La Niña (detail), Yarn, various threads, handstitched on felt
Exhibitions
The Reception for Empire will take place on Friday, March 07 from 6:00-7:30pm.
Laura Mongiovi’s exhibition Empire explores contemporary and historical structures of power and beauty. Utilizing textiles, drawing, and sculpture, Mongiovi creates topographical, map-like imagery to expose these structures and their hidden ideologies. The textiles, hand-stitched with silk and metallic and cotton-blended threads, are enriched with vibrant colors. Her drawings combine intricate marks with layered materials such as pastel, ink, and flocking, while her sculptures incorporate text. Mongiovi’s decadent works invite the viewer to investigate these materials and processes. Her structural topographies reveal evidence of the work’s making, allowing each viewer to reflect on the notion of origins and their subjection to structures of power and control.
By exploring ideas about origins, Mongiovi encourages us to engage with the roots of who we are, where we come from, and how our individual pasts inform our present. This investigation allows us to uncover truths about our collective and individual narratives, offering context in an ever-changing world. Mongiovi hopes that recognizing and reflecting on our origins can lead to greater self-awareness, empathy, and a deeper understanding of the forces that shape our realities.
Select artworks featured in the exhibition are responses to the writings of author Kim Bradley and poets Ben Atkinson and Jeanette Vigliotti, all of whom teach at Flagler College.
Kim Bradley, Ben Atkinson and Jeanette Vigliotti will give readings of their work during the opening reception, between 6:30 – 7:00.
About the Artist
Laura Mongiovi is a Professor of Visual Art at Flagler College located here in St. Augustine. She has an MFA from CU Boulder and a BFA from Florida State University. Mongiovi teaches across the curriculum, presents pedagogical approaches at national conferences and exhibits her work nationally. She initiated and co-organized the Deeper Than Indigo: Southeast Textile Symposium and is a recipient of two artist grants from The Community Foundation of Northeast Florida. Mongiovi’s work has been featured in Surface Design Journal and New American Paintings, and she was invited to attend the Arrowmont Pentaculum residency. Mongiovi initiated and leads a digital documentation project for historic textiles in St. Augustine, providing a public resource for this form of material culture.
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About Lightner Local
Created to showcase the extraordinary talents of artists who live in the Northeast and Central Florida regions, Lightner Local is supported by the Benjamin and Jean Troemel Arts Foundation.
