Jennifer Levonian and Pearl Blauvelt
Adams and Ollman
July 26–August 30, 2013
Reception: Friday, August 2, 6–9pm
 
 
June 11, 2013 – Portland, OR: Adams and Ollman presents an exhibition of works by Jennifer Levonian and Pearl Blauvelt, on view from July 26–August 30, 2013. Levonian’s animations and related sculptures will be exhibited alongside a selection of pencil drawings on paper by Blauvelt. Both artists distill everyday life in ordinary and surprising ways.   
 
Jennifer Levonian crafts compelling narratives around the mundane and often overlooked moments of contemporary life. Painstakingly crafted from hundreds of individual watercolors, her stop-motion animations often feature a protagonist trying to break free from social rituals and cliches. Two animations, Take Your Picture With A Puma, and The Oven Sky, will be included in the exhibition. The former features a tourist traveling in Mexico who makes an unexpected connection, while the latter is set in a quickly gentrifying neighborhood where newcomers pressure a longtime resident to convert her yard filled with garish lawn ornaments into a dog park. Together with these works will be several of Blauvelt’s graphite and colored pencil drawings dating from the 1930s through the 1950s. The objects of everyday life–dresses, pants, rugs, furniture–are poetically rendered on notebook paper, envelopes, and paper bags. Taken together, these two artists’ works catalog common objects and events, offering a glimpse into the lives of others and providing provocative insights into social mores and material culture. 
 
Jennifer Levonian was born in 1977 and lives and works in Philadelphia. Her work has been exhibited at venues including Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibits; National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Sarah Lawrence College, New York; Exit Art, New York; the Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia; and Sante Fe Art Institute, New Mexico. Levonian has been a resident at Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Atlantic Center for the Arts, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and the Millay Colony for the Arts. She received her BA from The College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia, and her MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence. In 2009, she was awarded the Pew Fellowship in the Arts.  
 
Little is known about Pearl Blauvelt except that she was of Dutch descent and from a family deeply rooted in religion. Born in 1893, she lived reclusively in a small house in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The house remained empty from 1950 until 2000, when two artists purchased it and discovered a box filled with more than 400 of Blauvelt's drawings. Her work has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, NY; The John Michael Kohler Art Center in Sheboygan, WI; and The Weatherspoon Art Museum in Greensboro, NC.
 
Listing Information:
 
Adams and Ollman: 811 East Burnside #213, Portland, OR 97214
Gallery Hours: Wednesday-Saturday, 11am–5pm and by appointment
Public Information: www.adamsandollman.com
Exhibition Dates: July 26–August 30, 2013
Reception: Friday, August 2, 2013, from 6–9pm
 
Upcoming Exhibition: Chris Johanson, Chris Corales, Acharya Vyakul | September 6-29, 2013 
 
Press Contact: Emily Gaynor | emily@adamsandollman.com
 
Images: Jennifer Levonian, still from The Oven Sky, 2011, stop-motion animation using watercolor and collage, TRT 4:42 minutes; Pearl Blauvelt, At the Seaside, c. 1940, graphite and colored pencil on lined note paper, 8 x 10 1/2. inches.