Console

con·sole: 1) to allay the sorrow or grief of; 2) a small freestanding storage cabinet; 3) a small storage compartment mounted between bucket seats in an automobile; 4) a central control panel for a mechanical, electrical, or, electrical, or electronic system.

Console is a collaborative effort by three women artists who are reacting to the changes occurring both stylistically and conceptually within the evolving, disposable, consumerist society. The work shares an awareness of personal history in relation to the immediate changes of their cultural landscape and ideas of identity. Perhaps particular to the thirty-something’s generation, they evaluate the transient nature of their existence by developing strategies of transformative and portable elements, which comprise their individual installation work. Unpacking ideas of home and place, an idealized comfort is exposed. By borrowing what they deem 'quality' from the past and merging contemporary technology, Schmeltz, Reilly, and Dotson aim to extract a relevant aesthetic. Examining the cultural remains from the shelves of thrift stores and American myths they configure a new iconography and landscape.

Aili Schmeltz currently lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. She received an MFA in Sculpture from the University of Aizona and a BFA in Printmaking/Painting from the Kansas City Art Institute. Schmeltz has exhibited locally at The Hall Gallery, Gallery 500 and the Modern Zoo in 2004 as well as the Tilt Gallery and Project Space in 2006. She has also exhibited extensively in Los Angeles, Tucson and Kansas City and participated in several Residencies at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Omaha, NE; Raid Projects, Los Angeles, CA; Around the Coyote Gallery, Chicago, IL; and Sculpture Space, Utica, NY.

Molly Reilly recently returned to the Bay Area after a short stint in the Mid West. The move to Michigan and Indiana afforded her the space and time to grow as an artist and a teacher. She received her MFA in Photography from Cranbrook Art Academy and taught at several universities in the region. Molly has been working with photography for over ten years, developing different strategies for image sequencing and installation.

Stephanie Dotson received her MFA degree at the University of Georgia in Athens GA and currently lives and teaches in Santa Barbara, CA. Dotson’s style has been described as an “exciting and distinctly individual design style and visual presence. Layering the slick edges of digital media design with a sweetly-awkward illustrative style, and a mad arsenal of working materials and techniques” Dotson attempts to create works, which reconcile the tactile with the strictly imagistic, the grandiose with the delicate and the dynamic with the ornamental.