August 5 - September 1, 2021

Between the Ground and the Sky: Janet Goldner & Kiyoko Sakai
Flowers, Boats and Birds: Kate Missett & Margo Herr
On the Wall: RUST: Liz Curtin

Carter Burden Gallery presents three new exhibitions: Between the Ground and the Sky featuring welded steel sculptures by Janet Goldner and mixed media paintings by Kiyoko Sakai; Flowers, Boats and Birds featuring ceramic canopic jars by Kate Missett and watercolors by Margo Herr, and On the Wall: RUST featuring an installation by Liz Curtin. The reception will be on August 19 from 1 – 7pm; proof of vaccine and masks are required. The exhibition runs from August 5 – September 1, 2021 at 548 West 28th Street in New York City. The gallery hours are Tuesday - Friday, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

In adherence with the NYC Safety Mandate Program, Carter Burden Gallery requires proof of vaccination or a recent/within 72 hours negative PCR COVID-19 test result, and masks are mandatory for all at exhibition receptions. This is in effect as of August 16, 2021, until further notice.

Exhibition List

Liz Curtin

Liz Curtin’s large-scale installation in On the Wall features large unstretched canvases in her series RUST, which to her represent growing older and the challenges it brings about. Curtin elaborates, “For as long as I can remember I’ve been attracted to the beauty of decay. Fading roses, peeling paint, collapsing barns and old houses, and RUST. Ephemeral and fleeting, intact for a short while until the weeks, months and years take their toll. I see more beauty in these fading objects than in their pristine condition.” The works featured began with Curtin laying rusty objects on fabric, encouraging the process by applying vinegar and water to create images. Enhanced with other textiles and stitching, the small pieces that started this series became totems of revelation and soon whispered to be larger and more dynamic.

Janet Goldner

Master welder, Janet Goldner presents free standing and wall mounted steel sculptures in Between the Ground and the Sky. While this exhibition highlights her steel sculptures, her work explores culture, identity and social justice in various media: steel sculpture, photography, video, installation and social projects. It consistently bridges diverse cultures, celebrating the unique beauty and genius of each as well as what we have in common. Goldner is at once an artist and researcher; her immersive fieldwork and annual visits to Mali provide her with inspiration. She writes, “Social projects internationally and in the US include participation with diverse groups of artists and non-artists. I engage in long-term collaborations, particularly with Malian artists. We are all, at the same time, researcher and object of research producing dialogues and concrete works of art.”

Kiyoko Sakai

Between the Ground and the Sky features the mixed media paintings of Kiyoko Sakai. Her paintings link both the dynamic scale of American Abstract Expressionists and the awareness of line in traditional Japanese art. The lines express music, rhythm and dance to create imaginary spaces and to express her inner world. Sakai follows her instinct and intuition with imagination of the territory beyond human understanding. She explains, “From my earliest days as an artist, my fascination with the cosmos has pulled me further into the exploration of the night sky, inspiring me and leading me toward an artistic and spiritual experience. My imagination of cosmic space soars higher into the infinite and the ultimate, where I witness the birth and death of stars. This space brings me closer to the understanding of that infinite realm of gods and goddesses. I am mesmerized by the ways that light and time are interconnected.”

Margo Herr

Carter Burden Gallery presents the work of Margo Herr in the exhibition Flowers, Boats and Birds. Herr focused on forms that were personal metaphors for change and the inner spiritual journey. Although her paintings derive from these objects, her work was always a balance of pure abstraction and identifiable subject matter. Poised between these two ideas she expressed the mystery of forms that inspired her through the intensity of her painting technique. Herr’s use of watercolor, collage, and typography in her book jacket designs led to the continual reappearance of these same techniques in her paintings and drawings, epitomized by the joyful exploration of transformations in nature in her flower series. Herr said, "Nature is the source of everything I desire to make. At its best it is the thing itself (a flower, stone, road, or landscape) made by me - imbued with the extra feelings that I cannot place in the world in any other way."

Kate Missett

In the exhibition Flowers, Boats and Birds, Kate Missett presents a series of ceramic works that highlight whimsical depictions of flora and fauna. While in graduate school Missett worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, developing a scholarly knowledge of and fascination with ceramic cultures of the past. This interest, as well as extensive travels in Europe, the Caribbean, and India have led to the development of her current body of work, a series of large canopic jars made with a variety of clays and firing techniques, that explore aspects of human relationships to nature and the city. Harkening to her upbringing in Florida and underlining her passion for conservation, imagery of endangered species and other animal life are frequently reflected in her ceramic pieces.