July 7 - 30th.

Meet the Artists: July 7th. 6 - 9 pm. (First Thursdays Art Walk)

Participating Artists: Lily Butter, James Boyd (1928 - 2002), Vanessa Coplan, Adam Davidson, Claudia Dennis, Drew Edwards, Taz Fletcher, Patrick S. Greene, Carolina Hernandez, Mathieu Laca, Michèle LeCourtois, Shannon Lee, Patrick John Mills, Carmela Marrese, Zaneta Pernicova, Ali Sztepa, Juan Manuel Vasquez, Graeme Welch, Lorena Ziraldo.

Featured Sculptor: Deborah Arnold (June - July)

Live Performance Art by Artist: Ali Sztepa. (Grand Opening Night)

Hey Patrick here it is without those chevrons.. Working from my phone so is a bit wonky...Thanks for letting me do this, been thinking about it for a while. Ttys~ali

Set Up:

Under the window in the Main Gallery I will sit silent and kneeling wearing a green dress on a round piece of green fabric. There will be large white Bristol boards with the words "hair", "cut" and "peace" written on them on the walls behind me. A pair of scissors will be placed in front of me on the floor. The audience will be invited to come up one at a time to cut a lock of my long blonde hair. The hair will be placed on the green fabric around me and will remain for the duration of the exhibit as documentation of the performance or the cutter may keep the lock.
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Inspired by Yoko Ono's "Cut Piece" of 1964-6 and 2003.

Ono has discussed "Cut Piece" as:
-a test of her commitment to life as an artist
-a challenge to artistic ego
-a gift
-a spiritual act

"Cut Piece" has been described as proto-feminist by art historians and has been re-enacted countless times.

Yoko Ono has said that "Cut Piece" is, "...a form of...giving and taking". She staged these performances as an appeal to world peace.

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Ali Sztepa's "Hair->Cut->Peace" is riddled with meaning; ideals of beauty, initiation, identity and trust.

On a more superficial level, she hopes to gain freedom from an unruly and hot mop of frizzy dyed blonde hair which has cost hundreds, if not thousands, to maintain.

As the battle for inner peace continues to be waged, the state of world peace is abysmal. By drawing on Yoko Ono, themes concerning each person's responsibility to foster world peace will emerge.

As the audience projects their own meaning on to the piece, ideas and thought collide.