"Calamity and Other Triumphs"
now showing at the Earlville Opera House
September 21-November 2nd, 2024
ARTIST'S STATEMENT
I am beholden to my Art, although historically, I have tried to escape. Chase me, Art did. And so, in a Truce, after long discussion, we have found our language. One I can live with and delight by. I offer to you Our Book of Alchemy, our Recipes and Spells. The ingredients are as follows:
The Saturated Extraordinary, The Odd, The Details, The Craft. The Lack of Craft. FairyTales–not the Disney ones, the old ones where witches eat children and mermaids die of love. Fabric. Fabric should be weighty, and if Embroidered, Embroidered Richly, Thickly. Wood. Wood should be Hefty; if Varnished, then Old. Metal should be Patinaed, and Brass, Gold or Bronze. If those aren't available, Silver is acceptable, but it should be blackened. Hinges, Locks, Hooks, Latches, Levers. Preferably small. Eggs: Faberge, Pysansky or made of Sugar and containing small sugar scenes. Tiles: Delft or Green. Music: Philip Glass for Artist’s Statements and Soul Coughing for cleaning. Andre Segovia for paying bills. Film: Fellini for Sunday Mornings. Glass should be translucent, and Never Gimmicky. Paint! Paint when used in illustration should have the consistency of warm butter. When applied with a brush and a bit of water, it should not drag. You should feel a thrill at the end of each line. Parts: When two parts fit together, no matter the capacity, there should be a small celebration, for how often do we fit things perfectly into place?
Mixed in different quantities, with unending addendums, and unnumbered equations-- this is why I make art. No matter the content, the point or the project, these ingredients, touching them, connecting them, experiencing them, soothe me in a way nothing else can.
Genevieve Geer, a born and bred New Englander, slowly zig zagged her way down the East Coast after high school, attending Parsons School of Design in New York City and The Museum School in Boston. She majored in portraiture, illustration, film and animation at various moments, and once released from the confines of education, embraced a life of experiences. Experimentation and mediums lit her path, seeking new mediums and skills became her reason. From embroidery to wood, from book binding to papermaking, from cake decorating to metal, she collected skills at a furious pace, always with the eyes and glee of a beginner.
In 2007 glass snagged her heart, and so she began a life dedicated to A Most Fickle Mistress. The learning curve was steep, but the options were endless, so many processes, so many beautiful colors, so much amazement and such incredible frustration…
She began her training by managing a glass studio in Philadelphia, then working as an apprentice for glass artists, then a two year stint at Wheaton Arts and Cultural Center where she lived and worked 24/7 as a glass assistant to fellows and the Center.
In 2013 she combined all of her experience and started Le Puppet Regime in Philadelphia, specializing in articulated, illustrated stained glass. With her business she traveled to shows up and down the eastern seaboard, and into the midwest, attending craft shows and art shows with her famous blue puppet stage booth, selling her art. In 2018 she opened a Brick and Mortar in Philadelphia, and when the pandemic of 2020 swept through the world, she switched entirely to an online gallery approach. In 2022, she and her husband Sam Geer decided to leave Philly and purchase a 100 year old train station in Marathon, NY where they now live and work.