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Home > Desert Oracle Radio > Compound YV’s ‘Shape Collectors’ exhibit explores shape and color in unexpected mediums this Saturday (4/11)
Podcast: Desert Oracle Radio
Episode:

Compound YV’s ‘Shape Collectors’ exhibit explores shape and color in unexpected mediums this Saturday (4/11)
Category: Society & Culture
Duration: 00:00:00
Publish Date: 2026-04-11 16:10:34
Description:

Yucca Valley’s Compound YV gallery presents their new exhibit “Shape Collectors”  featuring Bay Area artists Dana Hemenway and Rachel Kay, along with Los Angeles artist Megan Reed. Reporter Gabriel Hart spoke with Megan Reed to gain further insight on her and the other artist’s work, and how this show came together.

These three California artists build transformational combinations of shapes and colors within their individual practices. In preparation for this shared show, the three have found similarities in their processes — the surprise color can bring curiosity about rhythms in ordinary shapes, and a shared appreciation of nature. L.A.’s Megan Reed generates vibrantly colored two- and three-dimensional forms from individual elements and recycled waste from past projects, using the French term “Bricolage” to describe her process:

“The formal term I use when I’m talking about this is ‘bricolage,’ which is a French word that means ‘making stuff from everyday.’ Collage is making things out of disparate parts; bricolage, I think, puts it out into the world of consumerism. I often work with materials like cardboard or Styrofoam and then I ask, ‘How can I elevate them to being something more monumental, even more individualistic rather than mass produced?’ Then it’s sort of trying to rewrite the story of mass production which can feel overwhelming, to make it something that feels like it has the agency for the individual. That’s what I think is important about the handmade,” she said. 

As for the Bay Area artists, Rachel Kaye’s intricate works on paper and paintings are characterized by vibrant hues and organic forms and textures, while Dana Hemenway’s work stems from traditionally fiber-based crafts, resulting in wholly modern lighted sculptures, columns, and other arrangements. Reed says because the three of them met at art school in San Francisco there is a commonality among their work:

Megan Reed, Monument to the Moon, 2024-25, Styrofoam, plywood, fiber glass, aqua resin, acrylic, varnish, eye hooks, wire. 62.5 x 32 x 16 inches

 “All of us have this sort of vernacular that has emerged from the found and how we manipulate found materials into shapes. It used to be that I was just drawn to the things, when things would happen intuitively or accidentally but the longer you do anything, it starts to become its own language.”

In addition to the visual art of Shape Collectors, experimental composer and improviser Matt Robidoux will perform their corn synth (a modular system that interprets physical input from two ears of corn sculptures cast in aluminum) in Compound’s backyard during the event.

The opening reception of Shape Collectors is this Saturday at Compound YV from 4:00-8:00 p.m. located at 55379 Twentynine Palms Hwy in Yucca Valley next to Snakebite Roadhouse. The event is free and open to the public.

The post Compound YV’s ‘Shape Collectors’ exhibit explores shape and color in unexpected mediums this Saturday (4/11) appeared first on Z107.7 FM Joshua Tree.
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