UPROOTED LIGHTS

LEAH GOLBERSTEIN'S JOURNEY TO RHODES, GREECE INSPIRES POWERFULLY POETIC SCULPTURES

What
“Uprooted Lights ” Installation transforms Form+Content Gallery into a conflicted spiritual space with handmade paper, tree limbs, plant material and a moving experience about diverse religious traditions.

When
Thursday, November 8 – Thursday, December 13, 2007
Opening Reception: Saturday, November 10, 6:30-8:30 PM
Gallery hours: Thursday – Saturday, 12:00 – 6:00 pm and by appointment

Where
Form + Content Gallery
Whitney Square Building
210 North 2nd Street, Suite 104
Minneapolis, MN 55401

Description
(Minneapolis, MN) New handmade paper and fiber sculptures by Minneapolis artist Leah Golberstein will transform Form+Content Gallery into a chapel-like space November 8 through December 13, 2007, in a timely installation called “Uprooted Lights.”

Using tree limbs and plant material, “Uprooted Lights” explores the emotional, spiritual and historical contradictions the artist experienced while visiting Rhodes, Greece to edit the new gallery guide for city’s Jewish Museum. There she discovered a 2,000-year history in which three multi-cultural, religiously diverse
communities alternated between co-existence and marginalization. Golberstein's installation gives life to the simultaneous beauty and pain she found embedded in this Mediterranean island civilization that has lived under the successive rule of the Knights of St. John, the Ottoman Turks, Italy, and Greece.

“Trees, witnesses to political and social change, stand in the gallery, uprooted and wrapped in handmade paper,” Golberstein explains. “They symbolize both displaced persons and the conflicting emotions I personally experienced while there. In some ways Rhodes’ religious history is a microcosm of today’s perceived conflicts among Christians, Jews and Muslims. The trees, bark, tzitzit, and rose petal sculptures dispersed throughout the gallery represent generations of individuals and their diverse sources of spiritual light.”

About Leah Golberstein
Leah Golberstein has participated in national and international juried competitions since 1994, and has won awards from curators at the Guggenheim and Smithsonian museums. She was on the faculty at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design from 1995-2005.Golberstein holds graduate degrees in Mathematics, (MA, Brandeis University), and in Visual Studies (MFA, Minneapolis College of Art and Design).

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Press Photos
All photos by Rik Sferra
Photo #1 Creation (handmade paper)
Photo #2 Figure (grapevines, handmade paper)
Photo #3 Uprooted (tree roots, handmade paper)
Photo #4 Rhodos- Tzitzit (handmade paper, copper wire)
Photo #5 Rhodos- Rosary (handmade paper, rose petals)
Photo #6 Rhodos- Dancing/Sycamore bark Old Turkish Cemetery (handmade
paper, bark)

Mission Statement
Form + Content Gallery will nurture diverse artistic practice and thoughtful dialogue. We value art as a catalyst for critical thinking. We value integrity and the artistic process. We aspire to link personal expression to broader social contexts. Form + Content Gallery is dedicated to moving the definitions and practice of culture forward in new and lively ways. Suggestions and ideas for cultural partnerships and programs are welcome.

FORM + CONTENT GALLERY
210 N. 2nd Street + Minneapolis + Minnesota + 55401
612/436-1151
www.formandcontent.org