Sheet Cake Gallery – October Openings

Sheet Cake is proud to present two new exhibitions opening October 12 from 5 – 7:30 PM, I Saw the Light in Your Eyes featuring Renata Cassiano Alvarez. and Anthony Sonnenberg, and Our Love is a Shady Garden featuring Yanira Vissepó in the second gallery.

Cassiano Alvarez and Sonnenberg are ceramic sculptors who share a deep belief in the power of objects that communicate significant amounts of information about history, power, and status. In their respective practices, there is an intentional decision to work through complex ideas of identity through abstraction, which provides for greater flexibility of thought for both the artist and the viewer. They both see their sculptures as being reborn through the process of construction and firing, bringing disparate components together that carry their own histories but become new beings with a life of their own.

Yanira Vissepó blends painting, natural dyes, block printing and collage in her practice which centers around the study and celebration of the ecosystems between her birthplace in Puerto Rico and adopted home in Tennessee. The naturally dramatic landscape of Puerto Rico’s tropical rainforest and saturated colors in native plant life merge with the striking change of seasons seen in Tennessee, creating lush and vibrant paintings. Vissepó uses organic materials and natural pigments, drawing from Japanese printmaking traditions. Both the materials and imagery speak to her long-time interest in herbalism and holistic healing that began as an important means of self-care before manifesting in her artistic practice. Generous swaths of blue, green and red are created using a stain painting method that add depth and texture to the surface, with collaged floral and plant images delicately stitched onto the canvas or fabric.