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Joanne Lefrak explores the connection between history and the experience of place. Her work has been exhibited at MASS MoCA, ev+a in Ireland, ArtAspen, Art Miami, and the New Mexico Museum of Art, among others. Her artwork has been reviewed in Art in America, Huffington Post, The Boston Globe, Art ltd., CIRCA Art Magazine, AdobeAirstream, and the Santa Fean, and many other national and international magazines and blogs. She is passionate about arts education and she works as the Director of Education and Outreach at SITE Santa Fe, in Santa Fe, NM.
I scratch drawings into Plexiglas. When the piece is illuminated, the scratches cast shadows, which makes the image visible to a viewer. The lines incised into the Plexiglas are barely apparent, and the silhouettes they create are intangible; however, the shadow's gradations of gray convey depth and space in almost photographic detail.
This work investigates the concept of perception in that there is no actual drawing to see, or rather, the shadow is inseparable from the drawing that is incised in the Plexiglas. A viewer must look through the actual drawing to see the shadow of the drawing.
The inspiration for this work is to visually represent locations that tell stories based on occurrences in history at the location. In the same way that the shadow is connected to the drawing, the scenes that are represented are inseparable from their past.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2010 Past as Presence, Box Gallery, Santa Fe, NM 2008 Joanne Lefrak, Box Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2006 Joanne Lefrak, Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe, NM
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2011 666 Six Artists, Six Cities, Six Connections, Queen’s Nails, San Francisco, CA; Linda Durham Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, NM; Lloyd Dobler Gallery, Chicago IL; Popp’s Packing; Detroit, MI; Gallery 37-A, Portland, ME; and Pterodactyl, Philadelphia, PA
2010 InVisible, Art at the Edge of Perception, curated by Katia Zavistovski, MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA
2009 The Wonder Salon, Linda Durham Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, NM Cold Beer Beautiful Girls, William Shearburn Gallery, Santa Fe, NM Alternative Spaces, curated by Laura Addison, New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe
2008 Paper Cuts, curated by Bobbie Foshay, Frederieke Taylor Gallery, NY, NY Renaissance, Eileen Braziel Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM SITE Unseen, SITE Santa Fe, NM Beaux Arts, Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe, NM
Black or White, Eileen Braziel Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM
2007 Loosely Joined, 516 Arts, Albuquerque, NM (Exhibition Catalogue) ev+a; A Sense of Place, curated by Klaus Ottmann, Born Vincent Gallery, Limerick, Ireland (Exhibition Catalogue)
2006 Response, Salon Mar Graff, Tesuque, NM Back to Nature, Contemporary Artists Center, North Adams, MA White Leaves/Black Shadows, Gallery ZIPP, Glorieta, NM SITE Unseen, SITE Santa Fe, NM
2005 Metamorphosis, Beaux Arts Ball & Auction, Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe, NM On the Verge of Structural Failure, Albuquerque Contemporary Art Center, NM BLOC-BUSTA, Department of Cultural Affairs, Santa Fe, NM & Katrina Lasko Gallery, Bernalillo, NM (Exhibition Catalogue)
2004 Joanne Lefrak, Katrina Lasko Gallery, Bernalillo, NM Albuquerque Contemporary, Albuquerque Museum, NM (Exhibition Catalogue)
2003 Joanne Lefrak, Katrina Lasko Gallery, Bernalillo, NM Moving Through Light, CCG, Portland, OR
2002 Anything Goes, Gallery 301, Great Barrington, MA Majority Rules, Free Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland
2001 The Science of Medicine, McKinsey Corporation, Florham Park, NJ Group Show at the Mop Tsu Oh Art Center, operated by the Art Guys, Houston, TX 5, White Box -- the Annex, NYC, NY, curated by David Levi Strauss2000 Snapshot, The Contemporary Museum, Baltimore, MD Group Show, curated by Dominique Nahas, Midland Gallery, Montclair, NJ Faith, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT, collaboration with Osvaldo Romberg
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Allen, Steven Robert. “Culture Shock.” The Alibi, October 27-November 2, 2005: pg. 18 Cook-Romero, Elizabeth. “Going for Beauty.” Pasatiempo -- The New Mexican. February 17-23,
2006: pp. 44, 46
Crocker, Kathryn. “Past as Presence: Joanne Lefrak.” Adobeairstream. August 25, 2010. http://adobeairstream.com/art/past-as-presence-joanne-lefrak/
Davis, Kathryn M, “Top Summer Shows You Can Still Catch, North and South,” Huffington Post, September 8, 2010 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/artscene/top-summer-shows-you-can-_b_708466.html
Fairfield, Douglas. “Art in Review: Alternative Spaces.” Pasatiempo -- The New Mexican. March 5, 2009
Fairfield, Douglas, “The Wonder Salon, Linda Durham Contemporary Art,” Pasatiempo -- The New Mexican. December 4-10, 2009: pg 28
Fischer, Zane. “Artist Profile: Joanne Lefrak.” Art ltd. Sept/Oct 2008: pp. 74-75
Gaynor, Fergal. “Review Ev+a 2007.” CIRCA Art Magazine: Circa 120. Season 2007: pp 94-97
Hammond, Harmony. “Signs and Silhouettes.” Albuquerque Journal North. August 20, 2009
King, Sarah. “Joanne Lefrak at the Center for Contemporary Arts.” Art in America. January 2007: pg. 152
Kullberg, Malissa. “Past as Presence, Joanne Lefrak at Box Gallery,” Santa Fe Downtown. August 28, 2010 http://santafe-downtown.com/santa-fe-art-galleries/joanne-lefrak-at-box-gallery/
Mitchell, John E. “For MoCA Artist, Past is a Presence.” The North Adams Transcript, February 12, 2010
Ross, Alex. “Joanne Lefrak.” The Magazine. May 2006: pg. 48 Ross, Alex. “Salon Mar Graff: Friday, October 27, 2006.” The Magazine. December/January
2006-07: pg. 67 Smee, Sebastian. “For Art Lovers, Western Mass. Awaits.” The Boston Globe. March 7, 2010
Wunsch, Oliver. “Phemomenowhat?” Art:21 blog. April 28, 2010 http://blog.art21.org/2010/04/28/open-enrollment-the-exhibition/
Zavistovski, Katia. “Come Curious,” Art:21 blog. June 7, 2010 http://blog.art21.org/2010/06/07/come-curious/
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Corrales Fire Department, through New Mexico Arts Fidelity Investments Marlene Nathan Meyerson New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe
David and Crennan Ray Douglas Ring and Cindy Miscikowski, Los Angeles Arnold and Lorlee Tenenbaum
HONORS
2006 Creative Capital, Professional Development Grant
2001 I-Park, Artists Enclave, East Haddam, CT, Full Fellowship to artist residency Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT, Full Fellowship to artist residency
Montclair University, Montclair, NJ, Graduate Citation Award for the most
outstanding
student in the arts Montclair University, Montclair, NJ, Research and Sponsored Program Award, final
project award
EDUCATION
2001 Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ Master of Fine Arts in studio art, Alpha Epsilon Lambda Honor Society
1999 Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY Bachelor of Science in studio art, minor in art history, Cum Laude, Periclean Honor Society
SELECTED LECTURES
2006 Joanne Lefrak in Conversation with Laura Heon, Director of SITE Santa Fe, Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe, NM
2005 Joanne Lefrak and Jennifer Joseph: A Dialogue Between Artists, Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe, NM