475 25th Street, Oakland CA 94612 \ 510-701-4620

Friday + Saturday: 12-5pm and by appt.

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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.

    Mercury 20 Gallery

    475 25th Street, Oakland CA 94612
    Tel: 510-701-4620

    Gallery hours: Friday + Saturday: 12-5pm and by appt