Orange County Center for Contemporary Art Presents heart of the matter, Solo  Exhibition  

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heart of the matter will take place September 7th-28th, 2024. 

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An opening event will take place on Saturday September 7th from 6-9 PM. The space is  located at 117 North Sycamore Street, Santa Ana, CA. 

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Founded in 1980, the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art is an artist-run  non-profit dedicated to the pursuit of professional excellence and freedom of expression  in the arts. Each year, the historic building is home to a host of ambitious exhibitions  showcasing contemporary artists. The organization has a long tradition of inviting  outside curators to organize shows. OCCCA is located in the heart of the Downtown  Santa Ana Artist Village; home to several galleries, artist studios, and an Art Walk the  first Saturday of each month.  

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heart of the matter is Debra Vodhanel’s first solo exhibition at Orange County Center  for Contemporary Art. About her new body of work Debra says, “Painting intuitively and  non-objectively, I use paint and wax to transform colors, textures, and shapes into  images that I have never seen before that trigger significant past experiences, but  reframed in a way new to me. I believe I paint about attachment, identity, and reparation  of our fragile but resilient world. I work toward unwrapping the ideas that we can heal;  that the world is getting better over time; that humans – the most vicious of all species -  are innately good. That life is innately good. I look for a deeper imagining of what is real,  what could be hovering just below our conscious identification.” 

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Why We Make Art? For accompanying exhibition Why We Make Art Debra Vodhanel invited current and former OCCCA members to  submit small works to be displayed in conjunction with the September solo show heart of the  matter. The exhibit will be  accompanied by a personal statement by the artist on the topic “Why I Make Art.” These small  works will be displayed during the run of the show. Each artist’s written statement will be  displayed alongside their work. 

 

Participating artists: Stephen Anderson, Becky Black, Richard Bohn, Annie Clavel, Leslie Davis, Gianne de Genevraye, Jim Ellsberry, Jeffrey Frisch, Suvan Geer, Gina Genis, EE Jacks, Beverly Jacobs, Tom Lamb, Bella Marinos, Karena Massengill, Andrea Moni, Dalibor Polivka, Donnal Poppe, Annabella Pritchard, Robin Repp, Brennan Roach, Soheila Siadate, Gregg Stone, Mike Tauber, Carolyn Yarnell.

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Curator Rebecca Shippee has curated numerous exhibitions under the umbrella of her  curatorial project Triangle Projects, as well as independently. She served as co-curator  of a two person show Waterways in the Skowhegan exhibition space in Chelsea, New  York. She served as co-curator of a group show Moved/Displaced at Orange County  Center of Contemporary Art in 2024. She is a graduate of Purchase College and Yale  University.

 

Selected Quote from Artist: 

“Painting unlocks a language descriptive of my inner life; usually ignored, and buried  under everyday challenges and concerns. Rather than recreate recognizable images, I  search for a deeper imagining of what reality may be. A reality which hovers just below  conscious identification. I search for the wonder of who we are, reframe established  beliefs, and look to find hope for the future."  

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Debra Vodhanel received training from Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture,  Art Center College of Design, and Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts. She has  exhibited nationally, including at Anna Gardner Gallery, Artist’s Space, ArtShare, Brand  Library Art Galleries, Gallery 825, Herron School of Art, James Turcotte Gallery, Joslyn  Center of the Arts, Long Beach Art Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los  Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, L. A. Woman’s Building, Malki Museum, New  Orleans Contemporary Art Center, Norris Theatre, and Occidental College. Her work  has been reviewed in the Daily News, Los Angeles Times, and Artweek.  

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