Shelter exhibit brings issues into the open

Abstract works that touch on difficult social issues are on display at Manzanita’s Hoffman Center for the Arts as it hosts “Chasing Shelter,” an exhibit by pioneering digital artist Joan Truckenbrod.

The exhibit addresses the challenge of the availability of shelter through a variety of mediums, including lithographs, hand digital Jacquard weavings, and experiments in 3D printing.

Truckenbrod said Western cultures focus almost exclusively on permanent housing as a shelter solution, ignoring the potential of temporary forms of shelter, as well as those created by indigenous peoples throughout the world.

“Consequently, a tent camp of people without permanent homes surrounded by a fence separates them, identifying them as different,” she said. “The presence of this fencing instigates the impression of difference between people. Separating segments of people for dubious reasons with the harshness of metal fencing contributing to the societal construction of difference.”

In her weavings, Truckenbrod presents abstracted images of fencing juxtaposed with natural forms. The resulting works create a synthesis of disparate elements through the use of silk, stainless steel and metallic threads.

Credited as being one of the earliest pioneers in digital art, Truckenbrod began her explorations in the 1970s when she started programming to create pen plotter drawings. She now explores different modes of artistic expression that inject a materiality into her digital artwork.

“Chasing Shelter” will be on display through October 28, available to view Thursdays through Sundays from noon to 5 pm at the Hoffman Center for the Arts, 594 Laneda Avenue, Manzanita.