Exhibition: Linda Brenner: Understory
Linda Brenner: Understory celebrates the breadth of a sculptural career and the prolific transformations of form that have resulted.
Brenner’s sculptures, often carved from felled trees, breathe new life into the discarded wood, presenting forms in geometric compositions whose proportions and organization she derives from mathematical formulae.
The contours and decoration of the carvings are inspired by and become a remembrance of the places from which they fell — at times incorporating whimsical details or recognizable shapes. The forms are the result of ongoing exploration of growth patterns found in leaves, flowers and human anatomy. They remain cumulative, rearrangeable and reworkable. In many ways, newer two-dimensional works continue the practice of situating herself as a witness to nature. In these, Brenner traces and responds to coral patterns before utilizing test-pot house paints to achieve a rich matte finish which, in tandem, become a meditation on the demise of coral reefs due to global warming.
Brenner taught sculpture at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts for 24 years before retiring in 2012. She is the recipient of a Leeway Foundation WOO Award and Pennsylvania Council on the Arts SOS Stipend in addition to two residencies at the Hambidge Center for the Arts in Georgia. She received a BFA in sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design and attended both the University of Pennsylvania and Tyler School of Fine Arts at Temple University. She continues to show her work widely.
Exhibition Hours and Events
- Exhibition on view: August 30 – October 12, 2024
Gallery hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. – 8 p.m.
- Opening reception: September 5, from 7:30 – 9 p.m.
Opening panel discussion: September 5 from 6:30 – 7:30 p.m in CA 2032. In conjunction with Women’s Rights Are Human Rights: International Posters on Gender-based Inequality, Violence, and Discrimination
- Gallery Talk: Linda Brenner, September 26 at 6:30 p.m. in the Holtzman Gallery