VISUAL ARTS + MUSEUMS

Galveston Arts Center is pleased to present Karen Brasier-Young: Fragment/Ornament, a one-night only event at the 1878 First National Bank Building located at 2127 Strand at 22nd Street. The event will take place from 5 to 8 pm during the June 11th ArtWalk. GAC executive director Alexandra Irvine will lead a gallery talk with the artist at 5:30 pm. The event is free and open to the public.

Combining her interests in architecture and sculpture, Brasier-Young has created a selection of architectural jewelry intended to serve as ornament to decorate the building. These embellishments are, in turn, created from fragments of construction materials, including discarded parquet wood flooring, plastic window blind slats, and lighting fixtures. Her stylistically modern forms, constructed from contemporary materials, are installed in stark contrast to the exposed masonry and structural steel, decorating and calling attention to the beautiful craftsmanship of the historic building.

“My training in architecture has interested me in the objects and elements that create space—primarily materials, scale, structure, and surface,” writes the artist. “By directly investigating the relationship between art, architecture, and visual representation, I have created interdisciplinary objects that examine the penetration of art into all kinds of thinking, cross-referencing the fields of art and architecture.”

Suffering substantial damage caused by Hurricane Ike in 2008, the 1878 First National Bank Building has served as the home of the visual arts in Galveston for over 40 years. In the three years since the storm, the Galveston Arts Center has raised and spent over $2,000,000 addressing structural issues, refurbishing the original cast iron façade, and making improvements that will bring the building into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Currently, the interior of the first floor has been stripped down to exposed masonry and stud walls and plywood subfloor. An additional $1,000,000 will be needed to complete the renovation of the building and restore it to a functioning non-profit venue for the presentation of contemporary art.

A native of Galveston, Brasier-Young received a BS in 2007, and MA in 2010, in architecture from the University of Cincinnati, Ohio. She is currently completing graduate studies in sculpture at the San Francisco Art Institute. Other architectural interventions of her work have been mounted at the Clifton Cultural Arts Center in Cincinnati, and Diego Rivera Gallery in San Francisco. The artist currently lives and works in Houston.

Pictured: Karen Brasier-Young, Parquet Pediment (horizontal), 2011, Parquet wood flooring, yellow zinc-plated screws, and dimensional lumber.