On view: April 11-17, 2026
Reception: Monday, April 13, 2026, 4:30-5:30 P.M.
Artist Statement: Checking, the use of physical force, usually with the body or stick, to regain control of the puck or impede an opponent’s movement, transpires in mere fractions of a second. Often, it happens too swiftly for the eye to apprehend its full complexity. Yet, when suspended in stillness, these moments reveal a paradoxical elegance. A perceived chemical reaction, an exchange of energy between two players that provides a chemical shift within the game. Each check its own benevolent millisecond, where physicality transforms into meaning.
My art incorporates lessons I have learned in Ice Hockey practice and intricately weaves my personal lens within these timeless moments. What first appears as celebrated violence unfolds into an intimate setting. Through my work, I seek to articulate the subtleties of physical contact within the sport, clinching fleeting moments that are forceful as graceful.
Beneath the surface of the brutality of Ice Hockey resides an intricate beauty, a delicate equilibrium between pure entropy and control, strength and vulnerability. In these clinched moments, there emerges not only ferocity, but tenderness.
Bio: Myree Kromer is a double major in Chemistry and Studio Art on the Pre-Medicine track from Charlotte, North Carolina. For over four years, she has immersed herself in contact sports, ranging from Roller Derby to Ice Hockey; disciplines that merge precision, endurance, and physical violence with poise, grace, and jubilation.
As a right defenseman on her pickup Ice Hockey team, sheinhabits a position defined by confrontation. As the shortest member of her team, and its only woman, she finds strength in defying expectations; strength in watching men taller, and potentially stronger, in appearance, divert their path to avoid hercheck.
Her teams, the Carolina Hurricanes, the Charlotte Checkers, and the St. Andrews Typhoons, have become extensions of her identity, reflections of the communities and passions that shape her and her art.
Learn more about Myree’s Art Process:
Studio Visit:
Coming soon!
Artist Talk:
Coming soon!
Virtual Tour:
Coming soon!