Former gallery director’s new exhibit embraces life’s changes

  College of Arts & Sciences   Arts+Culture  

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Throughout 10 years of retirement, artist and former art professor Beatriz Mejia-Krumbein has encountered significant life changes that have impacted her perspective and influenced her work. This month, she reveals her reflections in an exhibit of new art at La Sierra University’s Brandstater Gallery where she previously served as director.

<p> Beatriz Mejia-Krumbein poses for a photo in March 2014, a few months before her retirement as art department chair and Brandstater Gallery director. (Photo: Natan Vigna) </p>

Beatriz Mejia-Krumbein poses for a photo in March 2014, a few months before her retirement as art department chair and Brandstater Gallery director. (Photo: Natan Vigna)

<p> Images of art works from the exhibit, "Impermanence," by Beatriz Mejia-Krumbein. The works are created using sand as a medium. </p>

Images of art works from the exhibit, "Impermanence," by Beatriz Mejia-Krumbein. The works are created using sand as a medium.

Mejia-Krumbein’s exhibit titled “Impermanence” will feature a new body of work involving 34 art pieces that marks a departure from the artistic themes of her 50-plus year career. Her professional trajectory included 17 years as a La Sierra Art+Design professor and department chair as well as its gallery director for 10 years. A free-admission opening for “Impermanence” will be held Aug. 24, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. with an artist's talk at 7 p.m. that includes a slideshow depicting influential touchstones along the artist's journey.  An opportunity to visit with the artist will be held Aug. 25, 12 – 5 p.m. The exhibit runs Aug. 24 – 29.

"This new body of work reflects my personal journey and profound realizations about change." -- Beatriz Mejia-Krumbein

Mejia-Krumbein, whose work was historically anchored around themes of social action, marginalization, abuse of power and identity, has encountered powerful life changes in recent years, chief among them her retirement from a decades-long career, a cross-country move to Florida, and the impacts of a stroke. Her new artistic direction delves into the fluidity of life and the transformative work of embracing change.

“This new body of work reflects my personal journey and profound realizations about change, inspired by my experiences after moving to Florida,” Mejia-Krumbein  says in an artist’s statement for the exhibit. “The widespread presence of sand in my new home captivated me, reminding me of the biblical parable in Matthew 7, ‘the wise man builds his house on the rock and the foolish man builds his house on sand.’

“Another significant turning point in my life was experiencing a stroke, which again heightened my awareness of life’s impermanence. This realization deepened my connection to sand and led to a deconstruction of images from my 50-year art practice. I was able to shed the past and embrace the transient future nature of life,” she said.

Mejia-Krumbein’s first solo Brandstater exhibit and last show under her direction at the gallery took place in January 2014 prior to her retirement that school year. A former resident of Riverside, Mejía-Krumbein was born in Colombia but lived in Mexico and Germany before immigrating to the United States in 1987. Since the mid-1990s until her retirement, Mejía-Krumbein produced a body of figurative work that expressed a deep concern for human rights and the need for solidarity among underrepresented communities. Her large-scale books, mixed-media paintings and assemblages conveyed skepticism toward mandated behavior and questioned the actions of those who abuse power.

Toward the end of her career, she explored her own life passages and experiences as a serial migrant through a series of video works and performances. 

Mejía-Krumbein studied fine arts and music in Colombia and received an MFA from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va. in 1996. Her work has been exhibited internationally and is in the collections of The Museum of Latin American Art, Smithsonian Museum of American Art (Self-Help Graphics Archives), the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Printmaking Archives, The Huntington Museum at the University of Texas at Austin, and the Museo de Antioquia in Medellin, Colombia.

In 1997, Mejía-Krumbein accepted an appointment as assistant professor of art at La Sierra University and from 2004 – 2014 served as chair of the Art Department and director of Brandstater Gallery.

“Beatriz was the department chair who hired me back in 2008,” said Art+Design associate professor and Brandstater Gallery director Tim Musso. “She was an inspiring colleague and artist. It was an honor to step into her shoes as director of the Brandstater Gallery when she retired. After a decade it is exciting to have her back on campus sharing an incredible new body of work that shows the power of art over a lifetime. I am excited for our current students to see how you can always continue to evolve and progress no matter your age.”

For further information contact Tim Musso at tmusso@lasierra.edu. Brandstater Gallery hours are Mon. – Thurs., 12 – 5 p.m. and by appointment.

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