Helen Hawley & Chele Isaac

press release: Arts + Literature Laboratory (ALL) presents Like a Striking Simile: A Series of Objects by Helen Hawley and Chele Isaac, on view from September 6 though October 1, 2016. Artists Helen Hawley and Chele Isaac maintain studios one block apart in downtown Madison. They each work across a variety of media and over time noticed an uncanny simultaneity of ideas, images and insights. Curious about the recurring and serendipitous parallels, they decided to explore the source and terrain of this shared language with a collaborative exhibition. Throughout Like a Striking Simile, Hawley and Isaac explore a fascination for how, under careful observation and consideration, the materials and objects often overlooked in daily life seem to suggest something else entirely. Though produced independently the work of the exhibition evolved in a sort of call and response to each other’s sketches and experiments. An opening reception will be held on Saturday, September 10, 7-9pm (FREE), which will also be the final stop on the new BIKE THE ART curated bicycle tour of Madison art spaces (more info below).

Helen Hawley is a visual artist whose multidisciplinary projects include books, sculpture, painting, prints, performance and video. Upcoming and recent exhibitions include the 2016 Wisconsin Triennial at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Drawing Lines Across Mediums at Site: Brooklyn and Performancy Forum Quinquennial at Grace Exhibition Space, Brooklyn, NY. She has been an artist in residence at the Vermont Studio Center and Wassaic A.I.R.

Chele Isaac works across several media including video, sound, sculpture and photography. Her installation works have been shown locally and nationally in art centers, project galleries and museums. Her short films have been screened in group shows and film festivals in the US and internationally. She was the Windgate Artist in Residence in the Spring of 2015 at the University of Indiana Pennsylvania which culminated in shows at the Pittsburgh Center for The Arts/Summer 2015 and Pittsburgh’s SPACE Gallery 2016.

BIKE THE ART: Bike the Art is a new monthly bicycle tour of Madison galleries and art spaces. The first event on September 10 will begin with a special event by artists-in-residence Spatula & Barcode at The Bubbler from 4:00pm to 4:30pm and end at Arts + Literature Laboratory for the opening of Like a Striking Simile at 7:00pm. Stops will include new exhibitions at Drunk Lunch, Art In, Hatch Art House, Gallery Marzen and Cafe Zoma. Details will be announced soon. Bike the Art will continue in October on Friday, October 7th during Gallery Night. Each month there will be a different route, new art, and special events.

Arts + Literature Laboratory (ALL) is a nonprofit community art space for visual, literary and performing artists to share their work and create new connections. In addition to the exhibition series, ALL’s programming includes the monthly Watershed Reading Series, write-ins, workshops, lectures, concerts, the smALL Press Library, and more.