Be, Held: Contemporary Analog Art by Johanna Aenderl, Jenny Zoey Casey and Rachel Singel

The New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art is pleased to present Be, Held: Contemporary Analog Art by Johanna Aenderl, Jenny Zoey Casey and Rachel Singel. On view September 12 - October 31, 2026, this show features handmade artworks spanning fiber art, mixed media sculpture and works on paper shaped by artists with links to Minnesota, Illinois and Kentucky. Emphasizing the labor-intensive nature of contemporary handmade artworks, artists on view in Be, Held sustain practices frequently in dialogue with traditional American pioneer vernacular and folk styles. 

Whether drawing inspiration from Upper Midwest quilting traditions, reclaiming textiles destined for landfills in Illinois or building paper pulp from invasive weeds dotting northern Kentucky landscapes, works on view build a dialogue with the existing lexicon of enduring art-making traditions while presaging where these methods and processes are headed in the 21st century. Prints, artist books, mixed-media sculpture and textile works infuse the exhibit with a wide range of artistic sensibilities and methodologies while leaving room for the viewer to make new connections between differing aspects of contemporary material culture. Be, Held offers a look at the wide range of contemporary art using analog processes that are being created today, with a Midwestern twist, for generation after generation to enjoy.

About the Artists:

Johanna Aenderl Ryan (she/her) (b. 1984, Saint Paul, MN) is based in Brooklyn, NY. She received her MFA from New York Academy of Art in 2020. She has been a recipient of grants and scholarships through Penland School of Craft (2023), Brooklyn Arts Council SU-CASA (2023), New York Academy of Art (2017-2020). Her most recent solo exhibition took place at ChaShama, New York; she also previously co-curated “Interwoven Perception” at The Stairwell Space. Select group exhibitions include: Ethan Cohen KuBE, Brooklyn Waterfront Artist Coalition, Equity Gallery and Cape Cod Museum of Art. She has been an artist-in-residence at Voice x NYAA, ChaNorth, and Virginia Center for Creative Arts (VCCA).

Jenny Zoey Casey (she/her) is an artist working in dyed and painted fabric collage. These wall-hung, slightly dimensional works explore the built environment as a foundational space. Raised in a working class neighborhood in Oahu, Hawaii, Casey holds a BFA from California College of Arts and Crafts and an MA in Art History from the University of Washington. Based in Illinois until relocating to New York City in 2025, the artist exhibited at CHART gallery in New York in 2025 after completing residencies at the Vermont Studio Center and the Oxbow School of Art. While creating this body of work in Illinois the artist received an Illinois Arts Council grant, and Casey has contributed writing to Two Coats of Paint: a renowned arts publication focused on painting practices.

Rachel Singel (she/her) is an Associate Professor and Head of the Printmaking Area at the University of Louisville. Rachel grew up on a small farm in Charlottesville, Virginia. She received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Virginia in 2009 and a Master of Fine Arts in Printmaking from the University of Iowa in 2013. Rachel has participated in residencies at the Penland School of Crafts, the Venice Printmaking Studio, Internazionale di Grafica Venezia, Art Print Residence in Barcelona, Spain, Wharepuke Print Studios in New Zealand, Proyecto’ace, an Artist-in-Residence Program in Buenos Aires, Argentina, AGA Lab in the Netherlands, and the Spring Creek Project at Oregon State University for a Long-Term Ecological Reflections Residency in Blue River, Oregon. She has studied non-toxic printmaking at the Grafisk Eksperimentarium studio in Andalusia and recently traveled to Japan to research papermaking with invasive plants. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and represented in private collections and public institutions.