Presa House Gallery will present a solo exhibition of San Antonio-based artist and Presa House Gallery Co-owner, Jenelle Esparza. "Old Souls" marks Esparza's first solo exhibition with the gallery and features a collection of sculptures, textile, photography, and works on paper. The reception will feature a live musical performance by Brooklyn's Pinc Louds.
Esparza is an interdisciplinary artist born in Corpus Christi. She examines the lesser-known history of Mexican and Tejano cotton labor in South Texas. This new body of work expands into sculptural objects that combine the cotton fiber with vintage tools resulting in coexistence between two parts of the same story.
This concurrence is a deconstruction of labor and discovering what can grow out of an excruciating experience over generations, inspired by a grouping of old tools that the artists' great-grandparents used. The tools include a vintage seed planter, a scythe, a few pitchforks, and other handheld tools. These heirlooms are preserved as physical reminders of the family's history and origin in cotton farming and agricultural work.
This process spurred a connection to other vintage tools as symbols that embody the experience of physical labor, the indication of time passing through generations, and what transpires when one is allowed to rest finally. The reminisce of deep family roots in the South Texas soil speaks to this more significant relationship to work.
Following the opening reception, the exhibit will be on display through August 28.
Presa House Gallery will present a solo exhibition of San Antonio-based artist and Presa House Gallery Co-owner, Jenelle Esparza. "Old Souls" marks Esparza's first solo exhibition with the gallery and features a collection of sculptures, textile, photography, and works on paper. The reception will feature a live musical performance by Brooklyn's Pinc Louds.
Esparza is an interdisciplinary artist born in Corpus Christi. She examines the lesser-known history of Mexican and Tejano cotton labor in South Texas. This new body of work expands into sculptural objects that combine the cotton fiber with vintage tools resulting in coexistence between two parts of the same story.
This concurrence is a deconstruction of labor and discovering what can grow out of an excruciating experience over generations, inspired by a grouping of old tools that the artists' great-grandparents used. The tools include a vintage seed planter, a scythe, a few pitchforks, and other handheld tools. These heirlooms are preserved as physical reminders of the family's history and origin in cotton farming and agricultural work.
This process spurred a connection to other vintage tools as symbols that embody the experience of physical labor, the indication of time passing through generations, and what transpires when one is allowed to rest finally. The reminisce of deep family roots in the South Texas soil speaks to this more significant relationship to work.
Following the opening reception, the exhibit will be on display through August 28.
Presa House Gallery will present a solo exhibition of San Antonio-based artist and Presa House Gallery Co-owner, Jenelle Esparza. "Old Souls" marks Esparza's first solo exhibition with the gallery and features a collection of sculptures, textile, photography, and works on paper. The reception will feature a live musical performance by Brooklyn's Pinc Louds.
Esparza is an interdisciplinary artist born in Corpus Christi. She examines the lesser-known history of Mexican and Tejano cotton labor in South Texas. This new body of work expands into sculptural objects that combine the cotton fiber with vintage tools resulting in coexistence between two parts of the same story.
This concurrence is a deconstruction of labor and discovering what can grow out of an excruciating experience over generations, inspired by a grouping of old tools that the artists' great-grandparents used. The tools include a vintage seed planter, a scythe, a few pitchforks, and other handheld tools. These heirlooms are preserved as physical reminders of the family's history and origin in cotton farming and agricultural work.
This process spurred a connection to other vintage tools as symbols that embody the experience of physical labor, the indication of time passing through generations, and what transpires when one is allowed to rest finally. The reminisce of deep family roots in the South Texas soil speaks to this more significant relationship to work.
Following the opening reception, the exhibit will be on display through August 28.