An exhibition of sculpture, drawings, and installations by Claudia DeMonte, work informed through her travels and observation of sentiments, challenges, issues, and dreams of women universally, will open at the June Kelly Gallery on October 20.  The exhibition will remain on view through January 10, 2023.

The exhibition, entitled Sogni, Italian for dreams, reflects DeMonte’s grasp of memories played out as dreams of imaginary events experienced in the mind while asleep.

Perchance to dream …, says DeMonte, my art has evolved to dreams which accompanied by memories are the only “things” for which we truly hold authentic and singular ownership.  This sense of proprietorship has fueled my work at this critical juncture in today’s world and at this crossroad in my life.  The work portrays my identity, my sentiments of otherness, empathy, inclusion, and gratitude which speak to all audiences.  And the audiences that comprised my childhood in Queens, NY– the most ethnically diverse borough in the United States.  I took all the dreams of those “dreamers” in my lifetime along with me.

My dreams are the informers of my art.  The interpretations of dreams and how determined we must be to fulfill them led me to where I stand today.  I used dreams, memories, and the issues facing us all in high art materials such as bronze as well as craft – women embroiderers in Morocco - to create a mix that conveys the soul of everyone’s dreams that have a global voice and resonance.

DeMonte’s portrayals of women through earlier exhibitions reflect evolution of the gender. Fully aware of the multiple roles that are mirrored worldwide based on being female and the expectations thereof, DeMonte employs an array of media, bronze sculpture, charcoal on paper drawings of fragmented forms perhaps metaphorically, as the act of dreaming.

Determination and grit are key roles of DeMonte’s sculptures…from earlier homemaker with pewter everyday items, traveler with luggage tags from around the world, consumer with archetypical high-end Birkin handbag, all encrusted with pewter pictographic configurations, to her last exhibit with navigator, depicted as a mature woman in sturdy shoes balancing proficiently as she sails on a skateboard, and now, Leap of Faith, 2022 with woman atop staircase positioned to dive into space.  Perhaps, to dive into her dreams for as DeMonte’s installation of Tote Bags with embroidered wording, “You Can’t Take it With You.”

My works here reflect today’s world and how women globally are navigating.  Much can be downsized, says DeMonte, but never one’s dreams nor their origin.

DeMonte lives and works in New York City and Miami Beach, FL.  She received a bachelor's degree from College of Notre Dame of Maryland in Baltimore and an MFA from Catholic University of America, Washington, DC.  DeMonte's work has been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally.  The many public and private collections in which she is represented include the Brooklyn Museum, New York; Bass Museum, Miami, FL; Flint Institute of Art, MI; Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH; Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS; Lowe Museum, Miami Beach, FL; New Orleans Museum of Art, LA; Indianapolis Museum of Art; University of Maryland, College Park; Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA; Portland Museum of Art, ME; Contemporary Art Museum, Villa Rufolo, Ravello, Italy; Warsaw Museum of Modern Art, Poland; and University of Oldenburg, Germany.