Hera Gallery is proud to present the exhibitions New Work by Jocelyn Foye & Missing Links by Jason Smith, two solo exhibitions by gallery members. The show will take place at Hera Gallery, at 10 High Street in Wakefield, RI, from September 1st to October 6th, 2018. The public is invited to attend the Opening Reception on Saturday, September 8th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. The Gallery will also be holding an Artist Talk on Thursday, September 20th, at 7p.m to discuss the artist’s process, materials, and artistic concepts addressed in the work.
The body of work to be exhibited by Jocelyn Foye experiments with the negotiation of public and private identities. It explores the reality of living in different political climates and the mark we make while in it. Foye uses the individual as the personification of the relationship between church and state while investigating the reality of oppression and acceptance.
In Missing Links, Artist Jason Smith explores advanced, mysterious Neolithic cultures, their artifacts and their impact on our historical timeline. “I chose 7 ancient obscure civilizations to highlight and research what is known about them and the remnants they left behind,” writes artist Jason Smith. ”They are Atlantis, Vinca culture, Nuraghe civilization, Jomon period of ancient Japan, The Hongshan culture, The Nomoli figures of Sierra Leone and The Indus Valley civilization. These cultures all have common links with symbolism in regards to death, fertility and bull-serpent worship, issues with deciphering language, advanced metallurgy and sculpture carving techniques for “stone age” inhabitants.”
Jocelyn Foye is a Los Angeles trained artist who recently moved to Rhode Island. Her personal 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.
Jason Smith is from Newport, RI. He is a 2007 graduate of CCRI and a summa cum laude graduate of URI in 2010 with bachelors in studio Fine Art. His concentrations included drawing, printmaking and digital art and design. Jason joined Hera Gallery in the spring of 2014 and fulfilled the role of working artist and website developer. The core of his artwork is connected to the study of ancient art history, mythology, mysticism, religious beliefs and symbolism. The significance behind the artwork can be appreciated with symbolism and hidden meanings behind the figurative imagery.