Julie Comnick
Julie Comnick is a visual artist whose paintings and drawings engage the pictorial languages of representation and narration to pose questions about social circumstances and practices. Her exhibition record includes solo shows at contemporary venues nationally; group exhibitions internationally; and reviews in prominent publications. Her exhibitions and curatorial projects have been supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Foundation for Contemporary
Arts, and the Arizona Commission on the Arts. With a passion for interdisciplinary collaboration, she is enthusiastic about galvanizing the arts and sciences through her position as Executive Director for Creative Flagstaff and Programs Director for Coconino Center for the Arts. Comnick lives in Flagstaff, Arizona, and she also works out of a summer studio in Maine. She received an MFA in Painting from Montana State University and a BA from The Evergreen State College.
Arts, and the Arizona Commission on the Arts. With a passion for interdisciplinary collaboration, she is enthusiastic about galvanizing the arts and sciences through her position as Executive Director for Creative Flagstaff and Programs Director for Coconino Center for the Arts. Comnick lives in Flagstaff, Arizona, and she also works out of a summer studio in Maine. She received an MFA in Painting from Montana State University and a BA from The Evergreen State College.
Artist Statement:
Arrangement for a Silent Orchestra is a painting and video project which explores the gradual dissolution of culture in contemporary society through the symbolic ruin of a personal and cultural icon, the violin. Using the violin as a metaphor, I raise questions about the relationship between advancing technology and diminishing cultural heritage. I invite the audience to consider what makes the instrument precious in their own experience, and also the cultural context that could allow for its loss.
For a period of nine months I solicited instrument shops nationwide for violins beyond repair. After collecting nearly one hundred violins, I piled them in a mountaintop clearing and burned them at dusk. the documentation of the event is the source material for the series of twelve large-scale paintings that depict the pile of violins in various phases of ruin: at sunset, illuminated by the lowering sun; at nightfall, in stages of burning; and at dawn, the charred remains.
For a period of nine months I solicited instrument shops nationwide for violins beyond repair. After collecting nearly one hundred violins, I piled them in a mountaintop clearing and burned them at dusk. the documentation of the event is the source material for the series of twelve large-scale paintings that depict the pile of violins in various phases of ruin: at sunset, illuminated by the lowering sun; at nightfall, in stages of burning; and at dawn, the charred remains.
Contact:
Email: julie.comnick@gmail.com
Phone Number: 928-308-3837
Website: https://www.juliecomnick.com