SELF-MADE proposes a personal, queer investigation into the ideals of American masculinity and self-reliance. Artist Gina Siepel creates multi-part sculptural objects using wood, steel, pedal-power, and other iconic 19th and 20th century materials to connect object making, self-making, and the mythic American “self-made man.” The work explores the potency and absurdity of an ideology that equates self-reliance and manual labor with nationalist glory, virility, and freedom. Siepel draws attention instead to the political possibilities of vulnerability, futility, and failure.

Gina Siepel: SELF-MADE is a guest-artist exhibition selected from our 2018 Open Call.

Events

• Friday, November 2, 7-9pm | Cycle of Self-Determination: Durational performance by Gina Siepel during November’s First Friday Reception (6-10pm)
• Friday, December 7, 7-9pm | Cycle of Self-Determination: Durational performance by Gina Siepel during December’s First Friday Reception (6-10pm)
• Saturday, December 8, 3-5pm | Cycle of Self-Determination: Durational performance by Gina Siepel

About the artist

Gina Siepel is an interdisciplinary artist who began her life in a small rural community in the rust-belt region of Western New York State. She is currently based in Greenfield, MA. Her work explores cultural understandings of nature, gender, and American history, through the production of objects and collaborative experiments in public spaces. She has exhibited extensively in the northeastern US, and has received funding from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Berkshire Taconic Foundation, the Puffin Foundation, and the Northampton Arts Council. She has been an artist-in-residence at Skowhegan, Sculpture Space, Hewnoaks, and Mildred’s Lane. Gina holds a BFA from SUNY Purchase, an MFA from the Maine College of Art, and teaches studio art at Mount Holyoke College.

More Info: ginasiepel.com