Working Memory: An Interactive Installation by Chalet Comellas

Letters, photos and films, together with art, are technologies of memory, objects that record and store an experience to be told again. Victorian quilters began constructing memory quilts in the mid-1800s, to honor and record the lives of relatives and friends. Drawing upon this concept, Working Memory is an interactive installation composed of a quilt-like construction of fabric, ephemera, paintings and sound. The viewer has the ability to shift and change the installation, thereby constructing new narratives.

Chalet Comellas is an interdisciplinary artist working in a variety of disciplines, including painting, sculpture, video and new-media installation. Her installation work is multi-sensory in nature and she explores the concepts of perception in relation to memory. Comellas earned a Master of Fine Arts Degree from Florida State University in 2012, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from the University of Tampa in 2001. She is currently an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Art at Florida State University. She has performed and exhibited her work in museums, art fairs and galleries, including In Light Richmond, hosted by 1708 Gallery in Richmond, VA (2014), Grace Exhibition Space in Brooklyn, New York (2013), and Fountain Art Fair in Miami (2012). Comellas has participated in several public art projects in Florida, including an outdoor video installation commissioned by the Tampa Museum of Art during Art Basel Miami (2006).

Working Memory will be on display in the Geoffrey A. Wolpert Gallery through March 11th, with a closing reception on March 11th from 6 to 8pm. There will be an artist talk at 7pm. Gallery hours are Monday – Friday, 9am to 5pm, and Saturday 10am to 4pm.