Plateau, Where the Ocean Inspires and Informs Contemporary Art

July 1 - July 28

Opening Reception: Saturday, July 1, 6 - 8pm 

Hera Gallery is proud to present PLATEAU: Where the Ocean Inspires Contemporary Art. Four internationally known artists, McLean Fahnestock, Jeff Foye, Jocelyn Foye and Jenine Stereos, have united to show their thematically unified work. Each is distinctively inspired by the ocean; collectively they embark on a passionate conversation with one another. The exhibition will take place at Hera Gallery, 10 High Street in Wakefield, RI, July 1st through July 28th. The public is invited to attend the opening reception on Saturday, July 1st from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

The four exhibiting artists formerly studied together at California State University, Long Beach. Now each has relocated eastward. The work shown is fortified by their personal respect for the ocean together with their professional geographic shift from the west to east coast.

This exhibition features works in several media. These range from the digitally informed contemporary to historically resonant analogue. The exhibition includes a video installation, interactive audio sculpture, painting and photography, as well as textiles, scientific drawings and herbarium specimens by Dr. Craig Schneider, PhD. and Dr. Michael Wynne, PhD.

McLean Fahnestock is a media artist who works in video, sound, sculpture, and digital collage. McLean reclaims material from institutions, seeking out footage, images, and items that intimate place and carry the trappings of exploration. McLean received a BFA from Middle Tennessee State University and MFA from California State University Long Beach. Her work has been exhibited and screened across the United States and Internationally at institutions such as the Black Mountain College Re{Happening}, North Carolina, Technisches Museum Wien, Vienna, Austria, The California Science Museum, Los Angeles, The British Library, London, and MOCA Hiroshima, Japan. Her work was included in a DVD compilation of short videos by the LA Film Forum. She was a finalist for a 2012 Vimeo Video Award and was named “Most Promising New Artist” at MADATAC 5, in Madrid, Spain. McLean is an Assistant Professor of Art at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, TN. She is based in Old Hickory, TN.
www.mcleanfahnestock.com

Jocelyn Foye is a Los Angeles trained artist who recently moved to Rhode Island. Her own work has focused on arresting movement through idiosyncratic sculptural reliefs, frequently connected to performance-based installation. Foye is also an accomplished graphic designer. She earned her MFA from California State University, Long Beach, a BA from Trinity College, Hartford, and has studied in Glasgow, Scotland and the Hartford Art School. She has shown widely on the West and East coasts, has taught in both regions, and now serves on the Board of Directors of Hera Gallery in Wakefield, helping propel the pioneering feminist collaborative into the diverse practice of contemporary feminist creative activism via The Woman Project.
www.jocelynart.com
www.jocelynfoye.tumblr.com
www.thewomanproject.org

Jeff Foye is a multi-media artist and surfer who recently relocated to Rhode Island from California. Jeff’s work consists of interventions, performances, videos, audio installations and an 8-hour long split-screen movie which garnered critical acclaim in the Los Angeles Times. For the past nine years Jeff has collaborated with the artist Gordon Winiemko under the brand JEFF&GORDON. Their work has been shown throughout the Los Angeles area and internationally.

Jeff Foye was born and raised in Southern California. At age 18 he left for Hartford, Connecticut to attend Trinity College where he received his B.A. in Theatre and Dance. Raised by a film fanatic, his early exposure to an extremely wide selection of cinema developed an early appreciation for narrative art forms which continues today in his personal and collaborative work. Jeff is a part time digital photography professor and currently lives in Wakefield, Rhode Island.
www.jeffandgordon.net
www.jefffoye.com

Jenine Shereos is a sculptor and installation artist specializing in fiber and textile processes. She has an MFA from California State University, Long Beach, and currently lives in Boston, Massachusetts.
Shereos’ work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally, and included in exhibitions in France, Italy, Switzerland, Poland, Portugal, Hungary, Austria, and Canada. Her work has also been published in the Los Angeles Times, The Huffington Post, Frame Magazine, Make Magazine, Texteil Plus Magazine, and Mary Schoeser’s recent publication; Textiles: The Art of Mankind. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2015 Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship in Crafts, first place in “Small Expressions,” at the Long Beach Museum of Art, second prize at the Triennial of Mini-textiles in Angers, France, and the Drawing Prize at the 20the Drawing Show at the Boston Center for the Arts’ Mills Gallery in Boston, Massachusetts.
www.jenineshereos.com

These programs are presented with partial support from The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts and The Friends of Hera. Hera Gallery is free and open to the public and is accessible to persons with disabilities. Parking is available.