EXHIBITIONS
BRADBURY ART MUSEUM
TAKING UP SPACE – 6 POINTS ARTIST COLLECTIVE
August 21 - November 5, 2025
“Taking Up Space” is a group exhibition by a Memphis-based artist collective called 6 Points, whose members are Sharon Havelka, Mary Jo Karimnia, Paula Kovarik, Carrol Harding McTyre, Jennifer Sargent, and Mary K VanGieson.
These six women fortuitously came together in pursuit of a supportive, creative community for artists. Their practices and artistic disciplines vary. Three utilize fiber techniques in their work: Havelka works with repurposed fabric and trapunto quilting, Kovarik uses stitching to ‘draw’ the surfaces of her artist quilts and soft sculpture, and Sargent is a tapestry artist exhibiting hand-woven objects.
McTyre and VanGieson both work with paper; McTyre is exhibiting papier mâché sculptures, and VanGieson is exhibiting eco-prints made into cut paper collages and a sculptural paper installation.
Karimnia blends methods and materials, using seed beads and flocking to adorn digital prints made from mid-century postcards.
Of the exhibition title, the group explained, “In Taking Up Space, we recognize the ongoing marginalization of women—particularly as they age—within the broader narrative of the art world. This exhibition asserts our presence, embracing elevated craftsmanship with conceptual depth as an intentional means of engaging with and reflecting on the world.”
Sharon Dunn Havelka constructs mixed media quilt sculptures from old clothes and other used materials either found or given to her by family and friends. Her work highlights the marginalized, the overlooked, that which is considered weird or unusual, and sews them into beautifully crafted and highly detailed objects. She is inspired by her unique upbringing as a descendent of the Delta Chinese, and from her skills and experience learned as an ICU RN. She was born and lives in Memphis, TN.
Mary Jo Karimnia is an artist, arts advocate and arts administrator living and working in Memphis, TN. Her multimedia work often uses imagery from collected, vintage postcards which she lavishly embellishes with seed beads, velvety flocking and shiny foil. The work elevates women’s work and craft and addresses nostalgia, commenting on the unrealistic, candy-eyed ideals of the past. Her work also includes printmaking, installation and origami and sometimes comment on social issues including identity and how costumes and dress-up affect our lives. Karimnia has shown nationally and internationally and she is the Residency Director for Crosstown Arts in Memphis, TN.
Paula Kovarik creates art with stitch and fabric. Her intuitive line work travels the surface of her work as if a meditation has become solid. Inward thoughts become outwardly apparent through slow and studied attention to detail.
Kovarik’s award-winning fiber art has been recognized by Quilt National, Quilts=Art=Quilts, World of Threads, and FiberArt Now Excellence in Fibers exhibitions. She has been profiled in American CraftandFiberArt Nowmagazines. Her work is featured inArt Quilts Unfolding – 50 Years of InnovationandArt Quilts International Abstract & Geometric.Kovarik shares her ideas and techniques in workshops and in her book,At Play in the Garden of Stitch. Her work has been collected by the International Quilt Museum in Lincoln, NE and the International Airport in Memphis, TN as well as several private collections. Kovarik lives and works in Memphis, TN.
Carrol Harding McTyre
In 1969, Betty Crocker and Donald Judd had an affair. Their brief but significant union produced one child – me. Like any offspring, I have absorbed certain characteristics from my parents and those traits tend to manifest themselves in my work.
My work is object based and idea driven. The material, the size, the imagery all follow. My approach is a clean visual organization with a sampling of American kitsch. It is seriously playful and occasionally humorous.
My intent is to meander in and out of the human experience, creating work that takes a sociological perspective.
Jennifer Sargent
The world seems intent on eliminating personal, unmeasured time. Tapestry weaving in contrast is a slow process, allowing space and time to think. I love working and thinking with my hands: I draw, make woven samples, weave scarves and indispensable to all of this is an ongoing passion for texture, pattern and color.
One of two elements is always present in my work, either story telling or the natural world (whether wild or domesticated). I then create a more abstracted sense of these ideas or experiences through the layering of pattern and color.
As an artist weaver I consider myself both a contemporary practitioner and a part of a longer continuum that is thousands of years old. This idea is both a comfort and a challenge.
Mary K VanGieson
I am an artist, educator, storyteller and sometime writer. I received my BAE from Oklahoma State University and my MFA from the University of Memphis. I discovered early on that educating high school people in the visual arts is a completely rewarding career.
I delve into themes of Cover, Cloak, Shadow, Loss and Erosion. My work encompasses drawing, painting, book arts, printmaking and alternative media sculpture and has been exhibited throughout the United States.
I am what I have learned. I remember to light the candles. I never regret. If the horse dies I get off. I don't postpone joy. I know that grief lasts forever, and that life should abrade.
I live and work in Memphis, TN.
