Pulp is pleased to announce a two person show , Matrix & Mycelia with paintings by Donnabelle Casis and Ceramics by Robbie Heidinger. The exhibition will run till December 5th.

To see individual works by both artists, please go to the ARTIST TAB on our website.

Donnabelle Casis

“I am fascinated by visual perception and how meaning is derived from what we see. I look for hidden geometries which may connect discrete perspectives to form a greater whole. My current paintings explore the relationship of personal identity to visual systems of signification in both ancient and modern cultures. I draw from various sources such as Filipino tribal tattoos and textiles, facial recognition software, cosmology and the philosophy of metaphysics, among others. Filipino tribal imagery is tied to storytelling, marks of accomplishment, and societal roles. Facial recognition software maps physical characteristics which determine one’s visual identity. My interest in the tangible universe and what transcends experience helps me understand my place in the world and beyond.

“I am a Filipina-American artist living and working in Western Massachusetts. I earned an MFA in painting from the University of Washington. work has been included in national and international group and solo exhibitions, most recently at Platform Gallery, Albany Center Gallery, Tacoma Art Museum, Newport Art Museum, ChaShaMa NYC, Geoffrey Young Gallery, LABSpace, Carroll and Sons Gallery, Boeckercontemporary, Andrew Edlin Gallery, among others. I have received numerous awards and grants, including the Neddy Artist Fellowship for painting granted by the Behnke Foundation and grants from the Northampton Arts Council/Massachusetts Cultural Council. My work is included in several public and private collections.

“You can hear about area art happenings on my ArtBeat Report segment on the Bill Newman Show on Fridays on WHMP. I am a Co-Curator of The ArtSalon, and a Board Member of BOMBYX Center for Arts & Equity. I am also the founder and producer of Florence Night Out, an annual one-night art street festival celebrating community through creativity in Florence, MA.”

Robbie Heidinger

“Watch a plant grow, and you see its intention is perfect. It uses just the right shape, amount of color, and texture to fulfill its pliant, living design. I try to emulate this “biosophy” in clay--without doing realistic imitations of plants.

“My work is very touchable. It satisfies the urge to feel something attractively “natural,” and more seductively, rewards the user by connecting them with a very potent and tightly focused abstraction of the tissues and structures of organic life. This—the psychosomatic connection occurring during the act of using the piece—unleashes the potencies of my expression.”

“During the Blanc de Chine International Artist Residency 2018 and Shangyu Celadon Modern International Residency 2019 I worked with local porcelains creating seed forms and having discussions about the Silk Road, living systems, genetic modification, and environmentalism. The Seed as a container of life, a vessel, was my jumping off point. The World is a Seed was the title of the objects I created there.

“While there I was often interviewed and queried about my childhood, my formative family years, especially my grandmother who designed dresses, my years as a dancer, and then my first jobs as a textile designer. I was not so keen on divulging my biography because I was on a mission to make seed vessels and discuss our present day pending doom.  

“When I returned to the US and a year of lockdown I had time to reflect and explore some of the biographical topics that were teased out of me in China. It opened a new realm of exploration and Twylas were the result.

“Twylas are named after the choreographer Twyla Tharp. As a twenty something dancer in the 1980s I was drawn to her impeccable technique, her odd shapes and off rhythms, Her push-pull and counterpoint movements were akin to painting techniques of the Bauhaus that I loved so much. It was movement, form, sound, texture, patterns and energy. All things I was trying to get into my vessels. Clay is a notoriously stiff and solid material. Getting it to have the life force of a corps de ballet or the speed of spinning in space is a challenge I have been exploring.

“After receiving a Degree in Painting from NYU, I began working in clay in 1991, desiring a three-dimensional canvas. The intersection of painting and clay has fueled more than two decades of exploration in ceramics.

“In 1995, I received an MFA in Ceramics from RISD. I was awarded Massachusetts’ highest honor -- an Artist Fellowship in Crafts in 2009. My work has been shown in numerous exhibits across the country and internationally. This year I was invited by Bai Ming to be an Artist in Residence at The Shangyu Celadon Modern International Center in China. The work created there will be exhibited at The Shangyu Museum of Art. Last year I had the honor of being a Blanc de Chine Resident Artist working with China’s most precious and whitest porcelain in Dehua, China. The artwork created in Dehua went on to Beijing and was exhibited at The “Blanc de Chine” International Ceramic Award Works Exhibition. Other highlights include American Museum of Ceramic Art, Howard Yezerski Gallery, San Angelo Museum of Art, The Archie Bray Foundation, and permanent collections of The Crocker Art Museum, CA, Lawrence Art Center, KS, and The Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences, NY.”