Sonia Yaco and Ry An
Gallery opening: Saturday, October 5 • 3-5pm
About Sonia Yaco
I like old things – the lives they led and the stories they can become. Antique tools, road-side pianos and rough-hewn hardwood find new life in unexpected juxtapositions infused with joy, humor and pathos. My art usually starts with an object that catches my attention and I wonder what else it could become, what other lives it could lead. Could a wire egg poacher become a Plateosaurus?
I am a kinetic sculptor and wood worker. Raised in the Midwest on a farm by an artistic family of writers with a keen sense of humor, I spent my childhood helping my father build fences, sewing with my mother, and making my own creations with lumber and fabric scraps. As a teenager, I trained to become a carpenter, attracted by the honesty of working with wood. While that planned career was unrealized, I choose another technical path, that of information science. These influences are reflected in the mechanical aspects of my kinetic and sculptures, integrating artist design with functionality. Joyful and optimistic, with a dash of social commentary, my art are filled with warm wood, vibrant colors, and subtle textures. My world is populated by creatures that came from nothing and can become anything. And in each piece, I invite viewers into that world.
Sonia Yaco is South Brunswick sculptor and wood worker, born and raised in the Midwest. She received her only formal art training in high school industrial arts classes in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Sonia earned a BA in Sociology from University of Wisconsin – Madison where she became a computer developer, raised two sons, and much later, obtained a Master of Arts in Library Science. She has worked in academic libraries and archives in Virginia, Chicago, and now specializes in analyzing historical documents with artificial intelligence.
About Ry An
My attempts to cope with a number of terrible experiences led me to create a series of narrative oil paintings and recycled paper sculptures featuring vulnerable characters in allegorically fraught situations: – a blind horse, – a butterfly with tattered wings, – a cat on fire… These pieces, drawn from “a deep reservoir of assorted traumas”, tie in with one another so that a story seems to unfold from one to the next.
When interesting ideas appear in the paintings, I explore them in 3-dimensions with reprocessed paper & other discarded materials. By shining a strong light on the sculptures, I can better conceptualize how they should fit into the paintings: how the light should look, how the shadows should be cast, how each iteration of a character might adapt to prolonged wanderings in a perilous environment… The paintings and sculptures inform, inspire & even undermine each other as they continue through that dark forest setting.
