Our given distance by Erin Cunningham & Tammie Rubin

Our given distance

In this exhibition, sculptors Cunningham and Rubin converse through objectness to find connections to women’s labor by delving into each of their familial lineage. Labor roles such as housekeeper, seamstress, cook, caretaker, and homemaker are common threads referenced in Our given distance. Cast iron, textiles, found objects, collaged fans, porcelain, wax, and graphite sculptures hold space for the unseen domestic labor of women. Both artists have matriarchal southern roots and shared generational labor.

Cunningham has roots from Ireland to Alabama to Hawai’i.  Her work emphasizes dualities of masculine and feminine, disposable, and precious, fragility and strength.  She combines housewares with textiles that represent the domestic space, finding a preciousness in everyday tools and bringing a sense of refinement to these often mundane, utilitarian objects.

Rubin’s sculptural practice considers the intrinsic power of objects and how they resonate with the past, the present, and the future, becoming multifunctional signifiers of shifting meanings. The artist sources family photos, archival images, maps, and historical milestones to counter the deletion of Black Women from American narratives. The artworks conjure interwoven stories of survival, striving, spiritual escape, and physical relocation. Through materiality, Rubin creates celebratory memorials honoring Black women’s labor.

From varied backgrounds, Cunningham and Rubin contemplate the value and contributions of women’s labor in the workforce and the domestic space.

Erin Cunningham (b. 1979 Honolulu, HI) is a visual artist living and working in Austin, Texas. She received her BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2003 and an MFA in studio art from The University of Texas at Austin in 2007. Cunningham’s sculptural work combines industrious materials with isolated details of a female figure and delicate textiles. There sculptural objects and installations instigate a cognitive moment in which the human form is viewed in a manner not fitting to the inherent gaze.

Cunningham’s work has been shown internationally at The Metropolitan Art Museum in Tokyo and Mönchskirche Salzwedel, in Salzwedel, Germany. Artist residencies include BAER Art Center in Hofsos, Iceland, and Atelierhaus Residency Hilmsen in Hilmsen, Germany. Cunningham is one of the founding members of the ICOSA Collective, an artist-run exhibition space in Austin, TX. She currently holds a position as an Assistant Professor of Practice in the Department of Art and Art History at The University of Texas at Austin.

Tammie Rubin is an interdisciplinary ceramicist born and raised in Chicago, IL. Rubin’s sculptural practice considers the intrinsic power of objects as signifiers, wishful contraptions, and artifacts of Black American citizenry. Rubin delves into intricate motifs of Black American migration, magical thinking, longing, and autonomy.

Rubin has exhibited widely, selections include Project Row Houses, Houston, TX., the Hessel Museum of Art at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY., George Washington Carver Museum, Austin, TX., Mulvane Art Museum, KS., Indianapolis Art Center, Indianapolis, IN., The Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, TX., Women & Their Work Gallery, Austin, TX., & Rivalry Projects, Buffalo, NY. She’s represented by Galleri Urbane, Dallas, TX., and C24 Gallery, New York, NY.

Rubin’s artwork has received reviews in publications such as Artforum, The Brooklyn Rail, Art in America, Glasstire, Austin American-Statesman, Austin Chronicle, Sightlines, fields, Conflict of Interest, Arts and Culture Texas, and Ceramics: Art & Perception. In 2022 Rubin received the Tito’s Prize, an Austin-based unrestricted award and exhibition. She is a 2024 USA Artist Fellow, in a class of 50 awardees encompassing both artists and collectives from ten creative disciplines. Rubin is an Associate Professor of Ceramics & Sculpture at St. Edward’s University in Austin, TX.