About Grace Modla
Grace Modla chooses hope and resilience rather than cynicism and surrender when viewing the challenges haunting our world. To her, creating works saturated with rich color and populated with uplifting subjects is an ultimate act of hope. Her works are meant to counter balance against the hardships and ugly realities that occur within the viewer’s life, giving them a gentle reprieve and touch of vibrance. In her studio, nothing is tossed or lost; everything ends up being reused and repurposed. In her series “Wild Garden,” she dips sticks from her garden in ink and then uses them as stamps, then uses her father’s masonry trowels to apply paint, paying homage to the sprawling beauty of nature. Born in Northern Italy, her experiences as a young immigrant taught her how art bridges all language barriers. She has been exhibited in juried exhibitions, museums, theaters, fine arts festivals, and private collections throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe.
New Brunswick Art Salon 2021 – Oil and Mixed Media: “Bonds Beyond Time”
Artist Personal Website: https://www.gracemodla.com
Email: grace.modla@gmail.com
Artist Statement
As an artist, my work is informed by the challenges that haunt our world. It would be so easy to become cynical. But instead, I choose hope and the determination to be resilient and optimistic as radical, defiant acts. To me, creating works filled with saturated color and uplifting subjects and releasing them into the world is an act of supreme hopefulness. I wish for my work to lift the viewer out of the quotidian, a counter-balance to the hardships and ugly realities; to give a touch of vibrant life and spiritual communion, if even for a moment. Sometimes a moment is all we need.
In my studio, nothing is lost, nothing is tossed. I reuse and repurpose. “Mixed media” allows me freedom to choose from every medium: acrylics, inks, oil pastels, vintage fabric, dried flora, old paintings, and to think beyond the brush with my tools. In the “Wild Garden” series I make my marks with sticks of different sizes from my garden, dipped in inks. I use my father’s masonry trowels to apply paint. I honor what has come before me
Exhibitions
i19Gallery, as Visiting Curator for Orange Reclaimed, an online juried gallery show of works featuring the color orange as it relates to hopefulness. April 8 – May 8, 2021.
i19Gallery, 20/20 Abstraction, an online exhibit showcasing recent abstract works that reflect on the current state of the world. Oct. 1 – Nov. 30, 2020.
Huntington Art Museum & Botanical Gardens, ArtMatters 2020, San Marino, CA. (postponed Feb. 2020 due to Covid-19).
National Association of Women Artists, Inc., COLD II, New York, NY, December 2019.
National Association of Women Artists, Inc, Small Works: Winter Show, New York, NY, January 2019.
30th Anniversary Cathedral Arts Festival, Jersey City, NJ, juried. May 2019.
Chashama Space, Matawan, NJ, Eating Our Fathers, select group invitational show, May/June, 2019.
The Guild of Creative Art, Eyesights, Annual Juried Photography Show, Shrewsbury, NJ, 2019.
ReStart Dolomiti Internazionale, Sedico, Italy, invitational exhibition, January, 2019.
Middletown Library Visiting Artist series, Wing & A Prayer, solo show. December, 2018.
Linus Galleries, CA. Fragmented: International Abstract Art, juried show (online), January 2019.
Atlantic Highlands Arts Council Gallery, Hot Summer, Atlantic Highlands, NJ, August-September 2018.
Rochester Contemporary Art Center, 6×6 The International Small Art Phenomenon, Rochester, NY.
The Center for Contemporary Art, Members Annual Juried Show, Bedminster, NJ, June-September, 2018.
The Monmouth Museum, Lincroft, NJ “Does it Match the Couch: An Exploration of Color” Summer 2018 (juried).
CVA Gallery, Lincroft, NJ, March 2018 (juried).
The Monmouth Museum, Lincroft, NJ Watercolor Exhibition (juried).
The Center for Contemporary Art, Bedminster, NJ.
Linus Galleries, Los Angeles, CA Nude But Not Rude (juried).
A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn, NY.
Raven Gallery, Hoboken, NJ.
Heaven Art Gallery, Asbury Park, NJ (juried).
The Art Alliance of Monmouth County, Red Bank, NJ (juried). 2012-2019.
The Art Society of Monmouth County, NJ (juried).
Main Avenue Galleria, Ocean Grove, NJ.
The Jon Bon Jovi Foundation’s Women in Art invitational, NJ, 2017.