Artist Talk with Charlotte Richardson-Deppe

Wednesday, October 11 | 12 PM | Sarah Silberman Art Gallery – Montgomery College Rockville Campus

Join VisArts’ 2023 Bresler Resident and Montgomery College Collaborative Artist-in-Residence Charlotte Richardson-Deppe for a talk to open her solo exhibition, Mending Rifts: Soft Sculpture as Social Practice, which will be on view in the Sarah Silberman Art Gallery on Montgomery College’s Rockville Campus.

According to Richardson-Depp, mending makes us care more about what we hold dear. As Collaborative Artist-in-Residence at Montgomery College, she’s been exploring themes of social and environmental justice via sewing and mending practices.

Richardson-Depp has been guiding art students in the creation of an interactive soft sculpture installation and multiple-person garments that will result in a performance or happening. She’s also been hosting mending workshops in which students bring a worn clothing item to repair in a way that’s both functional and artistic, contributing to a library of creatively mended garments. As they work with found textiles, including their own discarded clothing, students have been examining themes of care, sustainability, and consumerism.

Note: The artist talk will be held at the Sarah Silberman Art Gallery on Montgomery College’s Rockville Campus. For information about this location, visit: https://www.montgomerycollege.edu/academics/departments/art-rockville/silberman-gallery.html

About the Artist: Charlotte Richardson-Deppe

Charlotte Richardson-Deppe is a queer feminist artist working between performance and soft sculpture. She received her MFA in studio art from the University of Maryland, College Park, where she teaches as a lecturer in the Department of Art. She’s currently a 2023 Bresler Resident Artist at VisArts and the Montgomery College Artist-in-Residence.

Deppe grew up in St. Paul, MN, where she performed in musical theater and opera and trained in aerial arts at Circus Juventas. Her artistic focus expanded towards studio art while studying at Grinnell College, where she became enamored with sculpture and installation while continuing to train in dance, theater, and vocal music. At the University of Maryland, she turned toward soft sculpture and performance, collaborating with peers across the disciplines of dance, music, photography, and film.

Some of Richardson-Deppe’s artistic highlights include performing with the Riverbed Theater Company at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Taipei, Taiwan; teaching weaving and fiber arts at Weaving Hand Studio in Brooklyn, NY; serving as program Assistant Director at Urban Arts Academy in Minneapolis, MN; and receiving the Jim Henson Award for Puppetry at the University of Maryland, College Park, MD.