December 14, 2024 – March 02, 2025
About:
With a background in science and informed by collaborations with scientists around the globe, Pennsylvania artist Rebecca Rutstein speaks to the interconnectedness of all things in the natural world. These works follow the artist’s expedition on a research vessel where she witnessed the churning pulse of geologic forces on the seafloor.
Related Events:
A Conversation with artist Rebecca Rutstein
Thursday, February 20, at 7 p.m.
Iron Front Event Space, 434 Market St #301, Lewisburg, PA 17837
Bucknell University Professor of Environmental Studies & Science Amanda Wooden will converse with All The Stars in the Sea exhibition artist Rebecca Rutstein about her time on board a research vessel and how her artwork speaks to the interconnectedness of all things in nature. A reception will follow at the Samek Downtown.
Curatorial Text:
Artist Statement, All The Stars In The Sea
As a multidisciplinary artist, my practice has evolved in ways I could not have imagined a decade ago. Whether painting, sculpture, interactive installation, video, sound or public art, the element that weaves through all of my work is a desire to shed light on hidden systems in the natural world and make the invisible visible through the language of art.
The abstract paintings and sculptural installation in this exhibition are inspired by microscopic webs of interactivity in the deep sea that mediate processes on our planet. The work speaks more broadly to the interconnectedness of all things in the natural world and is informed and enriched by my ongoing collaborations with scientists. In fact, the series Thirty Days was entirely created while I was aboard a research vessel on an expedition at sea off the coast of Mexico last April. There, I had the rare opportunity to take my third dive in a 3-manned submersible more than a mile deep to witness the churning pulse of geologic forces on the seafloor. The steel sculptural installation Flow was inspired by the very hydrothermal plumes she witnessed, and the dispersal of trace metals like iron, which flow thousands of miles from the seafloor to the surface, essential to life in both land and sea.
Grappling with our environmental crisis has become a driving force in my practice. And harnessing art to connect people with the natural world has become my life’s work. Art can be the emotional driver to create awareness and wonder, inspire empathy, and foster stewardship. In 2015 I climbed aboard a research vessel for the first time as an artist in residence. Eight expeditions later, it has been the privilege of my life to transform these humbling experiences into visual worlds that can be shared with the public.
Rebecca Rutstein
August 2024
Installation Images:
Top image credit: Rebecca Rutstein, All the Stars in the Sea, 2024