Shaping Perspectives
2-Person Exhibition | Kimberlee Rocca & Nichole Gronvold Roller
Main floor gallery
Main floor gallery
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Exhibit Info
July 7, 2025 - September 6, 2025
2-Person Exhibition
2-Person Exhibition
Shaping PerspectivesShaping Perspectives brings together two artists who challenge and expand the boundaries of painting, asking us to reconsider its definition and invites us into a conversation where painting becomes not just a surface, but an evolving spatial experience as sculpture.
At first glance, we are keen to discover geometric similarities and the aspect of breaking with a traditional format (square, rectangle…) between the two artists. However, further inspection reveals how each artist approaches their work with distinctly different methods to their materials and processes. Nichole Gronvold Roller employs traditional painting media and approach but alters its form with precision and refinement, producing highly polished compositions that retain a direct dialogue with painting’s history. In contrast, Kimberlee Rocca assembles a wide range of untraditional, often scrap materials, incorporating a foil transfer process along with paint and proprietary coloring in found objects. What unites both practices is their shared interest in bending our expectations. The works challenge the viewer to see design and structure as essential components of painting’s ongoing evolution. Spatial engagement becomes central to each artist’s practice, though approached in distinct ways. Gronvold Roller utilizes an almost Op Art aesthetic, creating illusions of depth that prompt the viewer to spend time within each singular, self-contained visual space. Rocca, on the other hand, allows the work to expand into the physical environment, activating space much like how jewelry adorns the body. The work finds its place within an architectural context, asking the viewer to consider the environment and its physical presence within it. As we engage with these works, we are reminded that their full context exists only in real space. The images alone—flattened through the screen—cannot replicate the full experience. These works demand a physical viewer; our movement, perception, and time spent with them become part of the composition itself. The viewer is not separate but is integrated into the fabric of the work’s meaning, as our minds shift and adapt to the artists' constructed environment in which these paintings live. -Lauren Tucci, Gallery Director |
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Kimberlee Rocca
Biography Born in New Jersey and raised in Iowa, Kimberlee Rocca studied Design, Printmaking, and Fiber Arts at The University of Iowa before earning her BFA in Metal Smithing in 1991. During her studies, Rocca was introduced to Foil Imaging, a unique process which combines traditional printmaking techniques with commercial foil printing processes. She has spent over 30 years exploring this "seductive" medium. Her two-dimensional works and sculptural installations are included in collections of The University of Iowa Museum and Hospital Permanent art collections, The University of Missouri St. Louis, Kirkwood Community College, among others. In addition to her studio work she is locally recognized for her custom home designs in the Iowa City area with unique architectural features, sculptural elements and mosaic installations. Married with 4 beautiful children she currently resides in Solon, Iowa USA. MORE INFORMATION |
Nichole Gronvold Roller
Biography Nichole Gronvold-Roller is a painter who received a BFA in Art Education from Minnesota State University of Moorhead, an MA in Art Education from Boston University, and an MFA in Painting from Bradley University. In addition to being an artist, Nichole is a full-time high school art teacher in Tremont, IL, where she has been teaching for the past twenty-five years. Furthermore, she is a contributor writer for the Inland Art column with Community Word. Nichole lives in Illinois with her husband and three children. A selection of publications featuring Gronvold-Roller’s paintings includes; Dubuque Museum of Art (Dubuque, IA), Artforum (New York, NY), Wall Street International (Budya, Montenegro), Peoria Journal Star, (Peoria, IL), GRAFIX® (Maple Heights, OH), Inside Publications (Sacramento, CA), and Kolaj Magazine. MORE INFORMATION |
Exhibit Images
Video/Catalogue
Interview...coming soon
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Exhibition Catalogue
Shaping Perspectives
Paperback $36 |
