Beth Krensky — The Trees Will Love You and the Earth Will Hold You

The Trees Will Love You and the Earth Will Hold You is both a call and an echo—of memory, time, what has been lost, and what has been found. I am a gatherer of things—objects, words, spirit—and a connector of fragments to make us whole and help us heal. The pieces have been forged from detritus found on the edge of oceans, mountainsides, city streets, backyards, and forgotten corners. These remnants have been alchemized into ritual objects through reverence, love, and perhaps a little magic. The work is a clarion call to unlock the beginning before the end. For time, life, and love are not linear, but circular.

I want to express profound gratitude to my studio assistant and sometimes collaborator, Zev Gorfinkle. The exhibition would not have been possible without your contributions. Additional thanks to Ed Gorfinkle, the University of Utah College of Fine Arts and Department of Art & Art History.

Store of Wishes

There is a long history of collecting and exhibiting objects of wonder and awe. The tradition of Cabinets of Curiosities originated in the 1500s. Artists have long referenced or reimagined this tradition. Xavier de Maistre published A Journey Around My Room in 1794. Lucas Samaras had an exhibition of the contents of his room in 1964. Joseph Cornell and Alan Glass both created small scale “cabinets” in shadow boxes. Contemporary artists such as Mark Dion, J. Morgan Puett, and Fiona Hall create work that mimics museum displays. 

The Store of Wishes grew out of this tradition. It is a collection and emporium of objects of wonder and enchantment that Krensky has created or collected over decades and across continents. It is both a place to store or hold wishes, as well as a marketplace for acquiring wishes. 

Beth Krensky is a Utah-based artist who traverses the borderlands between spirit and matter. She is a Distinguished Professor of Art Teaching at the University of Utah and received her formal art training from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University and MIT's Center for Advanced Visual Studies. 

She is also a scholar of community-based art education. She holds an M.Ed. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a Ph.D. from the University of Colorado-Boulder. 

The Yale Institute of Sacred Music recently mounted a 20-year retrospective of Krensky's art, and she was one of five performance art finalists for the 16th Arte Laguna Prize. Her work has been exhibited or performed in numerous international biennials, including the Jerusalem Biennial, the Larnaca Biennale, and currently is traveling across Australia for 20 months as part of the International Textile Biennial.

bethkrensky.com

Instagram: @bethkrensky

Facebook: @bkrensky

Fri, Aug 22
5:30–6pm • Artist Talk 
6–9pm • Opening Reception

Sat, Aug 30
10:30–11:30am • Store of Wishes
11:30am–12:30pm • Make a Wish Wand Workshop
Register for free

Wed, Sep 10
5–7pm • Store of Wishes

Sat, Sep 13
10:30–11:30am • Store of Wishes
11:30am–12:30pm • Portable Reliquary Workshop
Register for free

Fri, Sep 19
6–8pm • Gallery Stroll

Thu, Sep 25
6–8pm • Closing Reception