Art installation exhibit “In Between: The Places We Meet” by Alice Yumi Sinzato and Sara Grace Cofield
In November 2021 artists Alice Yumi Sinzato and Sara Grace Cofield presented this art installation exhibit at the Lincoln Square Mall in Urbana-IL. As an artist duo they go by Project Basement, referring to the place where they produce their artworks. The exhibit consists of a gallery room built right in front of the Art Coop store at Lincoln Square Mall, in which each artist will display their installation pieces. This exhibit is funded by the Urbana Arts Grant Program, and has the support of local art supply store Art Coop.
The exhibit seeks to bring a unique way to experience art to Urbana’s downtown area, also highlighting the work of two women artists.
Alice Yumi is an interdisciplinary Brazilian artist and fashion designer with a MA in Visual Arts. Her most recent works have been in the mediums of painting, collage, and clothing design. In her work, she incorporates her Brazilian sensibilities and her Japanese heritage, intersecting with the experience of living now in the United States.
Sara Grace Cofield is an interdisciplinary artist from Colorado with a BA in Visual and Performing Arts. She works in the mediums of sculpture, installation, photography, and graphic arts. Sara is a recipient of the 2014 grant to fund a permanent sculpture installed in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Most of her work revolves around the perception of memory, how memory can begin to shift over time manifesting into a physical form and the duality of how these memories relate to the body physically and mentally.
Alice and Sara met each other in Urbana while working, first connecting as artists and student spouses. This developed and strengthened by their love of contemporary art and wanting to share this with the community around them. There was a connection they shared – the feeling of being out of place from one’s community, of being women artists, and trying to continue their art practices’ while supporting their spouse’s education. These shared experiences culminated in this contemporary art exhibition to share our art with Urbana.
Alice and Sara’s Project Basement also brought an interactive activity that people in the community could join in: free art kits with an art activity related to the exhibit, for kids and adults alike. These kits were distributed on opening day and at the Art Coop store.
Project Basement’s artist statement for this exhibit:
In Between, The Places We Meet examines the experience of landscapes, internal or external, and the interaction of those in relation to a body. There is a conversation being told about where these environments collide, becoming interwoven and acquainted, the exchange of a moment. A shared story between two bodies meeting at the edges. The something that is in between and the places where they meet.
