The Philosophical Research Society is pleased to present
THE GARDEN by artist MEGAN WHITMARSH
The Hansell Gallery - MARCH 9 - APRIL 20, 2024
The Garden is a space for healing, for exchange, and for play.
Through interaction with art & objects, serving as props and prompts, we come to see:
Every act of creation is an invitation to heal.
Everyone is welcome.
An installation of video, ceramic & textile objects, costumes & props, Megan Whitmarsh’s installation is dedicated to healing from trauma. In THE GARDEN, we release tears, fears and regenerate through transformation and affirmation. Plants, vessels, telephones, mirrors, animals, flowers, books, and costumes, either made from ceramic or textiles, adorn the space. These are the objects beautifully — and playfully — crafted by Whitmarsh.
Play is key here. While the artist’s work has been a tool of self therapy and self healing, Whitmarsh’s true desire is to expand and radiate her created spaces for connection to others.
“That my purpose as an artist is to connect, is to collaborate, is to inspire others to create, is to make things feel joyful yet acknowledge the pathos and complications of living— to slow down, to play and to invite exchange.”
In this spirit, the installation will slowly change and grow. Over time, new elements will be added by the artist and visitors alike. A series of related programing will accompany the show, with guest artists, healers and musicians.
The exhibition contains solo works by the artist as well as objects and videos made in collaboration with Daniel Brantley, Stan Edmondson, Jade Gordon, Carla Tome, and Dorothy Henderson.
Megan Whitmarsh is an artist making textile works, newspapers, videos, paintings and ceramics. She frequently collaborates and her work is often interactive.
Whitmarsh has been exhibiting for over 30 years at museums, galleries and art spaces including the Hammer Museum, Torrance Art Museum, Riverside Art Museum, L’Ivam, Watermill, the Wolfsonian Museum, Human Resources LA and Museum Rijswijk. THE GARDEN is crafted to be an experience — akin to a child who walks into a room full of toys. What is the child’s impulse? To play, to rearrange, to create something new with what they have right in front of them. Like the room full of children’s toys, the next time someone enters this space, things are a little different. Whether subtle or grand, change has ocurred. For Whitmarsh, the impulse to create such an immersive world is personal. This is her own search for spiritual, physical and emotional healing.
Daniel Brantley is a Los Angeles based film and video artist, and performs with the group Dolphinforce.
Stan Edmondson, b.1962, is a Los Angeles based artist working predominantly with homemade clay. Edmondson’s works are reminiscent of the California Funk Art Movement, and take inspiration from 1960s-70s comics and anime.
Los Angeles based artist, Jade Gordon (Santa Rosa, CA, 1975) is a founding member of the art collective, My Barbarian. Gordon makes plays, music, costumes, masks, sculptures, and video. Holding an M.A. in Applied Theater Arts from USC, she is also a practitioner of Theater of the Oppressed techniques.
Carla Tome is a born and raised Los Angeles, CA woman. She received her BFA from San Francisco Art Institute. She is also an experienced Art instructor to the young and the old in many different capacities from institutions such as East Los Angeles College, Plaza De La Raza, and Craft Contemporary Museum.
Dorothy Henderson is a daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, Quaker, elder, PhD and former Pacific Bell telephone operator. She lives in the Sierra foothills with her husband Doug, in Rocky Knoll, a net zero home that offers a peaceful heart to those who enter.
Through interaction with art & objects, serving as props and prompts, we come to see:
Every act of creation is an invitation to heal.
Everyone is welcome.
An installation of video, ceramic & textile objects, costumes & props, Megan Whitmarsh’s installation is dedicated to healing from trauma. In THE GARDEN, we release tears, fears and regenerate through transformation and affirmation. Plants, vessels, telephones, mirrors, animals, flowers, books, and costumes, either made from ceramic or textiles, adorn the space. These are the objects beautifully — and playfully — crafted by Whitmarsh.
Play is key here. While the artist’s work has been a tool of self therapy and self healing, Whitmarsh’s true desire is to expand and radiate her created spaces for connection to others.
“That my purpose as an artist is to connect, is to collaborate, is to inspire others to create, is to make things feel joyful yet acknowledge the pathos and complications of living— to slow down, to play and to invite exchange.”
In this spirit, the installation will slowly change and grow. Over time, new elements will be added by the artist and visitors alike. A series of related programing will accompany the show, with guest artists, healers and musicians.
The exhibition contains solo works by the artist as well as objects and videos made in collaboration with Daniel Brantley, Stan Edmondson, Jade Gordon, Carla Tome, and Dorothy Henderson.
Megan Whitmarsh is an artist making textile works, newspapers, videos, paintings and ceramics. She frequently collaborates and her work is often interactive.
Whitmarsh has been exhibiting for over 30 years at museums, galleries and art spaces including the Hammer Museum, Torrance Art Museum, Riverside Art Museum, L’Ivam, Watermill, the Wolfsonian Museum, Human Resources LA and Museum Rijswijk. THE GARDEN is crafted to be an experience — akin to a child who walks into a room full of toys. What is the child’s impulse? To play, to rearrange, to create something new with what they have right in front of them. Like the room full of children’s toys, the next time someone enters this space, things are a little different. Whether subtle or grand, change has ocurred. For Whitmarsh, the impulse to create such an immersive world is personal. This is her own search for spiritual, physical and emotional healing.
Daniel Brantley is a Los Angeles based film and video artist, and performs with the group Dolphinforce.
Stan Edmondson, b.1962, is a Los Angeles based artist working predominantly with homemade clay. Edmondson’s works are reminiscent of the California Funk Art Movement, and take inspiration from 1960s-70s comics and anime.
