PLAYING AROUND TOWN
Curated by Jessica Todd (Tampa, FL)
Featuring work by:
Isabella Baquerizo (NAPLES, FL)
Whitney Hackett (Fort Myers, FL)
Chloe Lewis (New York, NY)
Cape Coral Art Center, Cape Coral, FL
October 20 - November 19, 2020
Gallery & Gift Shop open Monday thru Saturday 9am - 4pm (limited capacity, masks required)
Overview
Playing Around Town is an exhibition curated by Jessica Todd featuring work that engages with play and toys in joyous, contemplative, and amusing ways. The exhibition is the sequel to Plays Well with Others, an exhibition at the Alliance for the Arts in Fort Myers, September 11 - October 17, 2020. The Plays Well with Others artists with local roots - Isabella Baquerizo, Whitney Hackett, and Chloe Lewis - are included in this continuation of “part one.”
Artwork Preview
Curatorial Statement by Jessica Todd
The artists of Playing Around Town articulate broad concepts centered around play using media ranging from animation to painting to printmaking. Whitney Hackett’s painting Dinosaur in Landscape reveals her whimsical world view and savvy use of color. Collectables catalogues a spectrum of flora, fauna, rocks, and minerals, evoking a children’s science book and reminding us of the moment of first discovery. Her exuberant compositions in Toy Box, Wonderland, and Time Travel are like opening a toy chest – you can’t help but smile as your eyes bounce across the canvas and inevitably discover a reminiscent object. The paintings act as an enshrinement of a uniquely American overabundance.
Chloe Lewis takes on children’s play as an allegory of self-discovery in her piece Exploring. Her predilection for zines is evident in the narrative structure of a young girl building resilience through life’s many choices and challenges. Lewis’s pared-down color palette and simple graphic forms recall the directness of the youthful mind and connect us to our most primitive emotions.
Isabella Baquerizo tapped into the memories of her friends and family to discover how the imaginary games they played as children have informed who they are today. Through an anonymous online submission form, Baquerizo solicited a collection of odd, amusing, and revealing narratives, which are told in the works’ titles, such as, When I was a kid I pretended I was a mermaid and dove into my mom’s bathtub with no water inside it and broke my collarbone. Reimagining the stories through digital illustrations and animations, Baquerizo brings each quirky fictional world to life. The drawings are a playful respite from the dark realities of our current moment in history, but should serve as an urgent reminder that every child deserves to dream freely toward the future.
About the artists
ISABELLA BAQUERIZO (NAPLES, FL)
Isabella Baquerizo was born and raised in Ecuador and moved to Naples, FL when she was 15 years old. In Ecuador, she attended a school deeply invested in the community and the arts. Isabella was an intern at the Rauschenberg Residency in Captiva, FL, while attending Florida Gulf Coast University, where she graduated summa cum laude with a BA in Art and Graphic Design. She now works as a graphic designer in Naples, FL. Isabella loves being mindful of the little details of the human subconscious and everyday life, creating a bridge between the abstract and the tangible. She is passionate about sustainability, inclusiveness, social justice, and educating herself every day to be a better and kinder human being. @isabellabaquerizo
WHITNEY HACKETT (FORT MYERS, FL)
Whitney Hackett grew up in Fort Myers, FL, where she currently lives and works as an artist. She has a BFA from the University of Florida. Whitney explores memory and nostalgia through her body of dreamy and celebratory paintings. Her innocent appreciation for everyday life encourages a childlike playfulness in her work. Through the enshrinement of simple things, she elevates the ordinary to the extraordinary. The juxtaposition of her imagery speaks to the interconnectedness of all life, the way we assign meaning to the material world, and the honoring of our existence. @whitneyhackettart
CHLOE LEWIS (NEW YORK, NY)
Chloe Lewis is a freelance illustrator living and working out of New York, NY. She received a BA in Fine Arts from Florida Gulf Coast University. Her intentions with illustration are to make playful, introspective observations of life. Her process through illustration is to focus on ordinary and special moments that give life meaning. @cupthecup
ABOUT THE CURATOR
ON CURATING PLAYing Around Town:
As a curator and writer, I am always on the lookout for fresh and exciting work. I have an index of artists who, over time, reveal connections and concepts I want to explore. When a theme, such as “play,” starts to emerge, I can begin conceptualizing an exhibition or piece of writing. As the project moves forward, I prioritize certain values, such as representing artists of diverse backgrounds without tokenizing, highlighting underrepresented and emerging artists, featuring local and regional artists, and intermingling different disciplines and aesthetics without perpetuating historical hierarchies.
JESSICA TODD (TAMPA, FL)
Jessica Todd is a curator, writer, and arts administrator living in Tampa, Florida. She is passionate about building the creative infrastructures that support artists, as well as studying and addressing issues of equity, access, and inclusion in the arts. Through her writing and curatorial work, she seeks to amplify the voices of artists who create work that is fresh, innovative, impactful, interdisciplinary, outside of the mainstream, and engaging new audiences. For nearly six years, before her recent move to Tampa, Jessica was the Residency Manager for the Rauschenberg Residency in Captiva, Florida, an artists’ community serving over 70 artists per year of all disciplines. Jessica earned an MFA from Kent State University in 2014 and a BA in Art from Penn State University in 2008. @jesstoddstudio