Moon of Many Petals

January 7th - February 18th 2018

Artists Sumi Foley, Penny McElroy, Snezana Saraswati Petrovic, and Cindy Rinne capture the essence of change, cycles, pilgrimage, and harmony with all creation in color, luminance, and texture. There’s a variety of scale resembling the waxing, full, waning, and new moon. Petals fall in strips of silk, layers of images over light, collage of cultures, people in nature, and stories of soothsayers.

The moon as celestial object plays an important role in culture and time. A lunar month is the cycle of the moon. The moon affects the tides as it pulls at the Earth. It is a measure of women’s monthly cycles and the balance of sun and moon as they chase each other. Many cultures see the moon as feminine consciousness. A full moon brightens up the night sky, sometimes appearing orange, gold, rose, silver, or blue and may have a halo or moonbow. Many folk tales contain stories such as: a rabbit on the moon creating an elixir, a woman carrying a tree to the moon, and the man on the moon. Cherry tree petals float across the moon as a symbol of rebirth after winter and of fleeting life. A flower that dissipates. This art brings intense essence as the moon lives in the lining of your skin – Pablo Neruda.

SUMI FOLEY
Sumi was born in Osaka, Japan. She has been making fabric art for more than 25 years. Several years ago Sumi changed from hand-stitching to creatively using fabric as pigment, which makes her work appear so "painterly. "Sumi combines traditional Japanese aesthetics and her own unique vision to create her fabric art pieces.

CINDY RINNE
Cindy Rinne has created fine art for over 40 years. She began in water media and started creating art quilts over 30 years ago. She paints and draws with thread using fabrics from around the world. Cindy writes original poetry which often appears as a part or with the art work. Her work emphasizes using fiber and stitch constructed into collage. She uses repurposed vintage fabrics, laces, and buttons as textures.

Penny McElroy
Penny’s artwork spans a broad range of materials and media, from drawing and painting to 3-D ceramic pieces. Recently she has been experimenting with layered mixed media works on paper that incorporate light. Penny’s work has been exhibited throughout the United States and abroad, including recently at the Cal Poly Pomona exhibit Ink & Clay, where her work, el matrimonio de Archimedes, won the University President’s Purchase award. Other recent art venues also include ARC gallery in San Francisco, Skylight Gallery in New York, Gallery 825 in Los Angeles, Lalit Kala Akademi in New Delhi, India, Cali, , Medellin, and Manizales, Columbia, as well as Quilmes, Argentina.

SNEZANA SARASWATI PETROVIC
Snezana is multi-media artist, an academic and an award-winning set/costume designer. She exhibited her work nationally and internationally in Amsterdam, Singapore, Tokyo, Prague, and Belgrade, at the venues such as Los Angeles MOCA and Stedijilk Museum, Amsterdam.

Snezana is recipient of numerous awards both in USA and Europe, such as “Golden Arena” for Production Design in feature movie “Harms Case” or “Ovation 2011, Los Angeles” for the costume design in Large Theatre category. She was awarded UC Regents Grant and National Endowment for the Arts.

Snezana holds MFA from University of California, Irvine and BFA from Belgrade University, Serbia.

Sumi Foley | Flow To 2016 | tiny kiono on canvas

Cindy Rinne |Natsumi Summer Seas 2014 | fiber art

Penny McElroy | Unfolding to You 2016 | mixed media on light box  

Snezana Saraswati Petrovic | Ancient Africa 2017 | mixed media on birch wood

© 2018 Inland Empire Museum of Art
All Art © by The Artist