Amanda Rowan •Acequia Madre House
Place Setting
Exhibition by Amanda Rowan
Place Setting By Amanda Rowan
PLACE SETTING is a multimedia project featuring Dye Sub Aluminum prints produced at Blazing Editions, that asks us to investigate our relationship to objects and domesticity. Created during the COVID-19 lockdown of 2021 and her fellowship at the Women's International Study Center, American artist Amanda Rowan immersed herself in this domestic space, paralleling the shared worldwide experience of sheltering in place.
Rowan explored the home and the lives of the women who originally inhabited it – Eva Scott Fényes, Leonora S.M. Curtin, and Leonora F.C. Paloheimo. Cooking from heirloom recipe books, she created elaborate arrangements with intimate objects while donning their vintage garments. The resulting images and films reach back through time to collaborate with the extensive archive of personal artifacts left by the three generations of women.
In addition to incorporating the objects of the Acequia Madre House, the body of work draws on the opulent religious idolatry of the Virgin of Guadalupe found throughout the landscape of New Mexico. Rowan created moments in campy and retro ways, highlighting the conflicting expectations of women to protect their virtue as a commodity while promoting their sexuality and fertility.
The photography, sculptures, and films span the range of formal portraits to elaborate dinner parties and contemporary depictions of feminine idolatry. The work investigates the duality of this particular space. In one sense, a reaction to privilege and aristocracy and, at the same time, a celebration of autonomy, art, and spirituality in the American Southwest. This installation takes the viewer through a surrealist narrative to ponder notions of home as a "place," our tables as a "setting," and domestic labor as an altar offering. These new works are conceived, created, and presented in the very setting where these women lived their lives a century ago.
Artwork
Exhibition
About Amanda Rowan
“Amanda Rowan's provocative still life and self-portrait images depict playful and sensual moments, eliciting humor through an exploration of the power and vulnerability of womanhood. Rowan is both curator and subject in each richly styled vignette depicting moments of mysticism and seduction. Her work explores domestic labor and gender using a mix of visual iconography, including food advertising, vintage pinup, and religious deities.
Rowan has received numerous accolades for her art, including "The Curator Award 2019", by Photo District News (P.D.N.), "Photographer of the Year 2018" by the International Chromatic Photography Publication, and the Tokyo International Award for Photography in 2019. Her work has been exhibited internationally at the Carrie Able Gallery, Photo LA, Art Basel, The Wall Street Gallery, The Leica Gallery in Los Angeles. Her images hang in the permanent collection at The Palms Hotel in Las Vegas with Damien Hirst, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, and Takashi Murakami.
Originally from the Bay area, daughter of Bluegrass Legend Peter Rowan, she began shooting rock concerts during high school. Her distinctive visual style has translated into advertising campaigns for clients, including Disney, NBC, and HBO. Her editorial portraits include global artists, performers, and pop celebrities alike.
Rowan graduated Cum Laude from Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. She resided in New York City for several years appearing as an actress in film and TV such as "Law and Order", the "Chappelle Show" with Dave Chappelle, and National Lampoon's "Pledge This!" co-staring with Paris Hilton. She performed several roles on Broadway including Curles's wife in "Of Mice and Men." Her creative practice combines an investigation of her experience as an actress and her Visual Prowess as a commercial photographer. Her work investigates ideas of the female body in the media and its intersection with contemporary visual content creation. Rowan now lives in Los Angeles, working within the genres of photography and performance art. Rowan is currently a Full-Time Faculty at the Photo Arts Conservatory at the New York Film Academy Los Angeles in both the MFA and BFA programs.“
About The Women’s International Study Center
“The Women’s International Study Center held its founding ceremony on June 23, 2013, to inspire and enable women to achieve their goals.
Inspired by the Three Wise Women of the Acequia Madre House and their work in the arts, sciences, cultural preservation, and business, The Women’s International Study Center was founded to carry the women's legacy into the future. The WISC Fellows-in-Residence program provides scholars, artists, authors, and others with “a room of their own”— a residency in a fully furnished house on the Acequia Madre House grounds—to advance their work and engage with our community.
The Women’s International Study Center is fortunate to be located on the grounds of the historic Acequia Madre House, a registered historic building that blends past and present by exhibiting contemporary art and providing a historic setting for exhibitions, lectures, and WISC gatherings.
One of the most historic structures in Santa Fe, The Acequia Madre House was brought into existence by three remarkable women in 1926 —mother, daughter, and granddaughter: Eva Fényes, Leonora Scott Muse Curtin, and Leonora Frances Curtin Paloheimo— who made significant contributions intellectually, culturally, and financially in Santa Fe and beyond.
The property includes a caretaker cottage, gardens, and grounds, along with two separate houses which serve as live/work spaces for Fellows accepted into the Women’s International Study Center Fellowship-In-Residence program. WISC Fellows are granted unprecedented access to the extensive Fényes-Curtin-Paloheimo Archives and Collections during their residency.