Gina Alvarez may be the consummate materialist, if a deep sensitivity to the textures, hues, transparency and weight of things is a qualifier. Though trained as a printmaker, Alvarez often produces everything but work on paper, ingeniously deploying ceramics and fabric to create almost blossoming sculptural objects and installations. But the trace of a print and the repetition of forms are dear to her imagistic vocabulary; the work suggests that nothing is made in the instant, but is, rather, a product of repetitive, nurtured acts and all the myriad reuses of words, behaviors and materials that our uneditable lives necessitate. This past year reflects a nearly exhaustive exhibition history for her — Hoffman LaChance Contemporary, Boots Contemporary Art Space, Maryville University, Craft Alliance (where she was also a resident artist), Open Lot and Pele Prints, as well as a residency in Washington, D.C., among others — but her presence in St. Louis is still a subtle one and possibly felt most profoundly in the educational realm. Few active printmakers in this city have not benefited from Alvarez's expert instruction, which is a feat in itself and yet another extension of her artwork's debt to trace-making and careful labor. Ultimately Alvarez is an artist whose work is sincere and total — an elegant testament to the too-often unsung powers of education and the dearly homemade.
Basil Kincaid
| Oct 2, 2019
Jamie Adams
| Sep 25, 2014
Kit Keith
| Sep 26, 2013
David Johnson
| Sep 27, 2012
Peter Pranschke
| Sep 22, 2011
Sarah Paulsen
| Sep 29, 2010
Juan William Chávez
| Sep 24, 2008
Tom Huck
| Sep 26, 2007
Sue Eisler
| Sep 27, 2006
Brandon Anschultz
| Sep 29, 2005
Kim Humphries
| Sep 29, 2004
Kim Humphries
| Sep 29, 2004
Daniel Raedeke
| Sep 24, 2003
Daniel Raedeke
| Sep 24, 2003
Leslie Laskey
| Sep 25, 2002
Leslie Laskey
| Sep 25, 2002
James Michael Smith
| Sep 26, 2001
James Michael Smith
| Sep 26, 2001
Carol Carter
| Sep 27, 2000
Carol Carter
| Sep 27, 2000