The Bundy Museum Presents
Real Fantastical Reality Art Exhibit
by AmarA*jk
First Friday Opening Reception, March 1st, 2024
6:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Exhibition on display from 3.1.24 - 4.2.24
Located in the Bundy Museum 3rd floor art gallery
Admission to the art gallery is always free
Tuesday - Saturday 11:00 am - 5:00 pm
No RSVP is required for the First Friday event
For regular visiting hours, walk-ins are welcome, however, booking a reservation online is recommended. Upon arriving, please check in at our visitor’s center at 133 Main St., Binghamton NY.
Art Gallery Virtual Tour
Watch a virtual tour of the gallery below or in the videos section at Facebook.com/bundymuseum and The Bundy Museum YouTube channel.
Artists’ Statement
Art is the lie that shows us the truth.
We make worlds for imagined people who live in songs.
We live in a world of shadow and light.
We learn all the words to stories so they will never be forgotten.
REAL
We believe in Dream and Death and Delirium (Who is also sometimes Louise)
We dance in the summer sun with paint on our hands.
We work in the dark of night with paint on our faces and sawdust in our hair
FANTASTICAL
We Sing (badly sometimes, but we love it anyway).
We Dance (again, not always well).
We Celebrate (This we’re good at).
We create to create
REALITY
AmarA*jk
What Can You Say? Do you want a nice little list of their career and accomplishments?
AmarA graduated with a BFA from SUNY Fredonia in theatrical design. She taught briefly for Wells College before the recession caused cutbacks, then decided to freelance as they traveled. She has been an extra in a punk rock film directed by Matthew Lillard, died an honorable death in a horror movie after showing her tits on camera, and created two paintings for Adventures of Power, which she believes Jane Lynch kept. She is the author of four published books - one non-fiction that she is a little embarrassed of now, one children’s illustrated book that she gives at baby showers, one vampire novel that she still likes reading, and one smut novel that she is currently writing a sequel to, in spite of the fact that her parents would very much like her to write something more like ‘Little Women’. Her first independent art exhibit was here at the Bundy in 2010, a series of paintings she did inspired by her time on the set of Fat Kid Rules the World (the punk film aforementioned). Since 2012, she has exhibited [almost] exclusively with her lovely wife, Jaelin, known artistically as *jk. Together they have explored deepest emotions in Beyond Words, brought musicians from around the world for Installation|Music, and commented on the pandemic with their installation: Rubbish. She has been awarded three grants for her and Jaelin’s art projects and is currently Co-Scenic Designer in residence (with Jaelin) and Scenic Charge Artist at Tri-Cities Opera and a member of the Stagehands Union IATSE #54.
Jaelin did not graduate from university. She earned a GED in her twenties and has risen to be the Properties Chief and Co-Scenic Designer in residence at Tri-Cities Opera, proving that the absolute need for a higher education is complete bullshit. She has also designed for Ithaca Shakespeare Company, Profiles Theatre in Chicago, Chenango River Theatre, and Opera Saratoga. She is the author of “Happy: A Self-help book (by someone who hates self-help books)” which is in its second edition and fourth printing. Her instrumental album INFINITE SINGULARITY plays regularly on our own WBDY 99.5 radio station and is played as far away as Tokyo, Japan [in one shop, but still…]. She worked as a freelance artist for the punk rock, Matthew Lillard directed film, Fat Kid Rules the World. Though she began exhibiting with her lovely wife, AmarA in 2012, she held her first fully solo exhibit in 2017 at the Bundy Museum - a series of abstract paintings and sculptural creations. In 2023, she celebrated her first solo photo exhibit at Binghamton Photo Gallery.
Does Any of That Actually Matter to You?
Does it impress you? Make you feel like these are ‘real artists’ who live glamorous lives?
How About a More Personal Version?
AmarA*jk both grew up fairly close to where you stand now. They first met in the ‘90’s in a coffeehouse downtown that has been gone since before kids joining the army now were born. They were crazy goth kids infecting Binghamton for a while before Jaelin went off to see the world and AmarA got on with growing up - which she grew out of once she discovered that growing up is a bad idea - sometime after acquiring a student debt that will stay with her until her death on account of the fact that AmarA*jk work for their passions and not for worldly riches. To get back to the story, Jaelin and AmarA found each other again and each knew now that their love wasn’t the passing fancy of youth, but the true love of the stories. They traveled the US together in a Kia Rio and spent a year in Seattle doing various artsy things like being in band videos, showing art in pizza joints, and graffiti-ing a wall for a punk rock film. They came home, took up residence in a barn in Triangle, and were wed in 2012 [on the final day of the Mayan age] in the kind of small, personal ceremony that is in vogue now, but wasn’t then. AmarA had no real interest in being wed until New York State legalized gay marriage, which makes a lot of sense now. Hindsight, 20/20 and all that. AmarA started working at Tri-Cities Opera right out of high school as an apprentice. It was there that she met the people who led her to go to Fredonia for undergrad and the people who led her to join Iatse Local #54. She recruited Jaelin to Tri-Cities Opera [as a scenic artist, oddly] when they found each other again. They were laid off several times, moved away several times, but always came back to TCO and are extremely pleased at the direction the company has gone: They are now surrounded by a supportive group of talented and passionate people, from the General Director to the cleaning lady. In their ‘free time’ they create books, music, paintings, sculptures, gardens [and play video games]. They try not to let adulting stress them too much (but sometimes it is hard) and they try to spend time playing with their runty half-lab half-bull terrier dog (but sometimes it is hard). Last year they bought a small forge and hope to begin learning blacksmithery this year [which will also be hard…]. They love each other very, very much [This is an easy one, though!].
We could do a gritty version or a hallmark version or an HBO uncensored version…. and all would be true.
We Are All Multi-Faceted Individuals.
Our Bio is just a little slice of who we are, so you can get up the courage and a reason to come talk with us and find out what we’re really like. (at least tonight, tomorrow we’ll be changed and today won’t mean a thing. Yes, that is a song quote. Know the song?)
Thank you for coming to our exhibit.
We hope you think of what you see tonight in years to come.
Art Gallery Virtual Tour:
Real Fantastical Reality Art Exhibit by AmarA*jk
If you have any questions or need more information, please contact us at info@bundymuseum.org or by phone at (607) 772-9179.
The Bundy Museum of History & Art
129 Main St. Binghamton, NY 13905