Threshold

Emily Bayless & Michael Benevenia

VIEW THE EXHIBITION ι  6/4 - 9/13.2018

RECEPTION ι  8/6.2018
GALLERY TALKS ι  12:10 – 1:00 pm & 5:00 – 7:00 pm
GALLERY HOURS ι  Standard business hours for Sykes Gallery are Monday- Friday from 8:00 am - 4:00 pm. Hours are subject to vary in accordance with University established holidays (below) and the reception, gallery talk/s or awards ceremony.

About the Exhibition ...

Threshold is a two person exhibition featuring Emily Bayless and Michael Benevenia. At the heart of the work these two artists use materials pushed to their physical limits to create a metaphorical sculptural language that addresses intimacy, support, and boundaries. Visitors are guided through a geography of coerced sculpture, dead-­‐end gardens and ominous looming structures that present personal emotional landscapes within a public visual dialogue.

About the Artists ...

Emily Bayless (b. 1988) completed a BFA in Ceramics at Arizona State University before moving to Long Beach, CA to continue her practice at the California State University of Long Beach. After two rigorous years of exploration Bayless was accepted as an MFA candidate in Ceramics at the University of Colorado Boulder, and received her degree in December 2015. Post MFA Bayless went abroad, basing herself in London, UK, and traveled the rest of Europe. She returned the United States to accept a position as an Instructor of Art & Design at Millersville University. Her work has been on view in museums and galleries such as the Susquehanna Art Museum, the State Museum of Pennsylvania, the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, the Diego Rivera Gallery in San Francisco, and the Gildar  Gallery in Denver. She currently lives and works in Lancaster, PA. www.emilybaylessstudio.com

Michael Benevenia investigates the aftermath of the American Civil War through sculptural support structures and systems, physically engaging the fragility of empathy. Michael completed his BFA in visual arts and art history at Rutgers University. Afterwards he became certified in structural plate welding at Hohokus School of Technical Trades and Services in Paterson, NJ. Michael began working as a sculpture technician at the Sculpture Foundation’s Johnson Atelier; and was then promoted to supervisor of the monumental fabrication department. He left The Sculpture Foundation to obtain his MFA in sculpture at Maryland Institute College of Art’s Rinehart School of Sculpture, focusing his thesis on work inspired by research on American Civil War medicine. Michael then moved to Lancaster, PA where he currently works for Millersville University as the Department of Art & Design’s studio technician and as an adjunct instructor. In 2016, Michael had a solo exhibition Gallery Aferro in Newark, NJ and has future exhibitions planned at Coker College and the Greenville Center for the Creative Arts, both in South Carolina. He has exhibited in group exhibitions at the Charles Sumner School Museum, The Delaware Contemporary, The Grounds for Sculpture, The Spartanburg Art Museum, and The Arnot Art Museum. Michael was a Sculpture Space Artist in Residence in the fall of 2017 and presented his work to the 2017 National Museum of Civil War Medicine's [NMCWM] annual conference and is working on further collaborations between himself and the NMCWM. www.mbenevenia.com