In no. 5: In Memoriam: Carol Chase Bjerke

In no. 5: In Memoriam: Carol Chase Bjerke
Before her death in 2022, Carol Chase Bjerke organized and catalogued her life’s work, an immense task which included the artwork occupying the walls and storage spaces in her home and studio, as well as the numerous works in public and private collections across North America and abroad. This retrospective, co-curated by Chase Bjerke through written instructions she drafted prior to her death, will include the four large binders that catalogue her many bodies of work for viewers to experience firsthand. Examination of these books reveals common threads running through artworks that at first glance seem less connected than one might expect in the output of a single artist. Chase Bjerke created an array of artwork including artist books and large scale installations and felt there was a strong correlation between these two mediums, saying of the subject “both allow for the expansion of ideas beyond a single image, and both incorporate space and time for immersing oneself with the art”. All of Chase Bjerke’s work included repeated patterns and motifs, and examples from these bodies of work will also be included to view in the gallery. This exhibition of the work of Carol Chase Bjerke will be the fourth solo feature of her work at Abel Contemporary Gallery.