Primary Source - Steel City Gallery Wall
Artists of PXV is partnering with Phoenixville’s longest standing coffeehouse, Steel City Coffeehouse & Brewery, to bring local artwork to the public. The first Phoenixville artist to be featured in 2022 is Gillian Pokalo with her collection of work titled Primary Source. This body of art was created during the lockdowns of 2020. Through her work, Gillian documented abandoned structures in and around Phoenixville as a reflection of her personal resilience during that time. Gillian’s pieces will be on display at Steel City through the end of February 2022. Gillian’s work can be purchased through her Etsy shop.
“Of Phoenixville, to Phoenixville, these works serve as a hug to the town I love and a reminder to look for moments of grace and beauty. ”
Artist Bio
Gillian Pokalo balances her life between making her art and teaching others. Since graduating Moore College of Art & Design in 2005, Gillian has shown her work extensively and frequently in both galleries and art markets in the Philadelphia area. She is a member of InLiquid, has hosted the Chester County Studio Tour, and her work is in several private and public collections. She has also shown her work internationally and has been an artist in residence in the Icelandic city of Keflavik, where she has created murals in a guesthouse, had a solo show of her work in the Duus Museum, and has taught printmaking workshops to Icelanders. She is the co-creator of the "Home Is Where the Heart Is" project, which is an international project in its 3rd year, where she works with women immigrants to express what home means to them. In March, the project continued in Phoenixville, where Gillian collaborated with the Alianzas de Phoenixville organization and Community Arts Phoenixville. When she isn't in the studio, Gillian is the art teacher at Plymouth Meeting Friends School, where she teaches students in Pre-k through 6th grade, and then she teaches printmaking to adults at Community Arts, Main Line Art Center, and the Banana Factory. She is also a demonstrating artist for Speedball, Inc., the maker of screen printing inks and other artist supplies.
Artist Statement
My work is a combination of printmaking, photography, and painting, and I use these media to create implied narrative landscapes. I take photographic elements and print-collage them together, attempting to authentically tell the stories and histories of abandoned architecture. As nature actively reclaims them, these structures stand resiliently as testaments to their history and serve as reminders of the legacies of the people who've left them behind. My work reflects on the ways that man-made architecture is eclipsed by nature, and often nature plays a direct part in the creation of a work of art. I often harvest plants (weeds) from my garden and use them in my work. I'm perpetually enamored by their biodiversity. I work in layers: first, a background painting of a sky-scape I've witnessed, followed by layers of photo screen prints that are developed from my photographic imagery. When I photograph a building, I see it as a design element, a character in the narrative, and the silkscreen is a way of making a mark, much like a paintbrush. In this way, I piece together multiple images in such a way that they unveil the story of a place.
Show Title: Primary Source
The works you see here were created during the lockdowns of 2020. With nowhere to go, I began to take almost nightly walks around my neighborhood and started extensively documenting the sunsets. As I tended to the garden around my house, the weeds that I would pull out of the garden became fodder for cyanotypes, just as architecture immediately around Phoenixville became my subject matter for the photo screen print imagery. I documented abandoned and left behind structures in and around Phoenixville, making a connection between my own resilience, which felt tested daily, and the resilience of these buildings. As I looked to the horizon I drew strength in remembering that there is a bigger world beyond my own purview and that this too shall pass. I allowed my art processes to slow down; cyanotypes develop over time in the sun, while the resin used on the works on panel take days as each layer cures. The results were a body of work that reflects on the idea of primary sources, or works created as a direct historical documentation. Of Phoenixville, to Phoenixville, these works serve as a hug to the town I love and a reminder to look for moments of grace and beauty.
Steel City Coffeehouse & Brewery | 203 Bridge St, Phoenixville, PA 19460