Opening on First Friday, March 5, from 5-8 PM // In the Main Gallery through March
Visit in-person during open hours: Monday through Saturday 10 AM to 6 PM and Sunday noon to 4 PM
Browse and shop online via our Virtual Gallery beginning Tuesday, February 9: https://www.zootownarts.org/shows-events/galleries/virtual-gallery.html

The Zootown Arts Community Center and the University of Montana are pleased to announce the MFA thesis exhibition, Heart Vomit and the Dream Army, by artist Michelle Postma. This show will include mural-esque ink paintings on panels and humanoid clay sculptures covered in images. The paintings are energetic, casual and fun. The images are not quite graffiti, but still very accessible. People tend to respond joyously and with curiosity.

The graphic black and white imagery overflows with smiling figures and animals that represent metaphor. The characters enter and emerge from portals, splashes of ink, flowers, and even one another’s knees or ears. These environmental features can represent relationships, modes of thought, events, places, feelings.

Viewers enter the universe unfolding in the works. The universe is inspired by all art forms, from Helenestic statues and ancient Hindu temples to superflat, from Hieronymus Bosch to Li Jin. It is made of infinite reflections on the psychological and physical realities of this world.

Michelle explains: “My ink drawing is a self reflective process (an awareness meditation) in which I notice all my thoughts as they arise - experiences, memories, stories, dreams, fantasies, philosophies...nothing is forbidden from the arena. I produce images intuitively through the act of processing thoughts. Once the thought is processed in a beneficial way then it turns into an image. I construct the images with an ever evolving narrative visual vocabulary. To paint requires of me a bravery born of vulnerability and power.

In the tradition of explorers I venture into all the sweet and sour places in my brain and return to say: there are monsters in the darkness, but the heart wields both the sword and lantern. By welcoming each thought equally and mapping my mind labyrinth, others may see that they can go to those places too in their own minds and gain new perspectives from another vantage point.”

The Dream Army, a small gathering of child-sized ceramic figures, accompany Michelle into the unknown, like the terracotta warriors of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. Covered in images, they wear the dreams on their sleeves, evidence of many forays into the mind labyrinth. To dream involves openness and dedicated courage. The best realities are born from dreams.