artist Meet-And-Greet 1-4pm

WHERE: FAC Artist Studios and Gallery, 1 N Market Street, Frederick, MD 21701

COST: Free

WEBSITE: www.FrederickArtsCouncil.org