Inherent Visions: Neddy at Cornish Exhibition at Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle

Works by Aramis O. Hamer, Inye Wokoma, Jite Agbro, Romson Regarde Bustillo, Julia Freeman, Tatiana Garmendia, Emily Gherard, & Amanda Knowles

November 1, 2019


Installation View, Inherent Visions (2019). Photography: Winifred Westergard

It is through imagination and memory, or the ability of artists to create visions beyond our temporal, physical, and historical limitations, that the disturbances of time, life, and borders seemingly slow down. As a curator, a collaborator and caretaker of artists, artworks, and spaces, I have a responsibility of care in regards to these visions.

The 2019 Neddy at Cornish Exhibition titled Inherent Visions celebrates and recognizes the creative practices of eight artists living and working in the Puget Sound Region. This award honors the value of artistic and cultural labors within and across communities. I am delighted to be serving as the 2019 Neddy at Cornish Curator and to work with this year’s finalists of the Neddy at Cornish Award. In harmony with the legacy of the award’s namesake, painter and teacher Ned Benkhe, the finalists exhibit a spirit of care and advocacy. This tenderness extends not only from their application of material within their work, but also to their extensive community practices as teachers, curators, organizers, among the other countless roles artists play.

The exhibition Inherent Visions gives a glimpse towards contemporary creative practices in the region. The work ranges from oils on canvas, to innovative combinations in mixed media, to social practices that invite the audience to consider our relationships to the work and the communities that surround us. The title of the exhibition calls attention to the role of the artist as both essential in terms of memory and history, but also transformative in terms of imagination and community building. In this regard, the exhibition connects the audience to both a particular time and place.

Through the works of this exhibition, imagination and memory connects imagined futures and memorable pasts to our present moment.