Collection: Heart + Home, Selected By Kate Mothes (online exhibition)

About the exhibition

As I was selecting work for this collection of NIAD artists, I kept the idea of home in mind, and how it can be defined in many ways. I’m sure this is far from surprising considering the current situation around the world, and so many of us are considering what home is, in a new way. We are faced with new challenges that come from spending more time either together or alone, our access to public spaces altered, our ability to get the things we need changed from day to day. So much of this depends on where we live. I’ve found that my daily habits and needs had to be scaled down, and as a hopeless optimist, I’ve found myself looking at the world within my current, smaller sphere in a new light: my family has been more tender to one another; my cat has never been so spoiled; spring wildflowers are popping up in the backyard and I have the time to monitor their daily progress; and a weekly trip to the grocery store becomes an adventure.

I invariably found myself searching out cheerful, buoyant, bright works. Some of these reminded me of the hearts and rainbows made out of craft paper that I see pasted onto people’s living room windows as I drive around town, and of the ways that as a global community we are able to rally and support one another in uncertain and challenging times. Moral support is no small thing. It’s said that laughter is the best medicine. Our healthcare professionals on the front lines are doling out a lot more than just laughter, and I look forward to a time when they won’t be under such pressure, along with the rest of us. Things will get better, and art helps me to find joy and brightness in daily life. While thinking of springtime with its longer, warmer days, and looking forward to even brighter days ahead, I believe good cheer goes a long way toward healing.

About the selector

Kate Mothes is founder and curator of Young Space and Co-founder/Editor of Dovetail Magazine. Young Space (@yngspc) is an independent, itinerant, online-offline contemporary art platform emphasizing early career and emerging artists. Dovetail Magazine is an independent online + print contemporary arts publication that positions contemporary visual art in dialogue with design, architecture, photography, travel, and global visual culture, its inaugural issue launching in Summer 2020. Mothes is a curator and independent consultant with a Bachelors in Art History from the University of Wisconsin, and a Masters in the History of Art from the University of Edinburgh. She is currently based in the Upper Midwest.