Artist Talk and Discussion with Sophia Chai and Kathy McTavish

Join Rochester-based artist Sophia Chai and Duluth-based Kathy McTavish for a conversation about the role of abstraction in their practices. The event begins at 1 p.m. with a ten-minute talk by each artist. This will be followed by a conversation between the two artists and the audience, moderated by Stephanie Rogers, Executive & Artistic Director of the Anderson Center.

“Sophia and Kathy are thinking deeply about the intersections between media, how different ways of working in a space affect viewer/participant experience, and why they make certain objects. They also have the ability to take sophisticated ideas and make them approachable and intriguing. I’m excited to have them converse with each other about the role of abstract art in today and to share these artist talk in Red Wing,” says Rogers.

Kathy McTavish is a media composer, cellist and installation artist whose work blends data, text, code, sound and abstract, layered moving images. Their recent work has focused on creating generative methods for building networked, multichannel video and sound environments. They create cross-sensory, polyphonic landscapes which flow from the digital web into physical spaces.

Kathy’s background in cello performance, mathematics, ecology, music theory and coding informs their work as a composer and multimedia artist. They are drawn to multi-threaded, dynamical systems and chance-infused, emergent patterns. Kathy is interested in the infinite, fluid, cross-border between.

Sophia Chai is a Korean-American artist based in Rochester, MN. Her work explores geometry, architecture, and photography’s inherent abilities to abstract and compress three-dimensional space in a two-dimensional image. Chai received her M.F.A. in photography from the University of Illinois at Chicago and her B.A. in chemistry from the University of Chicago. Before relocating to Rochester in 2017 from Brooklyn, Chai has shown her work at various venues in New York City, including Trestle Projects, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, The Knockdown Center, A.I.R. Gallery, and TSA Gallery amongst others.

August 13 is also the last day of the exhibition Modes of Being: Contemporary Abstract Art in Minnesota!

Sophia Chai is a fiscal year 2022 recipient of a Creative Support for Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.