Mixed media sculpture hangs 40 inches above floor
The undulating canopy created by artist Lorrie Fredette, specifically for the Gillette Gallery in The Riverside Galleries at Garrison Art Center, is suspended approximately 40 inches above the gallery floor. The installation Implementation of Adaptation opened Aug. 10 and continues through Sept. 8.
Fredette’s Implementation of Adaptation installation is an experiential treat. This site-specific installation of mixed media sculptural elements hovers 40 inches from the gallery floor. It can be viewed from 360 lateral degrees and also from a supine position underneath the piece itself via a dolly, creating essentially a second installation for those who dare to lie.
Fredette offers multiple perspectives of her installation. The view from the outside through windows depicts an organic mass that appears to float and to be devoid of structural elements. When seen from standing in the gallery or walking around the perimeter of the piece, the thick clustering of repeating forms remind us that the whole is often more consequential than the sum of individual parts.
The artist also offers a unique and more experiential view from underneath the installation. Viewers can slide on a dolly to take advantage of this unusual presentation. The experience provides a slow, meandering opportunity to be inches from this hovering mantle that, with a little suspension of disbelief, could be seen as alive.
Fredette creates site-specific installations, sculptures and drawings that expand the definition of historical portraiture and identity. She constructs an appearance of beauty, harmony and comfort to comprehend the incomprehensible of infection, pandemic and plague.
Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally including solo and group exhibitions in the U.S. and Europe. Fredette earned a BFA in sculpture from the Herron School of Art/Indiana University. She was born and raised in Burlington, Mass., and lives and works in New York’s HudsonValley.
Implementation of Adaption continues through Sept. 8. The Riverside Galleries are open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information about Garrison Art Center and The Riverside Galleries, visit garrisonartcenter.org or call 845-424-3960.