"Setting Boundaries," Photo by Matthew Schmitz
Through April 29, the Arc Gallery next to the Consortium Library will be hosting the art exhibit Dissonant Exchange. The display consists of several pieces by Homer based artist Mandy Bernard. The works include hand-tufted sculptures and other three-dimensional objects using a variety of materials like seaweed and textiles.
Many of the pieces use a technique that involves hand-tufted yarn, similar to how a rug is made. Texture plays a dominant role in the exhibit. The piece “Setting Boundaries'' takes on the look of a shag rug, and “Doublespeak” shows how trimming tufted yarn can result in 3D forms.
The pieces also juxtapose natural materials alongside artificial, like translucent seaweed light globes with a carpet sea rock in “Beneath the Surface.” Some combine other materials like pleated canvas with short carpet in “Between the Lines.”
The references to language and conversation are no accident. In a statement about the exhibit by Bernard, she describes her work as “process-heavy” and “repetitive,” and the pieces combine elements to “navigate themes of communication.”
As the title of the exhibit suggests, putting incongruous elements next to each other helps emphasize the lack of harmony in all our communications.
She sees an analogy between the techniques used to create the pieces and her own tendency to analyze interpersonal communications, writing, “Pattern and duplicity are important aspects of my practice, and this reiterative structure corresponds to an obsessive dissection of personal interactions.”
In an interview, Bernard talked about her background, how she makes her art and the thoughts behind it.
Working from her studio in Homer, Alaska, Bernard moved to the state 11 years ago. Though she received a master’s degree in urban planning, she also has a minor in fine arts. She originally came to the state for a job as a conservation director of a land trust.
Shifting her career to focus on art, she started in printmaking and screen printing. She also had a residency at a letterpress facility.
To create the works on display in the Arc Gallery, she uses a tuft gun in the same way a rug is made. The gun, which looks like a giant tattoo gun, pushes strands of yarn through a fabric backing. The loose ends on the other side are essentially what sticks out on the top side of a rug. The length of the yarn pushed though can be adjusted to make the rug fibers long or short.
Bernard says she uses sheep shears to clean up and shape the work, though in “Setting Boundaries” she experimented with the longest setting on the tuft gun and just let the yarn “run wild,” resulting in a shaggy carpet look with especially long strands dispersed though-out.
The projects use a lot of yarn and Bernard said pieces can easily cost several hundred dollars to produce. In addition to works made from yarn, there are others that use natural materials.
In “Beneath the Surface,” the hive-like globes are made of seaweed. Bernard obtains seaweed locally from an oyster farmer who has a permit to gather the plant. She forms it into round shapes in a similar way to a papier-mache balloon.
“Doublespeak” combines cottonwood bark with bright orange yarn.
Not being an experienced woodworker, the dark stained frame in “I’ve Been Trying to Reach You” presented a challenge to her. Also, the barnacle and seaweed covered sea rock under the globe lights in “Beneath the Surface '' was a time-consuming project. Bernard said she had to construct a frame in order to create the rock form. It had to be sturdy enough to ensure survival during transportation and in storage.
The theme of the exhibit came to her in 2019, though during the COVID-19 pandemic the topic of communication became extraordinarily relevant.
Bernard said that she sees the act of creating her pieces an attempt to work something out internally in herself. She pointed to the repetitive processes of her work as something akin to meditation; a universally recognized practice that we are now understanding helps improve psychological well-being.
Her work is intentionally ambiguous, with the goals of encouraging individuals to enter into contemplation of the themes suggested and explore ideas of personal significance inspired by the art.
From her statement, “My work does not serve as an answer. Rather, it is an examination of my own interpersonal struggles and a provocation for the audience to consider their own actions and how they ultimately affect the strength of community bonds.”
Bernard said she typically likes using earth tones and warm neutral palette. “Between the Lines” takes advantage of the latter with pleated cotton canvas hung between natural wood ends and strips of light yellow and brown, hand-tufted carpet running through the adjacent frame.
She stepped outside her comfort zone in “Setting Boundaries” which has a rainbow of cool greens, blues and purples draped around an acrylic box stuffed with various tints and shades of red and orange yarn.
The glowing seaweed lamps in “Beneath the Surface” hanging from the ceiling gives one the sense of stepping into a cave of a subterranean world; arousing wonder at what kind of creature could create the phosphorescent, hive-like structures.
The bright, high-energy colors at the center of “Setting Boundaries” suggests, to this writer at least, the contained passions that often must be kept hidden under a cool exterior. And in “I’ve Been Trying to Reach You,” the flat rectangular print under the matching half-circle of sculpted yarn seems to beg a comparison between the one dimensional, flat world of images on screens with the full, texture rich world of in person experiences.
The exhibit was made possible by a grant from the Alaska State council on the Arts, and a Rasmuson Foundation Individual Artist Award.
For those wanting to see more of Bernard’s work, you can find her on Instagram under @mandybernardstudio or visit her website at www.mandybernard.com
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