Galen Cheney: Internal Combustion
2008 essay by Amy Rahn
Artist catalog
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Galen Cheney's paintings "invite us to experience both the disorientation and creative release that accompany our own breakthrough. She gives us the kind of map her mystical journey gives her - a profusion of possible directions with no clear course, but a strong pull,” writes curator Amy Rahn in this catalog of new work by Vermont painter Galen Cheney. Cheney’s characteristic architectural style, marked by bold blocks of color set against subtly layered backgrounds is taken in a bold new direction. Line and form feature much more prominently, highlighting a new visual vocabulary that incorporates elements of her previous work while exploring new motifs.
The catalog features the essay "Galen Cheney and the Abstract Experience"
by curator Amy Rahn which is of particular interest to those seeking to understand contemporary manifestations of abstract expressionism.
Kasini House is publishing the catalog in conjunction with an exhibition of Cheney's paintings at West Branch Gallery and Sculpture Park in Stowe, Vermont, August 2-September 7, 2008.
ABOUT AMY RAHN
Amy Rahn is the Gallery Coordinator of the West Branch Gallery & Sculpture Park in Stowe, Vermont, where she also curated this exhibition of Galen Cheney’s work. Rahn completed her undergraduate work in Studio Art and Art History at Albion College in Michigan. She studied painting and drawing at the Marchutz School in Aix-en-Provence, France and completed the New York Arts Program during semesters abroad. Rahn worked at the Individual Artists of Oklahoma Gallery in Oklahoma City as well as the Pace/MacGill Gallery in New York City before relocating to Vermont. Recently, Rahn authored the juror’s essay included in the 2008 Vermont Contemporary Art Annual published by Kasini House to accompany the 2008 Art’s Alive Festival of Fine Art. Rahn is currently working on a book about Galen Cheney's work.
ABOUT GALEN CHENEY
Born in Los Angeles to a long line of New Englanders, Cheney spent her childhood in the Connecticut suburbs. She completed her undergraduate studies at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts and her Master of Fine Arts at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. She studied art history and theory at the University of Florence in Italy, where she lived for two years. She has completed four residencies at the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson and has been a finalist for a fellowship at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts. In 2007 she won the Artist’s Resource Trust Award from the Berkshire Taconic Foundation.
After completing her bachelor’s degree, Cheney lived in New York City where she worked as a travel magazine editor. Ultimately, she left New York to pursue a graduate degree in painting. She then lived in Italy, North Carolina, Washington, DC, and Oregon before settling in Vermont in 2001. Her first Vermont studio was at Studio Place Arts in Barre. In 2003, she moved her studio to Middlesex, where she currently lives and works.
Cheney has exhibited frequently and broadly over the last fifteen years. Her work has been seen at the Libreria Il Drago in Florence, Italy; WomanMade Gallery in Chicago; Gallery 84 in New York City; The College of Santa Fe, New Mexico; The Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut; the Red Mill Gallery at the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson; Omni Gallery in Portland, Oregon; and at the Decker Gallery in Baltimore, to name a few. In 2001, her installations appeared at The Flynndog Gallery in Burlington, Vermont. In 2004, her work was shown at the Ava Gallery and Art Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire. The following year, her piece After Battle won the Juror’s Recognition Award. In 2005, Cheney exhibited her “Plant Life” series and other work at the Vermont Supreme Court, and also had a solo show in Montreal at Galerie 1225. Currently, she is teaching painting at the Alliance for Visual Arts in Lebanon, New Hampshire, and her work is available at West Branch Gallery in Stowe, Vermont.
PURCHASE CATALOG | EXHIBITION | BIOGRAPHY
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