Kirk Maxson and Tiffanie Turner/ Panel Discussion at the Elenor Harwood Gallery, February 3rd, 2018 6:00-7:00 pm

Kirk Maxson and Tiffanie Turner Panel Discussion:  Using Representational Botanical Sculpture to Address Conceptual Ideas Greetings!  We are pleased to announce a panel with gallery artists Kirk Maxson and Tiffanie Turner about their art and practice. Both will address questions regarding their individual artistic process as well as the conceptual issues behind their work. Through the exploration of the seductive realistic forms of botanicals, Maxson gets at larger themes of invasive species as a metaphor for colonialism and personal histories. Turner, using similar botanical forms, explores the aging female body and the beauty in age and decay.  About the Artists Kirk Maxson Born 1967, Eugene, OR Lives and works in San Francisco Kirk Maxson moved to San Francisco in 1992 and participated in the San Francisco Mission School art scene. He exhibited artwork in the seminal exhibition spaces of Adobe Books backroom gallery, Ascena, and ESP during the height of the Mission School. Subsequently he has created multiple permanent site-specific installation for corporate collections including ClimateWorks Foundation, San Francisco, CA, Kilroy Realty Corporation, Bellevue, WA, UBM, San Francisco, CA, Genentech Inc., South San Francisco, CA, Morgan Stanley Corporate Collection, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Collection, Avant Corporate Collection, Menlo Park, CA and Fresh Connection Corporation, Lafayette, CA, and recently created numerous wearable artworks for the Victoria's Secret Fashion show in Shanghai. He is also working towards his first inclusion in a museum exhibition, "In the Garden" at the Shelburne Museum in Vermont slated for March 2018. He has also created many installations for private residences. He is represented by Eleanor Harwood Gallery, San Francisco, and has previously worked with Eli Ridgeway Gallery and the Gensler Architecture firm in San Francisco.  Be sure to check out Maxson's current show with Eleanor Harwood Gallery, Black Elk Speaks open until February 24th on the website and on Artsy. Black Elk Speaks,   installation image Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, detail, 2017 Varnished Brass As Long as Grass Grows and Water Runs, 2017 Aluminum, wax Tiffanie Turner Born in 1970 in Colonie, NY and raised in the woods of New Hampshire.  Lives and works in San Francisco. Turner received her Bachelor of Architecture from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1995 and worked as an architect for over 15 years before beginning her career as a botanical sculptor. She received a Zellerbach Family Grant award in 2016 to support her work as the May 2016 artist-in residence at the de Young Museum located in San Francisco, where she has resided for over 20 years. Turner has had solo exhibitions at the Kimball Gallery at the de Young Museum, Tower Hill Botanical Garden in Boylston, MA, and Rare Device in San Francisco. Recent group exhibitions include "Flower Power" at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, "Preternatural" at Jack Fischer Gallery in San Francisco, "Detritus" at San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, and "Botanica" at Bedford Gallery in Walnut Creek, CA. She has been featured in Vogue, American Craft, O Magazine, LAB magazine, and the San Francisco Chronicle, and been noted online by Colossal, Squarespace presents HI-FRUCTOSE, My Modern Met, Design*Sponge, Elie Saab, and The Jealous Curator, among others. Turner is an instructor in the art of paper flower making in the United States and beyond, and her first book, The Fine Art of Paper Flowers, was published in 2017. She is looking forward to her first solo exhibition with Eleanor Harwood Gallery at Minnesota Street Project in San Francisco in January 2019. Cremon Mum, 2016 Paper mâché and Italian crepe paper Cabbage Rose, detail, 2017 Paper mâché and Italian crepe paper Chrysantemum (The Wilt), 2017 Paper mâché, stain (coffee/stain made from brown paper) and Italian crepe paper #fineartmagazine