Shelter Lures Me - Adam Stoner, Sara Willadsen, & Daniel Fleming

After weathering a year and a half of a global pandemic, we’ve all adapted new ways of going out into the world—and our home environments have taken on a new layer of biological safety. Yet for many the familiar architectures of the workplace, the grocery, the place of worship, and the classroom are still navigated with the anxiety of contamination. Now more than ever, we are attuned to the surfaces underneath our touch – not in a poetic way, but with alert precaution.

At a time when interactions with our usual people and places had been disrupted, the artists in this show felt the need to think about the various spaces in our lives. Who do we allow into the intimacy of our home? How do we safely rely on public utilities? Will cities of the future have a downtown, or was that just an artifact of a time before video conferencing?

While the artists each worked in their relative isolation, this exhibition served as a place for them to gather together to think through the social and physical production of space. Boundaries, thresholds, and arches are scattered throughout their images. Shelter Lures Me is, in short, their love letter to dwelling places – whether they are protective or secretive, inviting or boisterous. In these images and objects, architecture becomes a container for the salient memories of our lives—our walls which witness our grief and comfort; our rising and sleeping; our labor and reward.

Shelter Lures Me | August 1 - August 31

A group show of architectural works by

Adam Stoner | Sara Willadsen | Daniel Fleming

On view at Grove Gallery August 1 - 31 ; and online at gallerygrove.com

Opening Reception Friday, August 13th 5:00 - 9:00 pm

Adam Stoner

Adam Stoner (b. 1989) received his Master of Fine Arts in Intermedia Studies from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee in 2019, and his BA in Studio Art and Theater from Williams College in 2011. Stoner makes paintings, drawings, and video installations that visualize the intimate connections between architecture and our bodies. How are we mutually inhabited by the very places we inhabit? If we build structures, do they also build us? Stoner is the recipient of UWM’s Chancellor’s Graduate Student Award, Layton Fellowship, and Williams College’s Gilbert W. Gabriel Prize in Theater. Originally trained in scenic design, Adam’s research frequently explores the language of space, the latent agency of materials, and the architectures—visible or invisible—which resonate endlessly in our daydreams.

Sara Willadsen

Sara Willadsen (b. 1987) received her Master of Fine Arts in Painting from Northern Illinois University in 2014 and her Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art and Graphic Arts from Lakeland University in 2010. Working mainly with paint and various collage elements, Willadsen’s work explores concepts of abstract spaces and objects guided by her surroundings. She has had work featured in New American Paintings and shows frequently in regional and national exhibitions. Willadsen currently works as a visual artist and graphic designer in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.

Daniel Fleming

Daniel Fleming received his Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design and Painting from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design in 2010. Fleming’s work is archetypal: visually abstract but conceptually specific. He uses symbols and associations of symbols that constitute a theme or narrative. His physical process is intentionally raw, direct, intuitive, vigorous, and spontaneous. Fleming works as a visual artist and graphic designer in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.