Duo, A Rare Device Employee Show
It is with great pleasure that Rare Device presents its annual employee gallery show, Duo.
What’s in a pair? A mirror image? A foil? After opening our sister plant store this year, we’re reflecting on what is revealed in juxtaposition. Whether looking at the same scene from two perspectives, or bringing disparate images into conversation with one another, the works in this show are truly better together.
Show Dates: Friday, April 29 through Sunday, June 19, 2022
About the Artists:
Ariel Berk picked up weaving in the early days of the pandemic as a way to pass the time at home (under close supervision from her two cats who are thrilled about a hobby involving yarn.) While she absolutely hated Geometry class, she has developed a love for weaving geometric patterns, finding that weaving allows her to be simultaneously playful and precise in exploring color, contrast and symmetry. While previously dabbling mostly in coasters and smaller projects, she has enjoyed tackling a larger pair of pieces for this show that are both reflections in and of themselves and of each other.
@insta_earl
Courtney Nguyen is a new-ish San Francisco resident, originally from Orange County, California. She has always held a deep appreciation and love for the arts - from music to graphic design to most recently handmade ceramics! The Rare Device Staff Show is one of her first times fully stepping behind the artist role. Her pieces for the show are duo mosaic pieces that can also fit together and make one piece of art.
@courtneynguyen_
Erin Rice is a collage artist living and working in San Francisco. She deconstructs vintage magazines and guidebooks to isolate beauty and explore new meaning, often working with images of the natural world and representations of femininity from mid-century print media.
@littlebroom
Giselle Gyalzen is the owner of Rare Device. She is raising her family in San Francisco and has lived and worked there since 1996. She considers herself an artist in a non-traditional sense. She has a keen eye for design and function and she is thrilled to be able to share this passion to the world through her stores. She's endlessly inspired by color.
@giselle_raredevice
Jenn Zipp is excited to participate for the 4th time in the RD Staff Show. She’s officially a cat lady now, hence the subjects of her pieces. She and her adopted cat Pacey are two peas in a pod. 10% of sales will be donated to the San Francisco SPCA.
@jennzipp
Jyoti Arvey is a writer, performer, and artist sometimes known as Eileen Kilometers. Based in textual and embodied research, their work takes the form of poetry, photography, fiction, drag, soundscape, and more. Using a mixture of acrylic and collage on wood, Jyoti's pieces for this show address both the dissonance and connection of "you" and "me".
@ajyotijasmine
Lelan Bell is a creative that is currently studying Graphic Design and Advertising. His upbringing in Seattle helped form an appreciation of nature and simplicity, though still entertaining the occasional quirk and bit of flair. With work that focuses on striking a balance between what is organic and what is most functional, he aims to communicate with and create meditative experiences for audiences of all backgrounds. For his first public work, he plans on creating a large-scale poster print that tells the story of an unlikely pair, cementing their bond through new understandings. By using color, pattern, and texture to oppose each other, he hopes that the viewer leaves asking themselves what they are bonded to and what that means to them.
@lelandotcom
Mary Aquiningoc is a multidisciplinary creative who found their way back to San Francisco after studying botany and animal physiology. They see art as the sweetest way to connect with both themself and the world, often creating work inspired by nature. They spend as much time as possible playing music, writing speculative fiction, and creating art and poetry for community projects. They chose to focus on connection as the central theme of their work in this show, drawing in elements of the natural world around them. On a hike in Half Moon Bay, Mary came across a flock of ravens sitting mostly in pairs. A single raven landed next to them, seeming happy to have the company. Looking at each other curiously and watching the ocean together was a playful and unexpectedly special connection. This odd pairing is the inspiration for Mary’s work illustrating small scenes of coastal corvid connection using organic pigments from local plants and watercolor.
Mary Chiles is fairly new to graphic design after deciding a career in HR didn’t leave enough room for creativity and play in her life. Her personal style is informed by a love of vintage and bold colors, and is inspired by nature, folk art from her home state of Alabama, and surprising little details in the world around her. @marywhyyabuggin marychilesdesigns.com
Noa Chupkov is a graphic designer based in San Francisco who is passionate about animals, art, interior design, and vintage fashion. Through her studies and work as a graphic designer, she has developed a love for photography, which she has chosen to showcase in this show. Her piece depicts a pair of horses she came across while traveling last spring.
@makingflipyflopy noachupkov.com
Rachel T Robertson is an artist with an equal passion for fine art as well as craft. She’s inspired by architecture, mid-century modernism, edges of things, nubby textiles, geometric shapes, patterns, tiny details in nature, and handmade objects, both functional and purely aesthetic. Her work for Rare Device can be seen in the store merchandising as well as in the window displays.
The works for this show are new explorations of her abstract collages as 3-dimensional sculptures. They are made with repurposed paper and wood pieces and are made to be viewed/displayed from all angles. They are representative of the quintessential duo: night & day.
@racheltrobertson
Shirley Jiang has been living one block away from Rare Device for the past 10 years, but she is still relatively new to the team and it’s her first time participating in the staff show! Pottery is a new hobby that Shirley has picked up over the course of the pandemic as a creative outlet after zooming in her apartment 8 hours a day. She found that she’s drawn to surface design and playing with glaze combinations. Her pieces reflect the playfulness that colors can bring to everyday functional ceramic pieces.
Tai Rosa Maldonado comes to Rare Device with a background studying wine & working in the restaurant business as a Sommelier with a passion for hospitality. The pandemic led to a pause in working in service and a chance to re-engage with her creativity. To take up her time, she became a member at Artillery in the Mission and it (along with roller skating) became her reprieve throughout the pandemic. Getting into a new groove, playing with color, and using breathwork on the wheels were grounding and healing techniques to handle the pandemic and express her love of everything that revolves around the dinner table.
@dirtcakeceramics
Taylor Reid hails from Reno, Nevada and has been in San Francisco for over a decade. She has been a letterpress printer for over 15 years, will dabble and attempt any craft project (except sewing!), and enjoys both practicing and teaching art and workshops. She's always down to have a conversation about your favorite; pen, notebook, or cocktail. Her work for this show is grounded in color, combining complementary colors. Imagining the complementary colors each as a hand-holding pair of friends.
@taerizz