Two women artists explore body movements as mechanical gestures

Delaware Valley Arts Alliance (DVAA) has announced two upcoming exhibitions. “Watch the Curve,” features objects and sculptures and two public performances by Katie Coughlin. “Shifts in Space” features large-scale paintings by Colleen O’Hara. For both exhibitions an opening reception will be at DVAA at 37 Main St, Narrowsburg, on Saturday, August 6, 2022, from 3– 5 p.m. The shows will be on view through Sunday, September 18. DVAA’s galleries are free and open to the public; masks are recommended.

Katie Coughlin’s “Watch the Curve”

Coughlin investigates notions of home, vessel, body, and clothing through manipulation of space and material. Although clay is most often the place where Coughlin begins her work, she uses other mediums, such as cloth and wood, to expand her sculptures. She incorporates the human body, along with objects, sculptures, and performances.

“As a teenager, there were constantly clothes to take off the line. We had, at one point, three clotheslines reaching out from the windows to the telephone pole tucked away in the left corner of our backyard. The reaching of arms out the window as our legs anchored us inside was a brutal test of our ability to balance and stretch. Our body became a part of this apparatus ­­—­as it often does when we complete physical tasks; our joints propel us forward while shoulders and hips and heads bear weight and get worked. When our bodies become mechanisms, where does the boundary lie? Is the edge of our body - the tip of our finger - or is it the ends of the bristles of the broom as we sweep the floor?”

The two performances will be on Saturday, August 6, and Saturday, September 10, at 5 p.m. on the DVAA’s balcony and sidewalk, with a viewing area across the street.

Katie Coughlin received her MFA from Ohio State University (2018) and her BFA from Alfred University (2010). She has received multiple awards.

Colleen O’Hara’s “Shifts in Space”

O’Hara creates imaginary landscapes inspired by her interactions with physical space. This body of work is rooted in an exploration of the nature of paint, with its potential and unpredictability. She sees brush marks, drips, and splatters as documentation of her existence.

O’Hara’s paintings have been exhibited in various group exhibitions throughout the Northeast and in three separate solo exhibitions, one of which was in Brooklyn, NY. O’Hara received her MFA in Painting and Drawing from the State University Of New York at New Paltz in 2016. In 2013 she received her BFA in Painting from Plymouth State University in New Hampshire. She currently lives and works in Otego, NY, and is an adjunct instructor at Mohawk Valley Community College.