HOPI BRETON: GROUNDED

August 2, 2024 – September 7, 2024

Artists’ Reception: Saturday, August 10, 4 – 6 pm

Oakland Art Murmur / First Friday: August September

A tortoise signifies longevity, candles evoke memory and reverence, and a  blanket crafted from rock offers a sense of rooted security, contrasting with the precariousness and anxiety symbolized by a boulder atop a ladder. Hopi Breton creates sculptures that are hybrids of figurative elements, inanimate objects, animals, and combinations of mixed media. Breton considers themes of place, displacement, and spiritual well-being connected to land and home amid heightened emotions of anxiety, loss, and fear exacerbated by global issues of war and climate change. Her work leans on ecology, language, and literature as guides, and she finds poetic connections in the combination of materials and forms to spark new meanings and metaphors. Materials such as iron, gold, and salt as well as forms such as birds and rocks are used for symbolism as much as for their formal qualities.