Art Map Burlington Article

Jennifer Koch at Firehouse Gallery

2007’s Barbara Smail Award recipient Jennifer Koch currently shares her unique vision at the Firehouse, with a solo show that feels like two exhibitions in one. “Specimen”, an adventure in shadowboxes, free-standing furniture-sized constructions, and elaborate material collage, graces the front room, while “Marriages of Reason”, a collaborative series of woodblock prints with Gregg Blasdel, beckons to observers from the parkside gallery.

In several wall-hung box constructions, Koch uses nineteenth-century portraits as a base, distorting or enlarging them digitally. Specimens #56 and #57, which form a striking centerpiece of the collection, begin with two portraits by Ingres. The subjects are embellished with “headdresses” made of found materials. Koch uses artist’s tools, toys, saintly plaster relics, kitchen utensils, musical instruments, and even animal bones and teeth to form dramatic bursts, incredible narratives fanning across the top portion of the diagonally angled boxes. As Koch explained to a fascinated crowd at an artist’s talk, while working on these pieces she had access to every corner of the Firehouse building, even the belltower; some unfortunate pigeons had been trapped in the tower and perished, but they’re now immortalized in the name of art.

Specimen #43 (box construction mixed media, 2002) is another, earlier portrait-based work (this one from Theodore Chasseriau’s The Two Sisters.) A dark-haired duo stares solemnly from the hand constructed, tarnished silver-leaf frame box. The figures are again topped with white headdresses of found materials: doll parts, tools, and bonelike objects form sprays of meaning, alike in content but pointing in different directions. Dozens of tiny beetles are affixed to the women’s collars, and delicate rhinestone jewels adorn their fingers.

Throughout “Specimen”, the human desire to collect, classify and display are skillfully and beautifully translated into one-of-a-kind artworks. “Marriages of Reason” showcases an entirely different set of the artist’s talents. Koch and husband Gregg Blasdel create eye-catching, starkly gorgeous prints using a combined technique of woodblock printing and etching. Each of the mostly 41”x30” prints, which are limited to editions of three, depicts a pair of images, one by each artist, often in vibrant red or rich black. In Indigo Spill, Koch’s colorful bowl image hovers over Blasdel’s emphatic tree trunk-like shape, from which paint splatters extend. The collaboration is described as a “call and response” process; the combination of close communication and two distinct artistic visions makes the resulting work both harmonious and individual.

Together, both portions of the exhibit form a stunning excerpt from an impressive career, leaving the observer inspired, somewhat covetous, and with the urge to start a collection of her own.

G. BLAKE MACPHAIL

		January 2008 V.3-N.1
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Devil’s House By Jennifer Koch in collaboration with Gregg Blasdel 30”x41” woodblock print 2007 3. Firehouse Gallery 135 Church Street (802) 865-7166 www.burlingtoncityarts.com		Jennifer Koch at Firehouse Gallery 2007’s Barbara Smail Award recipient Jennifer Koch currently shares her unique vision at the Firehouse, with a solo show that feels like two exhibitions in one. “Specimen”, an adventure in shadowboxes, free-standing furniture-sized constructions, and elaborate material collage, graces the front room, while “Marriages of Reason”, a collaborative series of woodblock prints with Gregg Blasdel, beckons to observers from the parkside gallery. In several wall-hung box constructions, Koch uses nineteenth-century portraits as a base, distorting or enlarging them digitally. Specimens #56 and #57, which form a striking centerpiece of the collection, begin with two portraits by Ingres. The subjects are embellished with “headdresses” made of found materials. Koch uses artist’s tools, toys, saintly plaster relics, kitchen utensils, musical instruments, and even animal bones and teeth to form dramatic bursts, incredible narratives fanning across the top portion of the diagonally angled boxes. As Koch explained to a fascinated crowd at an artist’s talk, while working on these pieces she had access to every corner of the Firehouse building, even the belltower; some unfortunate pigeons had been trapped in the tower and perished, but they’re now immortalized in the name of art. Specimen #43 (box construction mixed media, 2002) is another, earlier portrait-based work (this one from Theodore Chasseriau’s The Two Sisters.) A dark-haired duo stares solemnly from the hand constructed, tarnished silver-leaf frame box. The figures are again topped with white headdresses of found materials: doll parts, tools, and bonelike objects form sprays of meaning, alike in content but pointing in different directions. Dozens of tiny beetles are affixed to the women’s collars, and delicate rhinestone jewels adorn their fingers. Throughout “Specimen”, the human desire to collect, classify and display are skillfully and beautifully translated into one-of-a-kind artworks. “Marriages of Reason” showcases an entirely different set of the artist’s talents. Koch and husband Gregg Blasdel create eye-catching, starkly gorgeous prints using a combined technique of woodblock printing and etching. Each of the mostly 41”x30” prints, which are limited to editions of three, depicts a pair of images, one by each artist, often in vibrant red or rich black. In Indigo Spill, Koch’s colorful bowl image hovers over Blasdel’s emphatic tree trunk-like shape, from which paint splatters extend. The collaboration is described as a “call and response” process; the combination of close communication and two distinct artistic visions makes the resulting work both harmonious and individual. Together, both portions of the exhibit form a stunning excerpt from an impressive career, leaving the observer inspired, somewhat covetous, and with the urge to start a collection of her own. G. BLAKE MACPHAIL

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