Marta Baumiller’s exuberant textile/sculptural hybrids are a feast for the eyes and senses, while also engaging with larger issues of community and social engagement. Her works offer immense visual pleasure, while leading the viewer back into their own body and sense of community and space. Shimon Attie Four exhibit catalog, 2021 Zuccaire Gallery, Stony Brook, NY 
ARTFUL CIRCLE ARTIST SPOTLIGHT 4/14/21
Marta Baumiller at Paul W. Zuccaire Gallery at Stony Brook University BY NICOLE STRAUS PICTURE EDITOR & DESIGNER: DEBBIE WELLS One of the silver linings of the pandemic has been seeing the response of artists to it. Some have excelled in extraordinary and enlightening ways. A case in point is Marta Baumiller’s MFA exhibition at Stony Brook University, which creates an exuberant sense of place and community both indoors – and outdoors. At the Staller Center’s Zuccaire Gallery, you can experience Breathing Room, a monumental immersive “shelter” of sewn fabric and plastic reflecting changing light and color as it gently floats in place, shifting as viewers pass in and out of it. Soul Bath, an outdoor drive-thru experience, rifts on the medical tents that have sprouted up for testing and vaccines, but reveals a much more pleasant atmosphere of vibrant colors and flags blowing in the wind. With sound by Cliff Baldwin, Baumiller has created a sanctuary that surrounds the viewer with playful and imaginative elements, reminding us that these challenging times have also drawn us together.
“Breathing Room” is on view at the Staller Center’s Zuccaire Gallery at Stony Brook University through April 16, 2021.
“Soul Bath” was on view in South P Lot/Commuter Parking, Stony Brook University
through April 1, 2021. |
