Fire and Ice
Art Students League

For Fire and Ice, the latest edition of The League’s Exhibition Outreach program, League artists were asked to explore the difference between fire’s glow and frost’s glitter. At Fire and Ice, viewers will walk through a vault of dreams and memories of the season, sentineled by its warmest and coldest imagery. A network of steel rods creates a sculpture of fire so dimensional that its shadow becomes a plume of smoke over its form. Translucent washes and thick strokes of blue and white create distinctive scenes of snow.

This torch-lit excavation tells the story of fall and winter, and it tells another story too. While Fire and Ice first promises tension between opposing forms, this collection of works is ultimately a composition of harmony—a call and response of relationships. It therefore reflects the nature of the work that faces artists, and the work that faces us all as we continue to trudge through uncertainty. We are finding balance as the world blows hot and cold. We are searching for the warmth that will melt what has been frozen. We are searching for the cool center that lives within the heat of panic. Come explore how the work of these artists transcends a dichotomy and reminds us that it is all of a piece. Come light a candle and leave your footprints in the snow.

Featured Artists:

Jonathan Arovas • Lesley Bodzy • Aiko Cascio • Audrey Cohn-Ganz • Kathleen Huggard • Kathleen Jansyn • Richard Katz • Claudia Kreiss •  Jack Livingston • John Parnell • Shoshana Pofelis • Rachel Lulov Segall • Milan Sharma • Kirsten Tingle • Paul Vogel • Congwen Wang • Joyce Weinstein • Michele Wenzke • Michael Wyetzner

About the Curator: 

Alexandra (Alexi) Rutsch Brock is an artist, independent curator and educator. Born in Westchester, NY, she received her BFA in Fine Art & Art Education K-12 from the School of Visual Arts, NY and her MS in Studio Art from the College of New Rochelle, NY. She has exhibited in solo and group shows most recently at The Keck School at USC, CA, The Painting Center, NY, Village West Gallery, NJ and Misericordia University, PA. Her work has been featured in Studio Visit Magazine SV Vol44. Her recent co-curations include “In Accordion Times: A Pandemic Archive” at Ursa Gallery with Patricia Miranda, “HyperAccumulators” with Elizabeth Saperstein at Pelham Art Center, NY and “Among Friends” project with artists Patricia Fabricant and Beth Dary at the Clemente Center, NYC.

For more information on Alexandra and her work visit her website or follow her on Instagram.

About The Art Students League:

The Art Students League of New York has been making high-quality, studio-based art education accessible to all for almost 150 years. Founded in 1875 by a group of independent artists who dreamed of a place where anyone with a passion for art would have the space to make it, today The League hosts over 100 classes, taught in-studio and online. No applications, no prerequisites, and affordable, month-to-month tuition allow students to find their freedom and pursue their artwork free from the constraints of dogma. Our instructors educate students in an environment that values mentorship and collegiality, and centers diverse art-making practices, including painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, and assemblage. Our ongoing lineage of accomplished instructors is matched by our legacy of extraordinary students: Artists who have studied or taught at The League include Georgia O’Keeffe, Norman Rockwell, Jackson Pollock, Robert Rauschenberg, Louise Bourgeois, Alexander Calder, Norman Lewis, James Rosenquist, Ai-Weiwei, and many others.

For more information on The Art Students League visit their website or follow them on Instagram.