AZ ICEHOUSE ARTS INFORMATION IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MARCH 12th, 13th & 14th . 20th & 21st,  2010 . PHOENIX . ARIZONA
ZSOLT'S SOLO EXHIBITION in 12,000 square feet of the 1920's ICEHOUSE

LEAVING MY FATHER'S HOUSE

"The first parts of the exhibition are about finding one's own voice, and achieving a balance of personal power," says show creator Katherine Zsolt. "The final section of the show concerns the use of that power. It is - both figuratively and literally - a platform from which I urge the audience to consider the trust our children have in us."

Zsolt’s multimedia installation was inspired by a favorite book Leaving My Father's House by Jungian analyst Marion Woodman. The book parallels a Grimm's Brother's Fairy Tale with explorations of personal development.

Set against the backdrop of the historic Icehouse in downtown Phoenix, visitors to the exhibit will follow a path through three rooms in the 12,000 sq. ft. venue, each depicting a stage in a development and growing personal awareness. The combination of relief wall panels, body cast installations and video offerings are best viewed in order.


Part 1- The White Column Room: 'Sleepwalking to Cocoon' is the title of this section. Highlights of the first half of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale ‘Allerleirauh’ are depicted in 9 semi-abstract story panels.  Body-cast works related to aspects cocooning /healing by creating a place/space for transformation to occur.

Part 2 - The Silver Room:  As visitors enter, they are greeted by a video presentation, ‘Three Dresses’.  This short video explores the last half of the fairy tale in symbols and relates to awakening consciousness, finding balance and becoming whole.

As viewers progress through the room, they round a corner to encounter 'The End of the Fairy Tale', a small body-cast installation commenting on environmental disasters and their potential effect on all life. The ‘featured’ disaster is the recently discovered Great Pacific Gyre, a deep sea toxic depository of plastic debris four times the size of Texas. The monitors positioned above the cast figures will run the marine related documentaries  ‘Ocean Trash’ and ‘The Cove’.

Part 3 – The Cathedral Room:  This dramatic open-air venue houses ‘The Waiting’. Body-cast cocoons of over 30 children are mounted on the 60’ long walls of the 30’ high roofless structure. The floor is flooded with black water, visually impenetrable and therefore highly reflective.  A boardwalk runs through the center of the space the entire length of the installation. From this platform, the audience can see both the figures of children on the wall, and the reflections of the children along with ourselves in the pool - together.



Artist's statement about the book that inspired the exhibition:
I don’t know that I can ever express  the depth of my  gratitude to Marion Woodman or possibly convey the impact of her book Leaving My Father’s House on my life. This co-authored work on conscious femininity, skillfully woven with the Brothers Grimm tale Allerleirauh and all its symbols, totally bewitched me. 

For the past 15 years the audiotapes of her reading  this book were my secret companions  - like true friends continually igniting my hunger for completion and integration and wholeness. I tried on Allerleirauh’s three dresses of light, a thousand thousand times, in both my dreams and in my conscious hours - their allure and magic never faded. And though I cannot verbally articulate my inner journey , nor do I know my journey's outcome, it is time to share the fairytale as I understand it.

The title of the exhibition is Leaving My Father’s House.  I struggled to find another name but as I have lived this book, for almost  two decades, it is a part of me.  There is no better title. It captures the adventure, fear and guilt of departure; the failure, the triumph, and loneliness along the path, and the sheer one-sighted willfulness that is required of us to separate ourselves from the familiar and loved - on the faith that there is more.  KZ


Canadian Artist Katherine Zsolt's last major work was seen June 20, 2009 in The Icehouse' s Cathedral Room.  The installation Lunar Pool was created in honor of the legendary Bisbee artist and friend Rose Johnson who was poisoned in Bali, May 31, 2009.

 
Katherine Zsolt is currently living in Sonoma, California

kzsolt.studios@gmail.com