Leah Virsik: COMMON THREAD

July 29th, 2022 – September 3rd, 2022

Leah Virsik’s new collages contain bits of material from previous projects. Her work is formal, consisting of color, line, texture, form, value, shape, and space. Blues and oranges, complementary colors on the color wheel, convey emotional meaning. In Virsik’s work, blues represent comfort and disappointment; while golds, yellows, and browns represent her optimism and warmth.

Virsik’s works contain thread and stitching, painted over self-portraits, silk organza, prints and old business cards, and dots and holes, all which reveal and conceal. These bits of material, no longer used for their original purpose, now torn or cut and repurposed, speak of potentiality and a remaking of the self.

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Leah Virsik; Unity 01, 2022; found and painted papers, linen thread, copper tape, silk organza on paper; 5 x 3 1/2 inches, photo by artist

Available Work

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Leah Virsik

Leah Virsik is an Oakland-based visual artist whose work is primarily driven by materials
and includes collage, sculptural fiber, and book arts. She has a BS in
Marketing from California State University, East Bay and a MFA in Art from San
Francisco State University. Her work has been exhibited at Mercury 20 Gallery
in Oakland; Incline Gallery, SOMArts, and the City College of San Francisco Art
Gallery in San Francisco; and galleryFritz in Santa Fe, New Mexico, among
others. She is a recipient of a San Francisco State/Kala Art Institute MFA
Fellowship (2014), Leo D. Stillwell Jr. Scholarship (2015), Jack K. and
Gertrude Murphy Fellowship (2015), and a Sher-Right Scholarship
(2016). Virsik gave her work away for free as an Artist-in-Residence at
Free Oakland UP (2017). Leah teaches art to middle school and high school
students and book arts at Feather River Art Camp. She also does freelance book
design.

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