Amy Kim Keeler: Some Future Refuge
4619 W Washington Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90016
Lowell Ryan Projects is pleased to present Some Future Refuge, a solo exhibition by Yucca Valley-based artist Amy Kim Keeler. This is Keeler’s second solo exhibition with the gallery and features nine of her intricately hand-stitched works on corrugated cardboard. Meditating on her time settling into her new home in the Mojave Desert, Keeler's weavings speak a language of abstract forms and shifts in color that create a contemplative space where the natural world is both method and muse. Each work exudes a quiet yet palpable energy, revealing a profound connection to the organic rhythms of life.
“The desert and its landscape have afforded me a refuge in recent years in which to deal with and examine the direct fallout of human nature on my life and life in general. While searching for healing, peace, and answers within the rhythms of the natural world, the land and all it contains continue to hint at some future refuge where all will come together and make sense one day. In the meantime, the inner workings of the desert world have taken me under its wing and continue to guide me. I am told to remain close to the earth and the necessary answers will be revealed in time. Until then, the assignment is to be still and observe all that is around, utilizing all senses at full capacity. The colors it has chosen, the hierarchy within, the change that occurs both slow and fast, the ever-shifting light all lead the way.
My move to the desert saw me unload my darkness into this great open space, serving up a sort of offering or release, like clasping a bird in one's hands and setting it free into the wind. Embracing the slowness forces a certain patience, revealing a beauty that comes with allowing things to take their time while relinquishing a tight control. And with that naturally comes a certain kind of trust. What has emerged are lessons in growth, healing, patience, and freedom.
Life here is a never-ending loop of cycles, rhythms, seasons, patterns. It is teaching me to step into the current and become fluid and part of it, to move and function as part of a unit rather than as a solitary individual. The landscape whispers the hope of some future refuge where everything will be okay. And maybe the refuge does lie somewhere in the future. Or perhaps I'm already there.” – Amy Kim Keeler
Keeler was born in Los Angeles, CA, and has lived and worked in the Mojave Desert in Yucca Valley, CA for the last three years. She creates abstractions out of cardboard and fiber-based materials. Through a series of handmade stitches, patterns and shapes arise reminiscent of formations derived from nature—striations in rock formations, cloud variations, light and sound waves. Informed by concepts in Anthroposophist philosophy and the explorations of Goethe, Keeler's works acknowledge that only through a connection to natural rhythms and imperfections are we able to imagine, grow, learn, and progress.
Amy Kim Keeler's works have been exhibited at galleries and institutions, including Fortnight Institute, New York, NY; Lowell Ryan Projects, Los Angeles, CA; The Pit, Palm Springs, CA; Good Naked Gallery, New York, NY; my pet ram, Santa Barbara, CA; Compound Yucca Valley Gallery, Yucca Vallery, CA; A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn, New York; San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles, San Jose, CA; and the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, CA. Keeler has been a resident artist at Pocoapoco, Oaxaca, Mexico, the Icelandic Textile Center, Blönduós, Iceland, and the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, Maine.