Silver peak

Artist Talk: November 5 @ 5pm

Exhibition: November 5 – December 18, 1-5pm on Saturdays

Local Language: 477 25th Street, Oakland CA 94612

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

Over the course of her residency at Local Language, Rachelle Reichert created artworks using satellite images of the Clayton Valley, Nevada, the site of the only active lithium salt ponds in the United States.

Over 150 years ago, the Clayton Valley, sacred to the Shoshone tribe, was colonized by white settlers seeking silver, salt, and gold. When lithium was found near the town of Silver Peak, private companies began extracting the element. Lithium is used to treat mental illness by calming the brain. It is also used in batteries for smart technologies such as smartphones, electric cars, and computers. A renewed rush for resources has begun.

In Silver Peak, Reichert challenges the notion of objectivity that is assumed when an algorithmic data visualizer composites satellite imagery into a visual description of a place. She manipulates the images of the lithium ponds and surrounding environment, then prints the images onto shaped aluminum panels. Her arrangements play with form and color, highlighting her subjective understanding of the land.

RESIDENCY WORK ON EXHIBIT

During her residency at Local Language, Reichert utilized a CNC router to translate the geographic forms of the location into shaped substrates. A multilayered ten panel piece pushes the boundaries of framed artwork, and prints on aluminum imbue the abstracted imagery with a luminous glow.

ARTIST’S BIO

Rachelle Reichert is a visual artist and art educator based in the San Francisco Bay Area, California (Chochenyo Ohlone territory). She creates drawings and sculptures to explore ecological concerns caused by technology. Artwork is included in many public and private collections, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Archive, The Center for Art and Environment Archives at the Nevada Museum of Art, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago Library, Facebook, and Adobe, Inc. Rachelle has presented her artwork at the California Climate Change Symposium, the San Francisco State of the Estuary Conference, the American Geophysical Union Meeting and has been granted a Research Ambassadorship from Planet Labs to create anthropocentric climate-related artwork. Reichert’s research for Silver Peak was recently acquired by the Nevada Museum of Art Center for Art+Environment Archives. .

Local Language is an Art, Design, and Fabrication studio providing curated art collections for commercial properties across the globe. The Artist in Residence program offers space, time, and facilities for artists in a multitude of disciplines to explore creative pursuits and utilize technology to further their own art practice. We are a working art manufacturer. Made in the Garage District, Oakland California.