‘Impact’ exhibition at CCAI Courthouse Gallery in Carson City

The Capital City Arts Initiative presents its exhibition, “Impact,” by artist Paula Chung at the CCAI Courthouse Gallery through June 29. The Courthouse, located at 885 E. Musser St., is open to the public 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Take a virtual tour of the show at www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQScRPHfCbw.

Chung’s “Impact” works address violence on sports fields, battlefields and the streets. Through the use of medical imagery, she illustrates how violence affects everyone.

Chung bases her work on enlarged MRI medical scans for their beauty and universality. She searches for images on the Internet or receives them from friends and acquaintances; she then converts and manipulates the images using Photoshop. After transferring and enlarging the MRIs onto a water-soluble film, she uses multiple-colored threads to machine embroider and create the desired values and hues. She sews on different substrates, including used tea bag papers, mulberry and rice papers to convey a sense of fragility and impermanence. The enlarged pieces invite the viewer to become a part of the experience. Photographs of her work are available at http://paulachung.com.

Chung lives in Zephyr Cove, where she gardens and maintains her art practice. Originally from Southern California, she moved to Lake Tahoe upon retiring from public school teaching. She began taking art classes at Lake Tahoe Community College, where she began her studio career as a quilter, creating large silk abstract florals.

Continuing her work with fibers, she experiments with different substrates and techniques, and now she emphasizes social issues.

In addition to her talk at the opening reception, Chung will participate in the Initiative’s Nevada Neighbors series of public art talks with Phyllis Shafer.

Chris Lanier, professor of digital art at Sierra Nevada College, wrote the exhibition essay, “Stitching Images,” which CCAI published as a gallery handout and archived online. Working in digital animation, web production and comics, Lanier enjoys producing hybrid forms. His animations have screened at Sundance, and he won the grand prize for Internet animation at the Ottawa International Animation Festival. His art criticism essays have appeared in numerous online and print publications, including the Believer, Comics Journal, HiLobrow, Furtherfield, Rhizome and the San Francisco Chronicle.

A Western Nevada College Latino Cohort student provided a Spanish language translation of the exhibition’s wall text.

For more information, visit CCAI’s website at www.ccainv.org.