FLOWERS THAT OPEN AT NIGHT
FEBRUARY 10-MARCH 23, 2024
Friends Artspace is delighted to host Flowers that Open at Night, a solo presentation of new ceramic works by Lopez Island, Washington based artist, Joanna Bloom.
This compendium follows a year of studied reverence for the abundance of Pacific Northwest landscapes and the quiet powers of the unseen: the animals that leave traces at night, the mythical wonder of plant migration, the celestial rhythms and ephemera of the Salish Sea.
Rooted by her Catholic and Jewish heritage, Bloom transfigures whispers from the land into menorahs and candelabras. Lighting candles is an age-old ceremonial undertaking: an incantation, a remembrance, a wish, a celebration of miracles.
The title of the exhibition pays homage to the gatherings that Bloom’s mother held every year to celebrate the flowering of her night-blooming cereus. Friends and family would convene in the dark to witness the cactus’ splendor. By daylight, the pendulous white blossoms were wilted bundles, almost as if nothing had ever happened.
Like the magical rhythms of nature and the mysticism of the stories that shape her, Bloom encourages the viewer to push past what is readily visible. The raised relief of a flower or a crescent moon ornamentation is evident in the artwork, but sometimes the narrative detail is deliberately obscured by thick coats of slip. Like the enchanting cereus, Bloom’s hand-dipped candles are lights in the darkness, twinkling to remind us that not everything sits at the surface.
