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Bonnie Meltzer
very mixed media |
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BIOGRAPHY & MEDIA
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To See the whole page Throughout the vitae you can link to an article or an exhibit page on another site. |
tABOUT BONNIE MELTZERa Something exciting happens when diverse elements rub up against each other. Many years ago at a surplus store on the same day, Bonnie Meltzer discovered the intrinsic beauty of computer parts and magnet wire -- the shiny, colorful and very flexible, enamel coated copper wire used in motor windings . It seemed only natural to her that the two materials should marry in her work. From that day on found objects and crocheted wire became the bases of her highly textured wall works. Computer parts and other found objects are used as beads, armatures, textures and vehicles for metaphor and symbolism. The crochet doesn't play second fiddle to the found objects but in work that has so many disparate elements it links it all together visually and sometimes even structurally. Objects stimulate her imagination and push the idea flow. A globe is a different stimulus than a garter. They give her a symbolic, visual and verbal vocabulary in which to frame an idea. She mixes objects, painted wood, digital photographs and crocheted wire to create complex surface textures and to increase the nuance of content. The multi-levels of materials and ideas can give both a serious and a humorous component to her work at the same time. She uses ordinary objects as metaphors that reflect both social commentary and personal history. Global warming, elections, economics, and land use balance out identity and personal reflection themes. Meltzer lives with her husband in Portland, Oregon in a cottage with an outbuilding studio in the yard. Both are surrounded by an enormous organic vegetable garden. |
ONE-PERSON EXHIBITIONS (highlights). Scrap Portland, Oregon March /April 2011 Beet Gallery Portland, Oregon 2009 Onda Gallery Portland, Oregon 2008 Albina Community Bank Portland, Oregon 2006 White Sturgeon Gallery, Water Resources Education Center Vancouver, Washington 2005 Contemporary Crafts Gallery, North Window now Museum of Contemporary Craft Portland, Oregon 2005 Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center Portland, Oregon 2003 Contemporary Crafts Gallery Portland, Oregon 2002, 1972, 1971 Guardino Gallery Portland, Oregon 1999 Oregon Museum of Science and Industry: “About Faces”, Portland, Oregon 1989 Portland Children’s Museum: “Zipperpillar Park” commissioned installation, Portland, Oregon 1986-88 GROUP EXHIBITIONS (highlights) |
. | Group Exhibitions continued Corporate Waste into Art Portland City Hall, Portland Oregon 2007 Recycled Art Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Willamette University, Salem , Oregon 2006 Crocheted Wire Jewelry Mobilia Gallery at SOFA, Chicago Illinois 2006 Sustaining Change on the America Farm Maryhill Museum of Art, Goldendale, Washington 2006 Instruments of Art Sponsored by the Community Music Center at PNCA, Portland, Oregon 2006 Transformed Chairs (curator & participant) Portland City Hall, Portland, Oregon 2006 Rhythm of Crochet, invited artist, national traveling exhibition sponsored by Crochet Guild of America. 2003 12” x 12” Mark Woolley Gallery: Portland OR 2003 Textile Techniques in Metal Mobilia Gallery, Cambridge Massachusetts & SOFA, Chicago Illinois 2002 Crochet: Ancient Craft, Contemporary Art Fine Line Art Center: St Charles Illinois 2001 Chain Reaction (invited artist) Textile Arts Center, Chicago Illinois 2000 Young Americans Museum of American Craft, New York 1969 |
COMMISSIONS (highlights, non-residential) Northeast Recycling Council, Inc. awards for agency recycling excellence, Brattleboro Vermont 2010 Travel Portland made Sustainability Award given to Portland city Commissioner Saltzman 2008 Pavelcomm, Corporate Waste Into Art project in conjunction with Cracked Pots and NWBCA 2007 Northwest Business for Culture and the Arts made awards for corporate giving to the arts, Portland OR 2005 University of Washington, School of Business, a gift from the first Executive MBA graduating class, Seattle, Wahington 2000 National Science Foundation, A gift from the Oregon Graduate Institute, Arlington Virginia 1999 Community Music Center, RACC grant, Portland Oregon 1975 COLLECTIONS (highlights, non-residential) BOOKS & ARTICLES (highlights) |
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TELEVISION PROGRAMS (highlights) EDUCATION |
ART WORKSHOPS & LECTURES (highlights) She is available to teach crocheted wire and founnd object workrkshops Mount Aloysius College Cresson, Pennsylvania 2007 Regional Arts and Culture Council, Business & Marketing, Portland, Beaverton and Oregon City, Oregon 2006, 2001 Fiber Art Center Amherst, Massachusetts 2004 Biocommunicators of America Conference, Keynote Speaker, Boston, Massachusetts 2004 University of Portland Arts and Business Seminar, Portland Oregon 2003 Alaska Artist in the Schools Allakaket, Alaska 2005, Nome Alaska 2002,Koyukuk, Alaska 1996 Bering Straits Art and Tourism Conference Keynote Speaker, Nome Alaska 2002 Handweavers Guild Conference Portland, Oregon July 1996 Oregon Journalism Conference Corvallis, Oregon 1995 Book Arts Guild Conference Portland, Oregon 1997, 1995 Surface Design Conference Portland, Oregon 1995 Idaho Journalism Advisors Conference Sun Valley, Idaho 1994 Crochet Guild of America Conference Seattle Washington 1999 National Education Computer Conference Seattle, Atlanta, San Diego, Dallas, Boston 1991-2000 NWCouncil for Computers in Education Conference various NW cities 1988-1997 Creativity Through Technology Conference Anchorage, Alaska 1993 CUE BC Conference Vancouver, BC 1992, Palm Springs, CA 1992 ArtQuake Portland, Oregon 1990-92 DaVinci Days Corvallis, Oregon 1989-91 Louisiana Tech University Ruston, Louisiana 1990 Michelson Reves Museum Marshall,Texas 1990 OTHER Albina Community Bank St Johns Branch, Curator of art exhibits, 2009-present Portland Open Studios Public Relations, board member 2000-2009, participant 2000-2010 |
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