One Hundred: The (Un)Essential Series with Rebekah Nordstrom

One Hundred: The (Un)Essential Series with Rebekah Nordstrom
One Hundred Paintings in  One Hundred Days of One Hundred Donations while  Wearing One Dress

Exhibiting | August 6 – September 25
Virtual Opening | Friday, August 6th, 5:30pm PST, Facebook Live
Opening Reception | Friday, August 6th, 6:00-8:00pm PST

For 100 days, from January 1, 2021 through April 10, 2021, I completed a still life painting a day of a random object in my home that would be given to charity upon completion of the painting. My intention was to declutter and make space to breathe during what had been a somewhat oppressive year. Simultaneously, I was a participant in the “100 Day Dress Challenge” offered by the Oregon company Wool&, where women from around the world challenge themselves to wear the same merino wool dress for 100 days in a row.  These explorations of minimalism and sustainable fashion forever changed my perceptions of what is deemed essential in our modern times.

Over the isolation of the past year, I found myself thinking deeply about the essential and the non essential. These ideas of whether one is essential or not became part of our shared lexicon in 2020. While confined inside the 4 walls of our home, I became aware that many of the things, the stuff, that we surround ourselves with are not anywhere near essential and instead have become frozen in sentiment.

I developed this series as a way to celebrate the unessential. Things that at one time brought joy might now collect dust. Our lives are fluid and the things we spend our lives with need to be fluid along with us. Over the one hundred days of the series, I stood at my easel in meditation while painting the stuff that no longer serve my needs.  Memories of experiences with each object whirl around each painting in this series. It is time to pass on the (un)essential in order to continue its story.