Take Care

Take Care, a two-person exhibition with artist, Tammie Rubin, presented at ICOSA Collective in the fall of 2025. Take Care is a valediction, a proclamation, a wish, a blessing, a warning, and a curse. In this exhibition, Hirneisen and Rubin contemplate matters of care through the lens of labor. These perspectives of care range from the invisible domestic, economic, and societal work done by women, their acts of hospitality, gestures of ritual, and operations of bearing witness. Hirneisen and Rubin are process-based sculptors in which labor is essential for the exploration and execution of their work. Both artists engage in mold-making of the familiar and the transformation of objects through casting and material choices, reframing notions of the function and representational power of objects. 

Hirneisen employs time-consuming, craft-based techniques such as brush-making, and basketry. These traditional processes are pushed beyond their conventional uses, with materials being explored in new and unexpected ways. Her practice elevates the physical act of creation while probing its connections to care, repetition, and resilience. Hirneisen’s own hands appear in the work—both figuratively and literally—as she constructs objects that function as symbolic tools or offerings. Many pieces serve as a farewell to her oldest child, who is preparing to leave home for college, and consider what is needed to thrive in today’s world. These works reimagine domestic life and challenge entrenched ideas about utility, gendered labor, and value, asking viewers to look again at what has long been overlooked.

Image Titles (left to right): Hankie, Besoms 1-3, Finger Brushes, Installation view, Carry On, Heavy Handed, Hand Made, Clean Cut 1,2,3, Bread Sawz, Take Care

Materials: Cast Plaster, Cast Urethane Rubber, Cast Concrete, Hair, Tampico, Textiles, Found objects