Kitty Rauth: The Mirror Room

Arcadia Exhibitions is pleased to present “Kitty Rauth: The Mirror Room,” from March 18 through October 11, 2024 in the Harrison Gallery, University Commons.

In their recent work, the Chicago-based artist uses cast sugar, often formed to replicate decorative glassware, as a poetic material to engage in conversations around classed systems of etiquette, racialized labor, and the body politics that surround the marketing and production of the product.

For “The Mirror Room,” Rauth, a 2014 graduate of Arcadia, continues to explore these issues by focusing on the personal coincidence that Grey Towers Castle and the former William Welsh Harrison Estate, the current home of Arcadia University, were first constructed utilizing proceeds from the sugar refining industry in the late nineteenth century.

The title of the exhibition refers to one of the most iconic spaces within Grey Towers Castle, an immense, elaborately furnished room on the first floor with mirrored surfaces on all four walls, used originally by the Harrisons and today by the University for hosting special events and celebrations. For the artist, the space acts simultaneously as a symbol for the unfettered opulence of the so-called “Gilded Age”, as well as a place for introspection and self-analysis.

In the gallery, coincidentally named for William Welsh Harrison, Rauth will be appropriating and arranging objects and architectural forms from the well-known Cheltenham Township landmark to create a new space for both the artist and visitors to reflect upon the dysfunctional systems of power that led to the accumulation of wealth that funded the estate’s creation. Further, this act of contemplation takes place in the presence of the Castle, which can be clearly viewed through the windows of the gallery. 

A lecture and reception will be held for this exhibition in September 2024. Please return to this site for specific dates and times.

This exhibition is presented in conjunction with (re)FOCUS 2024, a Philadelphia citywide exhibition event celebrating the 50th anniversary of “Philadelphia Focuses on Women in the Visual Arts.” Like its 1974 predecessor, (re)FOCUS is a collaboration among 40 of the Philadelphia region’s museums, art schools, and galleries highlighting the work of women-identified and BIPOC artists. For information about other exhibitions and events visit (re)FOCUS.org.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Kitty Rauth (b. 1992, New Jersey) is an artist and organizer based in Chicago, IL.  Drawing from personal histories of growing up in systems of etiquette, their work finds poetic spaces that consider care and interdependency, community, abundance, flamboyance, and death. She has exhibited nationally, including LVL3 (CHI), David Salkin (CHI), SPRING/BREAK (NYC), and Brewhouse Association (PGH), among others. A former staff and artist-member of Vox Populi Gallery in Philadelphia, Rauth supported the organization from 2014-2020, and has since established a 15-member collective studio space on Chicago’s southwest side. In 2024, she was selected for Newcity’s Art 50: Chicago’s Art World Vanguard. Rauth graduated with their BFA from Arcadia University in Glenside, PA and their MFA in Studio Art from the Sculpture Department of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She currently serves as the Artistic Director of Comfort Station, a multidisciplinary art space in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago, and serves as a Lecturer in Contemporary Practices and Art Administration at SAIC.