MIDNIGHT MASS
Amie Potsic 

January 24 - April 25, 2020

Opening Reception: Friday, February 7, 2020 
5 - 9 PM during Art Loop

Our lobby design integration program continues to bring an exhilarating display of visual aesthetics and offers regional artists the opportunity to explore the range of possibilities for aerial installations. Erica Loustau, Adjunct Deputy for Design Integration, invited Amie Potsic to display her silk installation for our 2020 season.

Working with the expansive industrial architecture of The Delaware Contemporary, Potsic strives to punctuate the height, scale, and proportion of the interior space. With over 250 linear feet of silk, Potsic has designed a monumental site-specific installation involving panels suspended on wires in the atrium plenum. The semi-translucent silk, with photographic imagery of silhouetted tree branches, weaves and dances throughout the space in sweeping, graceful, abstract lines. By grafting the panels into the space and extending them from the entrance at a lower level and upward toward the clerestory windows, Potsic's work not only enhances the museum's architecture, but also affirms how art is intrinsically related to the existential human experience as viewers gaze at the billowing, twilight forest canopy overhead.

Potsic's work investigates the idea of woodland reveries surrounded by evocations of deciduous trees in winter, as though the landscape itself has been pulled from the earth. Like medieval basilicas that were designed to confer a cosmological concept of the dome of heaven, Potsic festoons her silk in single point perspective to conjure the grand processions during the Christian celebration of "Midnight Mass" on Christmas Eve. The sheer immediacy of the work evokes a sense of triumph and joy. With the vast array of willowy drapery glistening in cobalt blue, Potsic creates the illusion of a dome of heaven; thus, serving as a metaphor for celestial realms. The dramatic sweeping arms also symbolize a welcoming gesture for the viewer. As such, Potsic strives to awaken and nourish the divine mysteries of liturgical space. In its presence, her work challenges viewers' notions of a forest sanctuary as an invitation to contemplate the immensity and sublimity of nature and their place in it.

As an observer of the natural world, Potsic's composition of undulating elliptical arches rests within a hemispherical stage, pointing to a global call for action. Her work is not only breathtakingly beautiful and enchanting, but underscores the urgency on climate change and the need for environmental protections. By creating both a visceral and cerebral connection to trees and the natural world, Potsic's panoply of silk holds a double entendre: offering a metaphorical protective covering while drawing attention to universal deforestation and the loss of the earth's essential protective layer.

Amie Potsic received her MFA in photography from the San Francisco Art Institute and her BA in Photo Journalism and English Literature from Indiana University where she graduated with Distinguished Honors and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society. She has held faculty appointments at University of California, Berkeley, Ohlone College, and San Francisco Art Institute; and has been a guest lecturer at The University of the Arts, Ursinus College, and The International Center of Photography. Potsic is currently the CEO and Principal Curator of Amie Potsic Art Advisory, LLC, and Chair of the Art in City Hall Artistic Advisory Board in the Philadelphia Office of Arts and Culture. Her work has been exhibited locally, nationally, and internationally.

Curated by Kathrine Page

Lobby Installation