July 29 - September 2
on the lawn at the Red Brick Center for the Arts
With Field Signs, a reimagination of used tents, installation artist Lara Whitley continues to transform waste into contemplative space. Crowd-sourcing nylon tents from the community, she harvested the technical outdoor fabric to hand sew a series of flags that are animated by wind and sun. Her flag landscapes draw on the colors of the outdoor industry, patterns found in nature, and memories of camping. Like the circular economy of her practice, Field Signs, which was originally commissioned for the 2024 5Point Film Festival, is constantly growing in size and regenerating in new locations. Her roving installation creates narratives of transformation, while carrying the original stories of adventure infused in the recycled tents.
Lara Whitley
Installation artist Lara Whitley finds joy in the materials given. She reclaims objects that society no longer wants — discarded, decommissioned or destined for the landfill — and reimagines them in new narratives. Whitley has rescued old bar bottles, dinner plates, boots, window panes and tents; she has reshaped them into contemplative spaces — a meditation temple, a forest shrine, a glass cabin in the woods — and countless abstract forms. She is interested in the renewal and healing that are available to all when we put broken things back together in new ways.
Named “a sculptor to watch” by Aspen Sojourner magazine, Lara Whitley earned a Bachelor of Arts at UC Berkeley and has studied at Anderson Ranch Arts Center, the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, and Colorado Mountain College. She is the recipient of numerous honors, including 2023 City of Aspen Cultural Vibrancy Fellowship, 2021 Aspen Art Museum Artistic Fellowship, and the 2019 People’s Choice Award at Art of the State, Colorado’s triennial juried show. Her residencies include Aspen Community School, Red Brick Center for the Arts and the Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts. Whitley’s work has been featured in solo shows at The Launchpad in Carbondale and The Art Base in Basalt, and collaboratively at Mai Wyn Gallery in Denver. A native of California, Lara moved to the Roaring Fork Valley in 1998, where she lives with her family.
www.larawhitley.studio and on Instagram @larawhitleystudio