From May 7 to August 28, the Frederick Arts Council is hosting an exhibition featuring the work of Frederick artist Lisa Dillin on view at the 5 E. 2nd Street Art Center.
The exhibition ‘Sorry we missed you’ features nine sculptures and a sound piece which focus on the complicated aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Since March of 2020 the physical and emotional space between each of us has widened like a deep chasm along an active fault line. Once buzzing city centers – many of which were already underutilized and in decline – have gone silent. City buildings and suburban retail centers that had long ago fallen into disrepair eerily await our return.
As we travel to our old familiar places we find that vestiges of what was abound. We have left traces of ourselves in every nook and cranny of our towns and cities. These human remnants are not dissimilar to messages in a bottle: they are clues to what came before, a voice waiting to be discovered.
Sorry we missed you is an attempt to make tangible the emotional quality of the sustained isolation and economic decline that characterizes this time. Sorry we missed you extends an open hand to the viewer and whispers “I understand how you feel, I’m feeling that way too. I am right alongside you, feeling the vacancy of this moment and waiting for the day when we are together again – rebuilding.”
Dillin is an interdisciplinary Baltimore-based artist working primarily in sculpture and participatory art practices. Dillin earned her BFA in photography from Atlanta College of Art in 1998 and her MFA in sculpture from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2006. Her work has been selected for exhibition at various venues including the Baltimore Museum of Art and The Contemporary Museum in Baltimore, MD, Hamiltonian Gallery and Washington Project for the Arts, in Washington, D.C., Vox Populi and Practice Gallery in Philadelphia, PA, as well as Nurture Art and Transmitter in Brooklyn, NY. Art fairs include the Select Art Fair in NYC, Aqua Art Fair and Artist-Run Art Fair in Miami, FL. Honors include 2014 and 2017 MSAC Individual Artist awards in sculpture, second place prize winner of the Trawick Awards in 2014, and selection as a Sondheim Prize Finalist in 2012. To learn more visit lisadillin.com.
For art center and gallery visiting hours, see frederickartscouncil.org/programs/community-art-center.
About the Frederick Arts Council
The Frederick Arts Council invests in a vibrant and cohesive arts community for the people of Frederick County. The organization fosters an environment where the arts flourish in the community through grants and scholarships, arts advocacy, and links to essential resources. FAC is responsible for large-scale programming such as the Frederick Festival of the Arts, Sky Stage, Frederick Arts Plan Initiative, Art in the Park, and Frederick’s ’s Arts in Education grants. For more information about the Frederick Arts Council, visit frederickartscouncil.org.