Ascend

Featuring works by Heather Baumbach, Deborah Read, and Elizabeth Rennie.

Gallery RAG | Gloucester, MA | July 2024

Poster for ASCEND, a group exhibition featuring Heather Baumbach, Deb Read, and Liz Rennie. The background shows layered, textured fabric sculptures in shades of red, black, white, and beige. A central white square displays an abstract black-and-white artwork. Event details list the opening on July 11th from 5–8 PM at Gallery RAG, 37 Rocky Neck Avenue, as part of Culture Splash Gloucester.

ASCEND is the third installation of a traveling exhibition series I co-conceived with my Lesley MFA peer, Heather Baumbach. Together with Tracy Hayes, we initiated this project to create an evolving dialogue between our works, with each new iteration inviting guest artists to join and expand the conversation. Through this series, we seek to elevate interwoven explorations of perception and reality, and to revisit our shared thematic interests in the everyday, otherness, and exposure.

For this installation, fellow artist Deborah Read participated in the dialogue, contributing her perspective on the power of the erotic and the experience of living in an embodied form.

Gallery RAG

galleryrag.com
@galleryraggloucester

Installation mixed media artwork titled ‘Delusion 7.10.836’ by Elizabeth Rennie. The piece features a dynamic assemblage of materials, including draped beige and dyed fabrics, with vibrant splashes of pink and blue. Layers of sheer pink tulle cascade toward the floor, creating a soft, dreamlike quality. A checkerboard pattern of black, white, and red tiles anchors the composition. Abstract painted elements, such as gestural black marks and vibrant pastel gradients, are displayed on a central panel. To the side, textured, crumpled paper and expressive black ink shapes adorn a mounted canvas. The installation is framed by painted pink panels on the wall, giving the piece a vibrant, immersive atmosphere.

Delusion 7.10.836

Elizabeth Rennie
Mixed media installation
8’x7’x4′
2024

Delusion 7.10.836 examines the tension between idealized expectations and lived reality. Constructed from layered fabrics, gestural marks, and fragmented structures, the piece honors the imperfect and evolving moments we inhabit—moments that may feel chaotic, unresolved, or “not enough.”

Rather than seeking to correct or conceal perceived flaws, this work invites viewers to witness how beauty and meaning emerge through acceptance. It suggests a practice of learning to love what is incomplete or broken, allowing the raw materials of experience to become integral parts of the self. Through vibrant colors, tangled forms, and shifting textures, Delusion 7.10.836 embraces the act of building, unbuilding, and rebuilding—without apology.

  • Elizabeth Rennie standing in front of her mixed media installation Delusion 7.10.836, featuring layered fabrics, vibrant pinks, and abstract forms at Gallery RAG.