Gallery Opening on First Friday, August 4, 5-8 PM
Exhibiting in the Main Gallery through end of August
Gallery Opening is Free & Open to All, with Works Available for Purchase

The ZACC is thrilled to be hosting 'Earth & Life: Discussions’, works by Katrina Ruhmland and Gail Trenfield, in our Main Gallery for the month of August, 2023 – with an opening on First Friday, August 3, from 5 to 8 PM. The Gallery Opening is free and open to all, with works available for purchase.

‘Earth & Life: Discussions’ is a culmination of eight years of discussions between Katrina Ruhmland and Gail Trenfield, two artists and friends about their vastly different approaches to art. Katrina a mixed media weaver and Gail a painter have found surprising common ground in their work and are excited to share it with the Missoula community.

Katrina works with fiber – finding it in natural places, cleaning, carding, spinning, dying, and finally, weaving. The work takes time and patience. It is direct and tactile. She starts with an idea, an emotion, and stays open to allowing the work to have voice in the process – bringing together history, background, location, ideas, the nature of the materials and process into the final work. Each piece is rich with the stories that brought it into being.

Gail’s work with oil, pastel and watercolor is more immediate – often starting as plein air work, coming out of deep appreciation of what is simply before her, and working to bring it to life again in a new form. The light she chases is ephemeral, but the result of that chase is a solid, more permanent object ... a memorial of a few passing moments.

ABOUT THE SHOW
In their own words, "We have a shared studio space and are learning from each other's ideas and processes. Our discussions continue and deepen. What we have found in common is reverence for humanity’s time on this beautiful earth – for all the stories and all the moments that have brought us to the brink of destroying that world. We hope to evoke discussions from our viewers, with the possibilities of shared solutions, moving from grief to hope. This show will include new works by both of us – including weavings, beadwork, oils, pastels, drawings, watercolors, and mixed media sculptures. The examples of the work that we are sharing are about humanity and the relationships with the land we use to survive. We intend to expose the plight we see and create a call to action."