Tracing Threads: Embracing the Present, Weaving the Future

Annual REACH Core Artist Exhibition

November 10-December 3, 2023


Curated by RedLine Resident Artists Scottie Burgess and Autumn T. Thomas.

Tracing Threads: Embracing the Present, Weaving the Future celebrates the works of RedLine’s 2023 REACH Core Artists.

This annual exhibition shares the power of art through local community-based individuals who have cultivated and nurtured a creative foundation with the intent of positive social change. 

With resilience and determination playing a role in the creation of these works, this exhibition reflects on personal histories and experiences. It embraces the essence of the present, while visions of a hopeful future become a reality. Thoughtful introspections of the past, present, and future reveal threads connecting us to the beauty and gift of now.

Approached from an array of mediums, from collage to sculpture, these artists have challenged their creative practices by stepping out of their comfort zones, exploring new materials and processes, ultimately better understanding and communicating their valuable perspectives. This REACH Core Artist exhibition reveals a focused intention on deeply understanding the human condition through the beauty of creating, collaborating, and expressing through art.

Work by Mateo Christian

Transcending the sum of their parts, these artists’ stories and thoughtful insights form a broader pattern; a collective journey of understanding our present.
— Scottie Burgess, Co-Curator

Exhibiting REACH Core Artists

After 6 months of participation in RedLine’s REACH program, artists interested in pursuing a career in the arts are encouraged to apply to by a REACH Core Artist. The Core Artist program is a 3 year commitment. Each year provides professional development workshops, skill building, mentorship, portfolio development support, and earned income opportunities.

Meet the 2023 REACH Core Artists below!


About the Curators

2022-2024 RedLine Resident Artist Autumn T. Thomas (b. 1978) is an interdisciplinary, self-trained wood sculpture artist.

Her work challenges the boundaries of visual literacy: hundreds of cuts placed into the wood transforms it into soft, twisting forms, mimicking the endurance required to thrive amidst the oppression and marginalization of women of color; each cut represents a time in which Thomas felt cut down by society.

Minimal in design, Thomas' work personifies analogous, brown bodies as whispering forms of subversion, affecting prejudice by way of perception and visual literacy.

 

2022-2024 RedLine Resident Artist Scottie Burgess is a native to Colorado. He received dual BFA’s with emphases in Digital Design and Sculpture/Transmedia at the University of Colorado Denver, graduating with honors.

While exploring audio engineering with the Denver Theater Company at the DCPA, he pivoted from sound towards more visual technological expressions, leading to a predominantly installation-based and sculptural creative practice ranging from the digital to the physical.

His work has been exhibited nationally including in the Biennial 600: Textile/Fiber at the AMoA, Amarillo Museum of Art, has been honored to be part of the meaningful pro-feminist exhibition Pink Progression and has been featured in publications including The Guardian and Colossal.


About RedLine’s REACH Program

REACH is a program where people in recovery or who are experiencing housing insecurity can engage in a free, collaborative, and inclusive open art studio program.


Thank You for the Support!

RedLine would like to thank Bank of America, Susan & Bradford Lewis, Sidney E. Frank Foundation - Colorado Fund, and Virginia Hill Foundation for their support of these exhibitions and our REACH Program. Additionally, we would like to thank our leading Annual Fund supporters the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation, David & Laura Merage Foundation, and the SCFD.