THE WEATHER STATION presents:
Soft Office
A site-specific installation by Bridgette Bogle
The Weather Station is pleased to present Soft Office, a site-specific installation by artist Bridgette Bogle, opening September 8th with a reception from 6-9pm, and on view through October 21st.
Public vs. private have largely been put in oppositional categories. COVID-19 confused public space in a major way. Suddenly, the office space was moved home and the studio was also the nursery. Spaces became pliable. Bridgette Bogle tangles and weaves together the separate categories of the domestic and the public through installation, painting, sculpture, and fiber arts.
Bogle uses bed sheets, children’s clothing, and old bras to construct wall hangings and sculptural forms that evoke comfort and the softness of a body. She is particularly drawn to pillow forms and cushions to evoke a maternal body, one that can be seen as fruitful, abundant, but at moments smothering. Soft Office expands private materials into the public realm and brings the used fabric forms into an office space, transforming it into a third space of comfort and curiosity. Bogle’s use of color compounds the contrast between private/public. Bright and fully saturated colors allow the work to engage in silly, active ways. In each piece Bogles sews, pulls, and stretches many different types of fibers, and there she finds the strength in maternal bra straps and the tension in a stretched baby’s bib. These conditions mirror our own human bodies and relationships, as we move and shift with age and the stuff of life through public or private spaces.
Bridgette Bogle was born in Roswell, New Mexico in 1977, thirty years after the space aliens crashed there and caused such a ruckus. She received her MFA in Painting and Drawing from Ohio State University in 2003, and has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions nationally, including Sentimental and not at the Rueff Gallery of Purdue University in 2019. In 2009, she exhibited Candy Store Grid at the Dayton Visual Art Center, consisting of a room full of 135 small paintings inspired by consumer culture. A selection from Candy Store Grid is currently installed at the Dayton Children’s Medical Center. Bogle was recently awarded an Artist Opportunity Grant from the Montgomery County Arts and Cultural District. She currently serves as a Professor in the Art Department of Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio.
The Weather Station is a contemporary art space located in downtown Lafayette, Indiana. A former CPA firm, The Weather Station was recently renovated by four artists, who work collaboratively to organize and curate all programming. Our mission is to create a venue that supports artists outside of a commercial gallery system, and provide exhibitions to our communities that are progressive, rotating, and free.
Please join us for an opening reception for Soft Office Friday, September 8th from 6-9pm. We are located at 658 Main Street, upstairs in Suite 212. Our gallery hours are Saturdays from 12-4pm during the run of the exhibition.
For additional information on Soft Office, images of Bridgette Bogle’s work, gallery programming, or The Weather Station, please contact Brian Hitselberger at brian.hitselberger@gmail.com.
Bridgette Bogle’s Website: https://bridgettebogleart.com
Bridgette Bogle on Instagram: @bridgettebogle
The Weather Station on Instagram: @the.weather.station
