Sarah Tortora

NADA x Foreland

August 28 – 29, 2021, 11 am—8 pm

361 Main Street, Catskill, NY

Ulterior Gallery is pleased to present Yolanda, a floor-standing sculpture scaled to the human form by Sarah Tortora. Made with paper pulp, epoxy resin, wood, and found geodes/mineral deposits, Yolanda resembles a large vessel or Greek amphorae, evokes both presence and absence. Tortora, who named the work after her late grandmother, states: “This piece is cyclical; its modeled character suggests that it is a framework or armature of a form coming into being, yet also suggests a ruin or something moving backward in time.”

Tortora finds inspiration in ancient mythologies, cultural artifacts and archeological remains, nature, and in the presence and actions of her body. The fragmented forms and thoughts that she discovers in her research and her experiences are transmuted into objects. In her work, Tortora seems to act as a conduit between what she has recovered from traces of the past and artwork yet to be made in future.

Yolanda is part of a group Tortora calls Witness Mark. This body of work contrasts representations of geological time with museological time. At first sight, Yolanda confronts viewers with its volume as well as its stucco-like surface texture. The half-open grid frame resembles a birdcage, inviting the viewer to look in, but also preventing the entry—creating a barrier between inside and out. Within, the vessel is painted with subtly shifting colors, evoking the shifting colors of clouds in sunlight after rain. With diverse visual signifiers, Tortora’s Yolanda crystalizes and simultaneously embodies both past and future in the present.

Sarah Tortora is a sculptor based in Brooklyn, NY. Tortora graduated with a MFA from the University of Pennsylvania in 2013 and participated in the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine in the same year. Tortora exhibits actively and has been awarded numerous residencies and grants, including: MacDowell Artist in Residence, Peterborough, NH (2014); Yaddo Artist in Residence, Saratoga Springs, NY (2014); Alice C. Cole 1942 Fellowship, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA (2015-16); and Athena Standards Residency, Athens, Greece (2019).

About Foreland: Foreland is an 85,000 square-foot contemporary arts campus located in Catskill, NY. In its earliest iteration in the mid-1800s, the three brick buildings of the Foreland Campus were used to manufacture uniforms for Union soldiers during the Civil War. Since then, it has housed makers and manufacturers of all kinds. It sat dormant for years, until artist Stef Halmos purchased the buildings in 2017 and began painstakingly renovating and retrofitting them.

Foreland will house 30 artists’ studios, three commercial art galleries, two special project and event spaces, and two food and beverage purveyors. The three buildings of the Foreland campus are triangularly situated, with a 150-foot waterfront and floating glass pedestrian bridge as a connection point between the heart of the Catskill Main Street and the waterfront. By providing sustainably-sized and priced exhibition and workspaces for artists in the unique setting, Foreland intends to be an arts destination and haven for artists and visitors making their way to the Hudson Valley.

NADA x Foreland Website: Introduction / Installation Image/ Visit / Participants