"Judging My Worth By the Seat of My Pants"

River's Edge Gallery is pleased to collaborate with artist / activist Brenda Oelbaum on an interactive art installation. "Brenda has always cast light on social issues by throwing them in your face. This installation does exactly that to the billion dollar diet industry that has led so many people down a frustrating and useless diet trail. I am excited about this particular event as Brenda is teaming up with Mary Balog, a no-diet, dietitian, nutritionist and intuitive eating counselor. She also has a background in culinary arts and food systems. I think event goers will be surprised at her snack choices for Friday night." says gallery owner Patt Slack. She added "Get ready for a fun and eye-opening experience."

Brenda is no stranger to "stirring the pot". Classically trained in painting and drawing at the Ontario College of Art and Design University in Toronto Canada. Brenda Oelbaum is a feminist, multimedia, conceptual artist, working in whatever medium best translates the intended message. Increasingly her work has become political and ecologically minded, repurposing objects found, donated or bought on the resale market objects in her artwork. From diet books, to piggy banks and now unwanted seascape paintings, Oelbaum finds inspiration in hunting for the weird and unloved. Buying antiques and collectibles and repurposing them is an ecologically sound practice. During this show Brenda will display her repurposing of diet books made into pulp and then fashioned into a likeness of a historic sculpture uncovered of a rather curvy woman. Many of the diet gurus have their own Goddess of Wildendorf (named after where the figure was found) made from their books and bearing a bit of a resemblance to them.

Oelbaum describes her intent in the title, "Nothing makes you feel more like a winner than looking like a loser? " Oelbaum added "During National Eating Disorder Awareness Week and the start of Women's History Month I want to invite all self identifying Women and Girls into my closet to try on my jeans.