Visual Arts Exhibitions and Projects, School of Art
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Item Locale(Fenwick Gallery, George Mason University Libraries, Mar 2016) Irvin, Sarah; Ball, Christy; Cook, Melody; Devereux, Marjorie; Dwyer, Leah; Elci, Camillia; Kallista, Jessica; Kelner, Mark; Lahah, Jacob; McDermott, Tamryn; Pallas, Li; Pearson, Jennaway; Reisen, Sydney; San Martin, Maria; Smith, Anne; Stahl, WhitneyLocale features artists’ books, repurposed books, and sculptural books responding to the Washington, DC area through concept or specific material. The exhibit features artwork by George Mason University Alumni, Faculty and Students as well as area artists. The artists used the format or concept of a book to express personal identities, explore local history and record the impact of political, biological or cultural systems in the area.Item Sealing Place: Impressions of Rome - Tamryn McDermott(Fenwick Gallery, George Mason University Libraries, May 2016) McDermott, Tamryn; Irvin, SarahMy methodology emulates that of a historian and enters into the arena of archaeologists, archivists and curators. Historians write, and re-write history privileging certain evidence while imposing specific agendas, to reshape history. Confronting history as a construction; I provoke viewers through historical representation, unmasking illusions of precision and truth. By deconstructing and analyzing the way the historical record is fabricated, my work reveals the futile nature of preserving an accurate history. Rome is an ideal site to deconstruct and analyze the condition of history; a site rich in rewritten and overwritten political and moral agendas. Historically, the fabric of Rome has been deconstructed and re-stitched since its origins, often rooted in myth and fragmented written records. Taking this history as my subject matter, I turn it into my working process, revealing the limitations of preserving history and accessing historical reality. In this exhibition, the contextualization of the objects becomes imperative to how the work is perceived. My goal is to redefine the importance of installation and presentation of objects. The objects themselves are important, but become secondary to the structure and organization of the installation. The structural framework is meant to challenge viewers to consider the origins of knowledge about the past and how archaeologists, archivists and curators reinterpret and mythologize historical evidence. Curated displays suggest the research and conclusions imbedded in the objects. The arrangement reflects a stratified composite structure, mirroring written narrative history.Item Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here DC 2016(Fenwick Gallery, George Mason University Libraries, Feb 2016) Irvin, Sarah; Frederick, HelenAl-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here DC 2016 is a book arts and cultural festival planned for January through March 2016, throughout the Washington, D.C. area. Exhibits, programs, and events will commemorate the 2007 bombing of Baghdad’s historic bookselling street, and celebrate the free exchange of ideas and knowledge, to stand in solidarity with the people of Iraq, who have endured so much; and with people at home and abroad who are unable to make their voices heard. In 2014 a group of non-profit institutions and passionate individuals came together to discuss their ideas and begin to organize an array of exhibitions, poetry readings, performances, hands-on street festival activities, and educational programs for the Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here project. These partners include George Mason University’s School of Art and Fenwick Library, Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, Split This Rock, McLean Project for the Arts, Corcoran School of the Arts and Design at The George Washington University and Georgetown University, Northern Virginia Community College, Cultural DC, Smithsonian Libraries, Brentwood Arts Exchange, Busboys and Poets, and George Mason University Student Media and Fourth Estate Newspaper.Item Verbal/Visual 2016(Fenwick Gallery, George Mason University Libraries, April 2016) Irvin, Sarah; Dolan, Sarah Zuckerman; Irvin, Sarah; Ashworth, Ben; Sargeant, PatrickCreative practice is driven by input or research, even though it is defined by the resulting output or product. A collapse of these categories facilitates new methods of creating and provides alternative routes for the acquisition of knowledge. Verbal/Visual 2016 presents all aspects of the creative process as one. Research and artwork by four MFA students graduating from Mason’s School of Art in Spring 2016 are on view as correspondent parts of a whole. Artists in the exhibit explore the boundaries of a variety of disciplines, searching for places these boundaries can be pushed and repositioned. They combine traditional methods of research with lived experiences as both research and art practice. These collected experiences and information serve simultaneously as their creative practice and to inspire other manifestations of their work. The result is a curated collection of the knowledge of others, the artists’ embodied knowledge and the visual resources they produce that can be read and experienced as texts in their own right.Item The Case for Space: Reviving Cosmic Conscience, Provisional Reasearch Journal, A Provisions Library Journal, Volume 1, Issue 4(Provisions Library, 2013) Sherman, Stephanie; Russell, Don; Garvey, Drew; Bloom, Greg; Larson, Nate; Moore, Anne Elizabeth; Schwartz, Tim; Harris, Clay; Bertie, Sarah; Lokoff, Amy; Rakowsky, Emily; Ngo, HuongThe Case for Space assembled researchers Heidi Neilson (NY), Huong Ngo (NY), Cassie Thornton (CA), and Kate Chandler (DC) in Washington DC to explore the ethos, aesthetics, and ecology of outer space and to creatively consider the role that space programs play in cognitive and spiritual life, social consciousness, and political progress. It proposed such questions as: how does space on a macro and micro level serve as a ground for human identification, relationship, and reflection? How do space technologies, tools, and tactics help us encounter plateaus of the possible? Can the diversity of cosmic orders help us imagine constellations for change here at home?Item Republic: Reviving Popular Politics, Provisional Research Journal, A Provisions Library Journal, Volume 1, Issue 2(Provisions Library, 2013) Sherman, Stephanie; Russell, Don; Garvey, Drew; Rigg, Siobhan; Hargrave, Katie; Herbst, Robbie; Buchanan, RiahDuring the final month of the 2012 US election cycle, Provisions Library assembled four artist-researchers in the capital to consider deliberative democracy, electoral politics, public transparency, and popular citizenship through creative research projects. Provisions Research Fellows reacted to the conditions of the election and the tenor of the times through projects that reflected on the architecture, geography, and politics of the District, using the city as a platform and stage for reflecting upon founding principles and possible revisions to the ideas of governance that inform our political context.Item Copy Rights: Open Orders of Global Information, Provisonal Research Journal, A Provisions Library Journal, Volume 1, Issue 3(Provisions Library, 2013) Sherman, Stephanie; Russell, Don; Garvey, Drew; Bloom, Greg; Larson, Nate; Moore, Anne Elizabeth; Schwartz, Tim; Harris, Clay; Bertie, Sarah; Lokoff, Amy; Rakowsky, EmilyCopy Rights Research Residency assembled four researchers-- Greg Bloom (DC), Nate Larson (Baltimore), Anne Elizabeth Moore (Chicago), and Tim Schwartz (LA) in Washington DC to investigate individual and collective authorship in the digital age. The three week residency invited creative and critical explorations of the ways in which reproduction and replication enable free expression, empower creative re-use, and mobilize social justice actions. The group considered the structure of mass digital communication systems, examined debates around media policy, and reflected on the future power of shared intellectual property. Their projects addressed the implications of universal access, digital connectivity, copyrights and patents, privacy, information regulation, and dissemination in this emerging field.Item Parks & Passages: Recent Ruins in Connected Capitals, Provisonal Research Journal, A Provisions Library Journal, Volume 1, Issue 1(Provisions Library, 2013) Sherman, Stephanie; Russell, Don; Garvey, Drew; Farber, Paul; Endress, Edgar; Huckenpahler, James; Jordan, PamIn June 2012, Provisions Library sent four DC-based creative researchers to Berlin to source ideas for the Dupont Underground, an abandoned streetcar station and tunnel beneath Dupont Circle in the heart of Washington DC. Their creative process and research projects culminated in an exhibition at the Goethe-Institut DC. The exhibition considered the poetics, politics, and possibilities of public development in these uncannily connected capitals. This publication compiles their ideas, principles, challenges and concepts, offering examples for any efforts seeking to resurrect abandoned infrastructures in the name of cultural development.Item Picturing Performance(Fenwick Gallery, George Mason University Libraries, Sept 2015) Gerber, Steven K.; Cockrell, Rianna; Irvin, Sarah; de Boissieu, Jean Jacques; Costas; Richomme, Charles-Nicolas; Rasko, Maximilian A.; Sarony & Major; Visscher, Claes Janszoon; Küsel, Mattias; Silvestre, Israel; Bakst, LéonRarities and antiquarian prints held in Mason Libraries’ Special Collections and Archives include examples of musical iconography and similar graphic materials that illustrate aspects of music, dance, and theater history or exemplify technical developments. This exhibit comprises photographic enlargements of twelve selected items in these genres, including engravings, lithographs, photographs, and drawings. Exhibit labels displayed with each image provide identification and historical context.Item Gastronomy in the Gallery(Fenwick Gallery, George Mason University Libraries, July 2015) Rinalducci, Jenna; Sheehan, Sarah; Irvin, Sarah; Cushman, Robin Bachtler; Carman, Carissa; Hooker, GretchenFrom the ubiquitous red and white checks of Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book to the amazing photography found in Modernist Cuisine, cookbooks are so much more than a collection of recipes. Cookbooks provide insight into a culture, a region, a time period or a cuisine. They are timeless and completely outdated, often at the same time. Sometimes they are not even books. Highlighting the unique collection of cookbooks, Gastronomy in the Gallery is a brief tour of this distinctive cultural and social art form. The resources featured in the exhibit come from the circulation collection, rare and historical items from Special Collections & Archives, and the growing artists’ books collection of the University Libraries. We hope this exhibit inspires, educates, and even leaves you a bit hungry.Item Artists' Maps(Fenwick Gallery, George Mason University Libraries, Dec 2014) Smith, Anne; Colangelo, Carmon; Floating Lab Collective; Hill, Melissa; Lahah,Jacob; McDermott,Sarah; Melhorn-Boe,Lise; Miller,Cathryn; Sharp, Sharon A.Maps are powerful. They can orient us on unfamiliar streets or help us find our way through unmarked territory. In their essence, maps distill an incredible amount of information into a compact, readable, digestible abstraction—a tool for navigating and understanding