Svava Thordis Juliusson & Laura Marotta Exhibition Opens at McMaster

May 15 – August 16

The McMaster Museum of Art is proud to present an exhibition of new work by two Hamilton-based artists―Svava Thordis Juliusson and Laura Marotta, a McMaster alumnus. The artists share a use of manufactured material-products in their respective studio practices.

“We are delighted to showcase these artists, who both explore untraditional materials in their practice, and who are both recognized for their significant contributions to the arts,” says Museum Director and Chief Curator Carol Podedworny.

Svava Thordia Juliusson, a mid career artist, is a nominee for the 2014 City of Hamilton Visual Arts Award. She has chosen to work with building materials such as polypropylene rope, plastic meshing and aluminum sheeting metal. Because they are not structural, she explores the potential of drawing in space to express form, and in turn her interests and observations of geological formations. She has also begun to use aluminum armature wire designed for sculptural modeling, but also for a spatial drawing in which the cast shadows become an integral element of the experience.

Laura Marotta, a McMaster Studio Art alumnus, was recently featured as a Hamilton Arts Scene “maker and shaker” in Hamilton Magazine. She takes her cues from modular building, kit homes and cabinetry, to invoke architecture without being literal. She begins with modeling, often with cardboard, and then solves the structural needs through design and precision crafting with plywood and MDF. The decision of what is visible — such as fastenings and whether or not to register surface colour — become part of the constructive process.

ARTISTS’ BIOS

Svava Thordis Juliusson is a Hamilton, Ontario based artist born in Siglufjordur, Iceland in 1966. She began undergraduate studies at the Alberta College of Art and Design in 1993 and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts at NSCAD University in 1997. Juliusson completed her MFA in studio at York University in 2007. Juliusson’s work can be found in the collections of Mount Saint Vincent University Art Gallery, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, and the Nova Scotia Art Bank as well as in a number of private collections. Juliusson is the recipient of several grants, namely: 2012 Ontario Arts Council – Visual Artists Mid Career; 2010 Toronto Arts Council – Visual Artists Mid-Career; 2006 SSHRC – Canada Graduate Scholarship – Masters, 2014 Ontario Arts Council – Visual Artists Mid Career Grant; 2013 Canada Council for the Arts – Mid Career Project Grant and is a nominee for the 2014 City of Hamilton Visual Arts Award.

Laura Marotta graduated from McMaster’s Studio Art Program and received her MFA from the University of Guelph (2011). She has had solo shows at the Burlington Art Center(2013) and the MacDonald Stewart Art Center, Guelph (2011). She has been in curated exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Mississauga; G Gallery, Toronto; the Atlantic Center for the Arts, Florida and group exhibitions at B Contemporary, Hamilton and Diaz Contemporary, Toronto. She is the recipient of several awards including the Emerging Artist Award from the City of Hamilton and was the Burlington Handweavers and Spinner Guild’s first Artist-in-Residence (2009-10). In September 2014 Laura has been invited to participate in Hamilton’s SUPERCRAWL.