On First Friday, July 1, 2022, Carver Hill Gallery will host a pop-up exhibition for Adam Umbach and Kaylie Kaitschuck at the Yellow Warehouse, 20 Winter Street in Rockland. The artists will be present from 5 - 7 pm to meet you and answer questions. Music and refreshments will be provided. The show will run through Saturday, July 30th.

ADAM UMBACH

Beginning his painting career with minimalist canvases based on the enigmatic names of color swatches, Umbach’s creative approach has expanded to experiments with abstraction, geometric painting, and expressionism. The evolution of Umbach’s painting is markedly influenced by his surroundings, from the maritime imagery and seaside colors from his time living in East Hampton, New York and Islesboro, Maine to the graphic style of New York City’s architecture and graffiti. Umbach’s work pairs formalist explorations with realistic depictions of recognizable objects, including boats, toys such as rubber ducks and teddy bears, and pink flamingo lawn ornaments. A biographical painter, Umbach’s chosen subjects, which often repeat through differing bodies of work, belong to a personal and familial iconography. Though sourced from his life, Umbach’s paintings invite viewers to connect with this imagery by evoking their own experiences and memories.

My paintings explore a collective nostalgia for childhood memories by juxtaposing realistic representations of everyday objects that represent deep personal ties to memory with expressionistic mark making. Using my non-dominant hand to create the thickly rendered lines and forms, I build on the sense of play by drawing with the uncertainty and freedom of a child. This formal tension mirrors the balance between my playful, often humorous choice of subjects with the weight of the memories they symbolize—a sense of loneliness pervading a single teddy bear, toy, or boat combined with the comfort and hope that it brings.

Adam Umbach was born in Chicago, and currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. After being inspired from an early age by the modern masters collection at the Art Institute of Chicago, he received his BFA in painting from the University of Wisconsin. He has exhibited his large-scale paintings nationally in Cavalier Ebanks Galleries, Virgil Catherine Gallery, Carver Hill Gallery, and Chase Edwards Contemporary, among others. He has also shown in numerous art fairs, including Moniker Art Fair, New York, Market: Art & Design, Bridgehampton, NY, and the Philadelphia Art Fair.

KAYLIE KAITSCHUCK

Through the use of machine embroidery, I illustrate colorful dreamscapes scribbled with yarn. These psychedelic embroideries emulate my dreams, anxieties, and humorous idealizations. Starting from a simple sketch I collage icons and symbols to blend together into a confusing yet relatable reality. These works are an outlet for my mind to try to stay at ease during the very confusing time we are all in. The act of scribbling with yarn becomes meditative and sends me back to my first days using crayons. I find comfort in the material I use. I think I gravitate towards fiber and yarn because it's cozy and inviting. My embroideries are like blankets on a wall. The texture reminds me of home.

I prepare my surface by cutting the felt I use as a backing material. From there, I sketch out one drawing and throw it onto my machine. My practice is very intuitive and my drawing is fluid through my stream of consciousness. I enjoy not editing my drawings and end up embroidering the first things that come to mind as they feel the most authentic to me. My goal in making art is to remove the viewer from their outside world and worries for just a moment. I use art as an outlet of escapism, daydreaming, and symbolism. I hope the viewer can take a moment to breathe and feel something. Whatever that feeling is- happy, sad, confusion, or inspiration.

I work standing up and with headphones on. It’s an active process of moving my body to “draw with yarn”. I can't concentrate on anything else other than the artwork at that moment. I grew up playing music and dancing. I have set those aside for visual arts now but I believe they play a big role in the stories I draw. If I’m not in the studio sewing, I’m probably out with friends, snowboarding, or skating.

A few of my favorite artists are Laura Owens, Elizabeth Murray, and Frank Stella.

Kaylie Kaitschuck received her MFA in Fiber and Textile Design from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hill, Michigan in 2021. She holds a BFA in Fiber and Textile Designs from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit.

installation / opening images