Unusual Usuals

This neighborly collection arouses the artists’ process via multiple disciplines and posits a dialectical riff: If “what art isn’t” leaves a trace of a scent in the air then “what art is” negates the prosaic linger with a perfume of the unusual usual.

To open a fifth season, Cabin Contemporary is happy to present its first all-locals group project, Unusual Usuals.* This neighborly collection of cabin cohabitants arouses the artists’ process via new media, painting, ceramics and sculpture to seduce the spectator with a common call to understanding…all is art or nothing at all! Bill Whalen's ceramics explore the textures, forms, and structural language found in the remnants of the anthracite coal industry and deliciously deconstruct to construct material language. Laurie Papa Minnick’s multiform sculptures skew notions of subjective tangible reality toward the conceptual to reveal life’s contradictions. Shaun McNally’s madhatter approach to video, sound and painting conjure the psychedelic in daily life from a materialist corner. Art may simply be a thing of informed matter. And art may be as complicated as a post-structural joke made from a beer-soaked stage. And on and on…who can say for how long. For certain, if “what art isn’t” leaves a trace of a scent in the air then “what art is” negates the prosaic linger with a perfume of the unusual usual. *The artists in Unusual Usuals currently live and work within 25 miles of Cabin Contemporary and their works have never been shown together. Bill Whalen (born. 1968) is a visual artist, musician and educator. He holds an M.A in Art Education from Kutztown University. Whalen is a lifelong resident of Schuylkill County, PA. His musical and visual art practice are informed by lived experience amidst the landscape, environment and history of the anthracite coal region. Whalen describes his most recent series of ceramic vessels as “constructed deconstructions” that explore the textures, forms, and structural language found in the remnants of the anthracite coal industry. Bill is the founder of local record label for original music, Blind Pigeon Records and the principal songwriter and frontman for his long-time band, Gleasons Drift. He has been teaching art/ceramics for 29 years, mostly on the high school level. He lives and works in Deer Lake, PA. Laurie Papa Minnick (b. 1978, Manhasset, NY) received both a BFA and MFA in Sculpture from Arizona State University. She was the recipient of the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, School of Art Special Talent Award and Teaching Assistant Grant (2009–2012), the Edward Moulthrop Fellowship in Craft (2009), and the Outstanding Senior, Excellence in Sculpture Award (2002). Minnick’s art includes installation and object-making across a variety of mediums. Laurie sees the act of making as a dialogue between the tangible and the conceptual where the physicality of materials like concrete and fabric become a metaphor for life’s contradictions. In addition to her studio practice, Minnick collaborates with her husband Casey under the banner YOKE Wood & Metal, producing custom furniture. She currently works as Gallery Manager and Education Coordinator at the Walk-In Art Center in Schuylkill Haven, PA. She lives in Deer Lake with her husband, Casey and their two sons. Shaun McNally (born. 1970) is a multidisciplinary artist and musician. After early guidance by his father, McNally continued his education at Kutztown University studying painting, sculpture and printmaking. He considers himself a student of art history that stretches back to Hans Hoffman, George McNeil and James McNally. Shaun was the vocalist/frontman for celebrated local underground band, Crop Circle. In the last decade, McNally’s practice has shifted to video, digital painting, tile making and sound projects. He lives and works in Mt. Carmel, PA.

What to expect:
Sculpture, Painting, Film / Video, Audio / Sound, Digital, Multi-disciplinary