Daniel Callis

Stations: We Shall rise

2020 - 2023

Stations: We Shall Rise is a collection of work that explores grief, lament, and meaning-making themes informed by the writings of Kubler-Ross, Kessler, and Weller. Drawing on historic religious liturgical practices, Callis has constructed a methodology of production employing a variety of organic grid forms and net patterns sourced from the vertical and horizonal orientation of the weaver’s loom. These configurations point to the human/divine stories of the New Testament gospels. The exhibition includes a series of 15 works that take their structural cues from the Christian praxis, known as the Stations of the Cross.

“Over the last three years, Callis’ nets have been cast over personal, social, and global events. These incandescent patterns hold tracing of national elections, protests and insurrections, hate crimes, Covid and Opioid pandemics. These nets interlace illness and healing, life and death … the untimely death of Callis’ son and the celebratory birth of his grandson. The works in this exhibition are about pain and the absurd insistent pursuit of hope.”

Jonathan Anderson, Grids, Nets, and the Unspeakable, exhibition catalog