SAVE THE DATE! October 1 –29, 2022
The Orange County Center for Contemporary Art (OCCCA) is pleased to present:
Archaeology of Metaphor: The Art of Gilah Yelin Hirsch, 1968–2022 | Exhibition curated by Donna Stein
Opening Reception: Saturday, October 1, from 6:00–10:00 pm
About the Exhibition:
This retrospective celebrates Canadian American artist Gilah Yelin Hirsch who is an influential professor of art and a pioneer of the Feminist art movement in California. The exhibit brings together original ideas in art, science, ecology, and human consciousness as well as additional timeless themes, such as contemporary issues of race and equality. Meaning has always been Hirsch’s primary subject matter. She has continually searched for substance beyond the obvious. In her inventive handling of ordinary subject matter like everyday food, and by superimposing images over each other in a dynamic conversation of call and response, she manipulates time through space in her quest for as yet undiscovered order. It is the unknown that lures her. There is no end to this search for it is the direction of the soul. While Hirsch is primarily a painter, the exhibition will also include monotypes, photographs, books, two films and contextual materials. The pervasive question is: Does one think because of what one sees, or does one see because of what one thinks?
Gilah Yelin Hirsch:
Professor of Art Emerita at California State University Dominguez Hills, Los Angeles, California, Hirsch works in multidisciplinary media combining art, design, anthropology, architecture, theology, philosophy, psychology, psychoneuroimmunology, and world culture, while focusing on the relationship between art and science. Since 1968, Hirsch has been exhibiting internationally in significant museums including Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; National Museum, Budapest, Hungary; and the Jerusalem Biennale, Israel, and her work has been collected by major public and private collections, including the Georgia Museum of Art; Bank of America; Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts, Racine, Wisconsin; Tibetan Library of Works and Archive, Dharamshala, India; and Museo del Pintura, Oaxaca, Mexico. In 1972 Hirsch was one of the founders of the world’s first women artist organizations, Los Angeles Council of Women Artists (LACWA). Hirsch’s many publications are included in the International Journal of Healing and Caring; International Society for Academic Research on Shamanism; Leonardo, Journal of Art and Science; as well as a book on creativity and mental illness, Demonic to Divine: The Double Life of Shulamis Yelin. Hirsch has been the recipient of numerous awards, grants and residencies including the US National Endowment for the Arts in 1985, the International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies & Energy Medicine in 2010, “for her innovative blending of science and art”; the Rockefeller Bellagio Fellowship, Italy; Annaghmakerrig Center for the Arts, Ireland; Banff Center for the Arts, Canada. Hirsch resides in Venice, California and her archives are collected in the Smithsonian Archives of American Art, Washington, DC. gilah@gilah.com | ghirsch@csudh.edu | https://gilah.com/
About OCCCA: www.occca.org
Founded by artists in 1980 and located in the heart of Santa Ana Artist Village, OCCCA is a non-profit, 501(3)( c) corporation, dedicated to the pursuit of professional excellence in the arts, a constantly changing showcase for artists, educators, and community activists. Always free admission, OCCCA recognizes the importance of social engagement, global networking, intellectual exchange, critical dialogue, and the collaborative process. OCCCA presents exhibitions of contemporary art, along with concerts, performances, art classes, symposiums, and publications.
Orange County Center for Contemporary Art (OCCCA)
117 North Sycamore Street, Santa Ana, CA 92701 — Phone: 714–667–1517
email: info.occca@gmail.com
Gallery hours: Friday to Sunday: noon to 5 pm
