Borders and Boundaries

On view at Pleiades Gallery, 547 W 27th St., NYC, 10001
June 11-July 6, 2024

Guest Speaker, Tyler Anbinder, Sat., June 15, 3:30 pm

Award Winning Historian and Author Tyler Anbinder presents
City of Dreams: The 400-Year Epic History of Immigrant New York

Click to view the recording

Ekphrasis: A Poetry Reading, Saturday, July 6, 2 pm

Selected poets present their original works, written in response to artworks on view.

Winning Poets Include:
Colin Bell of East Sussex, UK; David Burr of Maplewood, New Jersey; Diana Cole of Warren, Rhode Island; James Cronin, of Westport Massachusetts; Giles Edgerton of Brooklyn, New York; Farah Faizi of Poughkeepsie, New York; Mary-Jane Grandinetti of Passaic, New Jersey; Dana Hunter of Montclair, New Jersey; Elizabeth Levine of Wayne, New Jersey; and Julianne Valdepenas of Parkville, Maryland.

Click to view the recording

A an 8.5 x 11 perfect-bound, glossy publication featuring the artworks and winning poems will be available for purchase on October 1. You can pre-order your copy here.

Click to order your poetry and art book

About the Exhibition

Heather Stivison: Borders and Boundaries is a solo exhibition of interdisciplinary works exploring both current and historical issues of migration and border wars. Stivison sought to find a deeper understanding of these issues than daily newscasts provided, and eventually found inspiration in several books on the topic—especially Crossing Borders: The Reconciliation of a Nation of Immigrants, by Ali Noorani and City of Dreams: The 400-Year Epic History of Immigrant New York by Tyler Anbinder. The end result was the series of narrative artworks that make up this exhibition—a tapestry of drawings, paintings, textiles, and found objects that focus on homes lost, found, and remembered.

When creating the art for this exhibition, Stivison, a mother of two grown daughters, could not stop thinking about the kind of world these daughters might inherit. Surely other mothers had the same concerns.

Stivison recalled that it was the women who finally brought an end to the conflict in Northern Ireland. These women who were primarily mothers in the cross-sectarian Women’s Coalition, developed a balanced approach to resolution of conflicts that addressed important issues of victims’ rights, reintegration of political prisoners, integrated education, and mixed housing.

In Afghanistan’s political transition in 2003 and 2004, once again in was women who made the difference. Afghan women advocated for the rights of disabled people and supported the Uzbek minority’s efforts to gain official recognition for their language in the constitutional assembly.

In the 2006 Darfur Peace Agreement in Sudan, it was women who spoke up on behalf of human needs. Thanks to these women, the agreement included previously neglected provisions on safety for internally displaced persons and refugees, food security, and gender-based violence.

Stories of these inspiring women along with stories of other women making a difference gave her a focus.

Though she was only one voice, Stivison says she could not remain silent. She created these works in the hope of beginning at least a few dialogues, and of joining with others to moderate extremism and to bridge divides between peoples.

Her deeply felt wish that we begin to root out rampant “othering” and to recognize that all human beings yearn for the right to a peaceful home is at the heart of these works.

As a published poet, Stivison’s titles add an important element to the works.

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About the Works on View:

A series of images with artist statements about some of the works in the exhibition

ARTIST STATEMENT ON FOUR DRAWINGS: These first four works are done almost entirely in pencil—a medium I usually associate with soft, gentle renderings—in stark contrast to the harshness of the subject matter. In choosing pencil, I ask you to look closer, pause, and think.

At first glance, the drawing may appear to be realistic, but the subjects have subtle variations. All the barriers are heftier than reality. The thickened barbed wire creates a landscape-like sense. The razor-wire has grown pointy, with twisted edges to underscore its evil purpose. The chain-link fence is significantly thicker, sturdier, and with much smaller openings, to enhance the sense of impenetrability. I wanted to contrast the thick stiff metal with the softness of the human skin that touches it. The simple picket fence sits on a background of a home-buyer’s property map. Stamped across the fence, is the only non-graphite element in the series— small letters in red acrylic paint ask us to step closer and examine our own positions of privilege in society.