what’s around us. This exhibit expands upon the traditional idea of mapping, featuring works by artists at Mason and artists in the Mason Libraries collection. Each of these artists has embraced the map as a dynamic and versatile tool for investigating histories, bodies, geographies, and more. By recording landmarks, making careful observations, and charting terrain of all sorts physical and intangible, each artist’s map reveals a surprising story.Item Verbal/Visual(Fenwick Gallery, George Mason University Libraries, Mar 2015) Smith, Anne; McInturff, Ceci Cole; Hendrick, Jay; Hill, Melissa; Loda, Nathan; Smith, Anne; Warshaw, RayWhat do artists read? Certainly there are favorite books, audio recordings, and DVDs—ones that influenced an artist’s thinking, or that changed the course of an inquiry altogether. Although their practice is primarily a visual one, artists also engage in a verbal practice of reading, writing, and listening that in turn informs the making. With this in mind, Fenwick Gallery is pleased to exhibit Verbal/Visual: The Texts and Influences Behind Mason’s MFA Artists. On view through May 4th, 2015, the exhibit showcases work by six visual artists in Mason’s MFA program in the School of Art alongside the books that have most informed the work. All of the artists in this exhibit are graduating in Spring of 2015 and have, over their time in the MFA program, developed a strong studio practice that includes both making and reading. Each artist has selected a few books that have had a profound impact on their work. Visit the gallery to discover their visual work and reveal some of their greatest influences found right here in the Mason Library’s collection. In this exhibit are works by: Ceci Cole McInturff Jay Hendrick Melissa Hill Nathan Loda Anne Smith Ray WarshawItem The Sleep Series: Sarah Irvin(Fenwick Gallery, George Mason University Libraries, May 2015) Smith, Anne; Irvin, SarahFenwick Gallery is proud to exhibit The Sleep Series by Sarah Irvin, part of a larger project called A Bringing Forth. This series of more than 100 watercolors was produced by Irvin in intervals— that is, while her infant daughter napped. Irvin marked the time in tick marks of various sizes and shades of blue. Some longer naps span several pieces of paper, containing hundreds of tick marks. Other naps were clearly very short, with not enough time, even, for Irvin to fill a single page. Within The Sleep Series are titles such as November 4, Morning Nap; November 19, Midday Nap, and December 18, Afternoon Nap. Each recorded nap is separated by a blank page, a pause in the activities of sleep and counting, measuring, working and waiting. Of course, a pause here is not really a pause, because it means that baby is awake. Activities of waking and caregiving happen in these intervals, which Irvin measures and records in other series within A Bringing Forth . Irvin likens the recorded naps to “words in one long sentence,” the blank pages like the spaces between words. Installed in a single row, The Sleep Series covers approximately 50 linear feet—the entire length of usable wall space in the gallery. To read the series from left to right truly is like reading one long sentence and the duration of the piece is powerful: on one hand, quiet and steady and on the other, bustling with the activity of a baby’s brain in sleep and the work of an artistmother.Item Call & Response 2015: Lineage Exhibition Catalog(Fenwick Gallery, George Mason University Libraries, 2015-10) Smith, Anne; Mack, M.; Martinez, Marcos; Wang, Qinglan; Irvin, Sarah; Batcheller, Sarah; Bever, Benjamin; Brezner, Benjamin; Brugnoli, Nikki; Busch, Meaghan; Cook, Melody; Creightney, Anya; Epstein, Marianne; Goldenthal, Ariel; Graham, Madeline; Hamidaddin, Noor Y.; Han, Ah-reum; Harwick, Ariel; Hendrickson, Kelly; Hill, Melissa; Holly, Mason; Kerfoot, Brittany; Lafreniere, Justin; Loda, Nathan; Luman, Douglas; Mack, M.; Martinez, Marcos L.; Patton, Lina; Pears, Sean; Quatrochi, Alice; Smith, Anne; Walton, Michael; Wang, Qinglan; Whipkey, Josh; Yun, CarinaCURATOR’S STATEMENT Call & Response 2015: Lineage "The picture on my wall, art object and art process, is a living line of movement, a wave of colour that repercusses in my body, colouring it, colouring the new present, the future, and even the past, which cannot now be considered outside of the light of the painting." --Jeanette Winterson, "Art Objects" "Lineage," applied to the conversation between art, literature, culture, and self, asks the question: what is the legacy of art and speech in our everyday lives? In society? How does artistic expression in and alongside social movements result in a solidarity of tradition, a larger communal identity? Starting in 2009, Susan Tichy and Helen Frederick have curated an annual exhibition in collaboration between the MFA program in creative writing and the School of Art. The exhibition is up during the Fall for the Book literary festival in September. The exhibit has been a themed Call and Response since 2010. Call and Response: a succession of two distinct phrases played or sung by different musicians, where the second phrase is heard as direct response to or commentary on the first. Common to African, African-American, American folk, and Indian classical traditions. Pervasive in military cadences. In West Africa: also a mode of democratic participation in ritual, and in public discussion of civic affairs. Call & Response: a collaboration between writers and visual artists, in which one calls and one responds. The result is a set of paired works, resonating with each other, demonstrating the interplay of artistic media, and speaking of our times. Call & Response 2015: Lineage is curated by Anne Smith, M. Mack, Marcos Martínez, and Qinglan Wang.