Reimagining the Discarded

ONE WEEKEND POP-UP SHOW WITH GISELA WIELKI AND MADELON HOLDER

It’s all in the eye. It’s all in the seeing.

“I have a crazy, crazy love for things” (Pablo Neruda), especially the discarded things one finds littering the streets, in gutters, in dumpsters, in drawers, but also in nature, by the ocean, riverbanks, truncated things, torn out of their story, washed ashore, cast aside by people, by time, by life.

This happens also with parts of every human biography, the regrettable, failed, undervalued parts, tossed aside intentionally or carelessly.

What calls are the partial things, the discarded ones that beckon to be reintegrated into a new story in whimsical, witty, quirky, humorous, silly, playful ways, but also thoughtful and always with attention, appreciation and respect for the intelligence, the spirit that once created the whole.

Gisela Wielki
After completing her studies at the Christian Community seminary in Stuttgart in 1970, she worked for two years in Germany before was sent to serve the New York City congregation. Earlier and during her studies at the seminary, she spent already a total of two years in the USA. Now retired looks back with gratitude how life unfolded setting the stage from transitioning into the New World with some very unexpected twists.

Madelon Holder
After retiring from working with her hands as an occupational therapy assistant in 2012, her hands were freed to do their own thing. She took a liking to scraps of cloth allowing her to stich them together as her imagination guided her hands. This found expression in wall hangings, quilts, in playful ways with paper mache, tile work, and other materials never tried before. It has made retirement an enjoyable, creative journey.