MOFSA is pleased to announce the opening of “In Conversation with Community”.
This exhibit brings together the profound and brilliant work of Abi Ogle, Nicole Leth, Trinh Mai, Steve Prince, and Clark Valentine. We are honored to share this work as well as an insight into the artists’ practice, process, history, and purpose. We hope this exhibit offers you peace, inspiration, and a sense of community. Congratulations and heartfelt thanks to all of our grant recipients.
Featured Artist – Abi Ogle
Abi Ogle, Tornado Scar / Our House, Our Backyard / 1,000 Banyan Tree Seeds / Ruby I, Side A
Artists in Fellowship –
Nicole Leth, Healing Happens Gradually, 14′ x 48′ Billboard installed roadside for 3 months in Asheville, NC in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, original writing and art design by artist
Trinh Mai, How to Forgive, Bà Ngoại’s (Grandmother) thread, dầu khuynh diệp (eucaplyptus oil) as gifted by my mother-in-law Dì Ba, and graphite encased in hand-built wooden light box, 12″ x 12”
Steve Prince, Hallelujah Anyhow, Linoleum Cut, 24″ x 36″
Clark Valentine, Untitled (Triangle Pattern no. 9, detail), Ink on Paper, 50″ x 50″
“Had we asked Kandinsky or Tolstoy, Picasso or Baldwin to define spiritual art, they would have told us we are being redundant. Art is, by its very nature, spiritual. Art exists to challenge perspectives, reveal hidden truths. The role of the artist, as James Baldwin explains, “…is exactly the same as the role of the lover. If I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things you don’t see.”
And that is exactly what the Marianne Oberg Foundation for Spiritual Art is all about. We are looking for the transformative power of love, expressed through the visual arts. We want to support and promote artists whose body of work transforms us as it informs us. This year, 2024, we have been blessed with an abundance of such art. The mark making of Clark Valentine, poignant family treasures of Trinh Mai, textures of Abi Ogle, comfort of a Nicole Leth postcard, and invitation into community of a Steve Prince print have all transformed me. We invite you to spend a moment with each of these gifted individuals; to observe them as they ‘…recreate out of the disorder of life that order which is art.'”
– Marty Dunn, Lead Juror 2024 Grant Season
Thank you to our 2024 Grant Award Jurors – Martin Dunn, Karen Benioff Friedman, Deborah Hamon, Jennifer McCormick, Emily McIlroy (in alphabetical order). All are artists in their own right as well as former grant recipients.
