The Rochester Museum of Fine Arts is pleased to announce “Neither Created Nor Destroyed”, an exhibition featuring a series of works by Julie K. Gray in the Bernier Room, at the James W. Foley Memorial Community Center.
Julie K. Gray (b. 1982, Saco, ME) is a Biddeford, Maine-based interdisciplinary artist working primarily in sculpture, photography and needlepoint. She earned her BFA in Photography from Rhode Island School of Design in 2005 and has since earned her MFA in Studio Art from Maine College of Art in 2012. Gray has exhibited widely in New England as well as NYC, FL, TX, IL, OH, AZ, NC, and Canada.
After experiencing a near-death incident in 2009, much of her artwork engages motifs of mortality, mourning culture, and the psychological space of “limbo” thematically. In order to address these intangible subjects, she uses symbolic means, humor, cultural signposts, and varied media (primarily papier-mâché, beading, photography, needlepoint, and childhood craft) to become more accessible to the audience, and to perhaps open up dialog about mortality and spiritual inquiry—subjects typically deemed “taboo” in contemporary North American society.
Whether a person believes that we return to the dust from which we came, we go on a journey to Heaven or Hell, or our souls continue in a similar trajectory (simply leaving our bodies behind), Gray believes it’s important to talk about death openly in order to de-stigmatize the subject.
The exhibition will be on view from January 8, 2024, until March 1, 2024, with a reception planned for February 3, 2024, from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm. The public is encouraged to attend. The James W. Foley Memorial Community Center is located at 150 Wakefield Street, Rochester, NH 03867. Visit www.juliekgray.com/ and www.rochestermfa.org to learn more.
The museum is sponsored by the City of Rochester, Rochester Main Street, Waterstone Properties Group, Bernier Insurance, Meredith Village Savings Bank, Creative Guts Podcast, and the Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce.