Landscape of Fear. 20x30 inches, pencil on archival paper

No Way Out. 20x30 inches, pencil on archival paper

Other. 20x30 inches, pencil on archival paper

Not My Problem. 20x30 inches, pencil on archival paper

ARTIST STATEMENT ON TWO CHARCOAL DRAWINGS: These two charcoal and chalk drawings were made on wooden boards reclaimed from broken pallets and packing crates. The broken, rough strips were nailed together to create something new, just as broken lives put themselves together to create new lives. The old life is still evident. Not forgotten.

Traces—the image of a shadow cast by a contemporary woman seen through a chain link fence—is a memory of a place, a homeland, a society, and a culture that only exists in memories.

The contemporary narrative of Traces is paired with the historical narrative of Strangers in a Strange Land, 1905, where a woman and child wait in limbo on Ellis Island. They cannot be released from the holding area until they are claimed by a male relative. Then, their uncertain future in this strange new land will begin.

Traces. 33x49 inches, charcoal and chalk on reclaimed wood

Strangers in a New Land, 1905. 33x55 inches, charcoal and chalk on reclaimed wood

ARTIST STATEMENT, TWO TEXTILE WORKS: Each of these two works began as drawings of people I know. They were digitally altered before printing onto a linen blend fabric.

In Long Hours, Hard Work, 1920, the textile material and the stitching are a direct reference to “women’s work” and specifically to the immigrant women who toiled in New York City’s garment industry during that time in history. The woman’s face was first embroidered with a subtle range of grey-blues, greens, and violets. And then, the artwork sat, unfinished for a very long time, as I folded and refolded the fabric, cropping it different ways, adding and subtracting other collage elements. I hung it on the wall, making changes over and over, waiting for it to “speak” to me, to say what I had in my heart. It wasn’t until I inserted the irregular rows of sharp steel pins that the work came alive for me. The rest of the work—the immigration ephemera, the bits of thread and needles, all fell into place.

Out of Reach began in the same way as Long Hours, Hard Work, 1920, although the embroidery on the figures mainly highlights the edges. Looking closely, one can see images of my own family’s life—something that probably seems fairly ordinary. We take these things for granted. A couple is married. Their children/grandchildren are free to choose the directions their lives will take. Heavily embroidered in black is the classic opening phrase for a fairy tale “Once Upon a Time.” The entire embroidery is obscured by a thick metal barrier, the stitching and soft textile background cannot be touched. Hovering overhead is a gold and glass box, locked and wrapped with chains. Barely visible inside the box are two unattainable house keys.

Long Hours, Hard Work, 1920

17.5 x 24 x 1.5 inches. Cotton threads stitched on linen blend fabric, polyester batting, ink, needles, pins, and historic immigration ephemera printed on cloth.

Out of Reach

30x24 inches, Cotton threads on linen blend fabric printed with digitally altered photographs, metal rabbit fencing, wood, glass and metal jewelry case, metal chains, and metal keys.

ARTIST STATEMENT, Oil Sketch: Her Inheritance: In my mind, the infant represents my own daughters and all the generations to come. What kind of world will they inherit? More than eight feet wide, this oil painting hangs on the wall, unframed with paint-splattered raw edges. Using a palette of warm and cool greys, I worked quickly, wanting a sense of immediacy rather than a carefully detailed overly realistic and resolved painting. This was my way of saying the story may be incomplete. We are at an inflection point. Despite the inhumanity, we have within us, the power change courses and leave a better world for our children.

Oil Sketch: Her Inheritance. 48x97 inches. Oil on Raw Canvas. Unframed

ARTIST STATEMENT THE WAR DRAWINGS: Although these four drawings focus on Ukraine, they apply to the innocents in all border wars. Using the same model, the drawings refer to losing a place of home, of sanctuary, of safety, and of peace.

And once again, there is the reminder of our own lives of privilege, where we observe this pain through the barrier of a digital screen that we can turn off at will.