Los Angeles based artist, Jade Gordon (Santa Rosa, CA, 1975) is a founding member of the art collective, My Barbarian. Gordon makes plays, music, costumes, masks, sculptures, and video. Holding an M.A. in Applied Theater Arts from USC, she is also a practitioner of Theater of the Oppressed techniques.
Carla Tome is a born and raised Los Angeles, CA woman. She received her BFA from San Francisco Art Institute. She is also an experienced Art instructor to the young and the old in many different capacities from institutions such as East Los Angeles College, Plaza De La Raza, and Craft Contemporary Museum.
Dorothy Henderson is a daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, Quaker, elder, PhD and former Pacific Bell telephone operator. She lives in the Sierra foothills with her husband Doug, in Rocky Knoll, a net zero home that offers a peaceful heart to those who enter.
SUPPORTING PROGRAMS:
March 9, Opening Day:
Flower Faces, face painting
The Flowers, guided meditation with Azalea Lee
The Garden of Music and Dance, performance with The Musical Tracing Ensemble & Jmy James Kidd with Dance Pack Ojai
March 9 - April 20, in the gallery:
Operator, May I Help You?, Quaker Query within the gallery installation with Dorothy Henderson
The Plants Speak, drawing session in the gallery with Megan Whitmarsh FRIDAY MARCH 15TH 12-2PM AND FRIDAY MARCH 22ND 12-3PM (drop in!)
Magic is Real, sewing session in the gallery with Megan Whitmarsh FRIDAY APRIL 5TH 11am-1pm RSVP 2-4pm RSVP
March 29-30:
Dreaming a Neuroqueer Film, make a film in the gallery with Cedric Tai FRIDAY MARCH 29th + SATURDAY APRIL 1st RSVP (2 day workshop)
April 6:
3pm -- Inner Garden: A guided visualization to create an inner sacred space, workshop in the upstairs Lecture Room with Anouk Howl RSVP
4pm -- Empaths, ambient musical oracular reading and performance in the PRS Library with Von Doog, Sharin Foo, and Matthew Salata RSVP
April 20, Closing Day:
1-3pm -- Flower Faces, face painting in the courtyard
2-3:30pm -- Journey Within, intuitive card readings in the Plantasia Lounge with Edgar Fabián Frías MORE INFO
4-5:30pm -- Lavender Diamond Chorale & Liteheart, musical performance in the courtyard TICKETS
March 9, Opening Day:
Flower Faces, face painting
The Flowers, guided meditation with Azalea Lee
The Garden of Music and Dance, performance with The Musical Tracing Ensemble & Jmy James Kidd with Dance Pack Ojai
March 9 - April 20, in the gallery:
Operator, May I Help You?, Quaker Query within the gallery installation with Dorothy Henderson
The Plants Speak, drawing session in the gallery with Megan Whitmarsh FRIDAY MARCH 15TH 12-2PM AND FRIDAY MARCH 22ND 12-3PM (drop in!)
Magic is Real, sewing session in the gallery with Megan Whitmarsh FRIDAY APRIL 5TH 11am-1pm RSVP 2-4pm RSVP
March 29-30:
Dreaming a Neuroqueer Film, make a film in the gallery with Cedric Tai FRIDAY MARCH 29th + SATURDAY APRIL 1st RSVP (2 day workshop)
April 6:
3pm -- Inner Garden: A guided visualization to create an inner sacred space, workshop in the upstairs Lecture Room with Anouk Howl RSVP
4pm -- Empaths, ambient musical oracular reading and performance in the PRS Library with Von Doog, Sharin Foo, and Matthew Salata RSVP
April 20, Closing Day:
1-3pm -- Flower Faces, face painting in the courtyard
2-3:30pm -- Journey Within, intuitive card readings in the Plantasia Lounge with Edgar Fabián Frías MORE INFO
4-5:30pm -- Lavender Diamond Chorale & Liteheart, musical performance in the courtyard TICKETS
Azalea Lee is a Los Angeles based crystal and flower essence healer, and author of the book The Crystal Workshop: A Journey into the Healing Power of Crystals.
The Musical Tracing Ensemble- Taking familiar songs from the popular music canon and reinterpreting them through a filter of naïveté via an unsuspecting large musical ensemble.
JMY JAMES KIDD designs dances (solo, Body + Bass collab with Tara Jane O'Neil, The Sunland Dancers, NICK+JAMES, MGM), textiles (felting, weaving, spinning, dance costuming), and community spaces (Pieter Performance Space, AUNTS).
Cedric Tai, born in Detroit (1985), has an Art Education degree & BFA from Michigan State University (2007), and an MFA from the Glasgow School of Art (2013). Cedric Tai is a conceptual visual artist and facilitator whose work focuses on neurodivergent experience, labor and politics.
Anouk Howl she, they, theirs
BFA, MA, LPC, LAC
Graduated from Tyler School of Art. Touched by death, therapy and Buddhism in NYC, I spirited away to Naropa University to study contemplative psychotherapy. Searching for healing and truth is my lifelong journey.
EMPATHS Extracting signals from noise and drones from static EMPATHS plug into the cosmic background radiation to distill a subtle sonic brew from the electrified ether.
EMPATHS are: Von Doog, Sharin Foo, & Matthew Salata
Edgar Fabián Frías works in installation, photography, video art, sound, sculpture, printed textiles, GIFs, performance, social practice, and community organizing, among other forms. Their work has been exhibited internationally. Frías is Wixárika and their family is from Mexico. BA UC Riverside, MA Portland State University, MFA UC Berkeley.
Lavender Diamond Chorale is an ensemble of voices led by singer and composer Becky Stark, founder of the LA Ladies Choir, Lavender Diamond and member of the Living Sisters.
Liteheart is Rosie Brantley, Frances & Ray Salata: Friends since birth… now in a band making magical, mercurial, mathematical sounds in Highland Park. We wail to the moon and weep for the earth.