Exhibition at David Mikow Art Gallery Shows off Talents of UMBC Artists and Writers (2/22)

Photo by Marlayna Demond

Beginning this month, Catonsville’s David Mikow Art Gallery will host the first in-person exhibition of the online publication, The Light Ekphrastic, featuring collaborative works of literature, poetry and fine art by UMBC faculty, staff, students and alumni.

Join the Ekphrastic team this Friday, February 22 for a special opening event from 5-7 p.m., with informal discussion taking place at 6 p.m.

Published since November 2009 and edited by Jenny O’Grady, director of alumni and development communications, The Light Ekphrastic is a quarterly online journal dedicated to the creation of new written and visual artworks through collaboration between artists. The evening will include an informal discussion with artist/writer pairs about their ekphrastic processes — the methods by which they produce new works inspired by the work of their creative partners.

Exhibiting writers and artists from the UMBC community include:
Sara Abbott (former staff), Richard Byrne ’86 (UMBC Magazine), Dayna Carpenter (OIA), Marlayna Demond ’11 (Creative Services), Vin Grabill (Visual Arts), Katie Heater ’09 (current MFA student), Michelle Jordan ’93 (Creative Services), Chris Justice (current Ph.D. student), Dina Karkar (Creative Services), Jim Lord ’99 (Creative Services), Meredith Purvis (OIA), Jackie Regales ’00, and others.

The David Mikow Gallery is located at 1002 Vineyard Hill Road, Catonsville, MD 21228. Find more information about the David Mikow Art Gallery, operated by Carolyn Forestiere, political science, at its website, or via its feature in the Winter 2013 edition of UMBC Magazine.

Light refreshments will be served.

Hadi Gharabaghi ’06, Visual Arts, Visiting Artist Lecture (2/19)

On Tuesday, February 19, at 5:30 p.m. in the AOK Library Gallery, artist and UMBC alum, Hadi Gharabaghi will speak about the works in the exhibition currently on display in the gallery, Persian Visions: Contemporary Photography from Iran.

Gharabaghi, originally form Tehran, Iran, will speak about the photographs, shedding light on the appearance of some of the cultural, historic and religious symbolism and imagery depicted. The lecture will also touch upon the way in which the current political climate in Iran affects practicing artists.

Hadi Gharabaghi’s background in photography, film, art history, theory and criticism includes a B.A. in Photography from Montgomery College, a B.A. in Visual Art with a concentration in Art History from UMBC, and from numerous exhibitions and educational projects. He is a Jack Cooke Kent Foundation Scholar, and is currently a doctoral candidate in Cinema Studies at NYU where his focus is Iranian film.

This event is free and open to the public.

Joshua Budich ’00, Visual Arts, Creates Work for the 2013 Oscars

Joshua Budich ’00 is one of a small group of artists selected to create original screen prints inspired by the nine best picture nominees in this year’s Academy Awards. Budich, who created artwork based on the film Silver Linings Playbook, earned his BFA from UMBC in 2000, and currently works as an independent illustrator for a number of galleries and media-outlets around the globe. This work was commissioned by The Academy in conjunction with Gallery 1988.

See all of the artwork at the Oscars’ official website.

Read a Q&A with Budich at Retreiver Net.

Lisa Moren, Visual Arts, a Distinguished Speaker for Hexagram-Concordia

Lisa Moren, Associate Professor of Visual Arts will be speaking as part of a distinguished speaker lecture series for Hexagram-Concordia, a “center for research-creation in media arts and technology,” affiliated with Concordia University in Montreal.

“Moren will present several projects that intersect technologies, phenomena and compelling narratives.” Her lecture and seminar titled “Phenomena, Ecology and Technology” and “Ecology and Economy: The Outback Stock Exchange” respectively, will discuss her personal art projects and works in progress, and their relation to current ecological issues including the health of the Australian Outback, the Chesapeake Bay and the BP Deep Water Horizon oil spill.

Learn more about the presentations, at Hexagram-Concordia’s website.

Solo Exhibition by Lynn Cazabon, Visual Arts, Opens at Georgetown University (1/31)

Thursday, January 31, the solo exhibition Uncultivated by Visual Arts Associate Chair and Associate Professor, Lynn Cazabon opens at Spagnuolo Art Gallery and Regents Hall of Georgetown University. The opening will be accompanied by a public artist lecture, about Cazabon’s work and the exhibition, at 4:00 p.m. in the Walsh Black Box Theatre.

Uncultivated is an ongoing public art project consisting of geo-referenced photographs, a website, commercial displays, and pigment ink jet prints representing wild plants within urban landscapes over an extended period of time. Each printed image in the project is displayed with a QR code, which, when scanned with a mobile device, connects to its corresponding webpage containing detailed information on all the plants found in the image, their location, and the date it was taken. The public displays are designed to deepen awareness of the immediate surroundings of the viewer by displaying a photograph taken in close proximity. Started in Baltimore in late 2010, the project has grown to include other cities, including Chicago, New Orleans, Brooklyn and most recently, Washington D.C. For the Georgetown exhibition, Cazabon photographed the landscape of the campus over a six-month period, focusing specifically on wild plants.

An opening reception for the exhibition will take place January 31 from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m in the gallery. The exhibition will continue through April 14.

Maurice Berger, CADVC, Interviewed for Maryland Morning

An interview with Maurice Berger, Chief Curator and Research Professor of the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture, by Tom Hall of WYPR is scheduled to air this Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, on Maryland Morning. In the interview, Berger discusses the exhibition currently on display in the CADVC, For All the World to See: Visual Culture and the Struggle for Civil Rights (curated by Berger).

To listen, tune in to WYPR on Monday, January 21 at 9:45 a.m.

UPDATE: A podcast of the interview will be available online after the program airs through Maryland Morning’s archive. The interview, “Viewing the Civil Rights Movement through a New Lens,” is available online now, through Maryland Morning‘s website.

For All the World to See is on display until March 10.

Persian Visions Opens in Library Gallery (1/28)

This Monday, January 28th, Persian Visions: Contemporary Photography from Iran opens in the Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery and continues through March 24.

In the first survey of contemporary Iranian photography to travel to the United States, Persian Visions features 20 of Iran’s most celebrated photographers who use the camera as a tool for cultural expression and self-exploration. The exhibition offers a glimpse into the aspects of existence—family, history, place, mortality, language, memory—that engage us all. These photographers offer a poignant reminder that at the center of political turmoil there can be humanity, and that a keen eye tuned to the tensions of modern life need not be blind to its poetry. Organized by the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art and the University of Minnesota, Department of Art, this exhibition introduces some of Iran’s most celebrated photographers to American audiences.

Find more information about Persian Visions, including gallery hours and information about the artists, here.

For All the World to See Mentioned in Baltimore Office of Promotion & Arts Blog

For All the World to See: Visual Culture and the Struggle for Civil Rights, the exhibition currently on display in the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture was mentioned earlier today in Baltimore Arts, the blog of the Baltimore Office of Promotion and Arts.

Visit the blog: baltimorearts.org

For All the World to See Receives Positive Review from Sun

The exhibition currently on display in the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture, For All the World to See: Visual Culture and the Struggle for Civil Rights received praise in the Sun article released today, “Using Images to Change History” written by Lionel Foster.

Read the article here: “Using Images to Change History: UMBC exhibit shows how African-Americans have portrayed themselves and how they have been portrayed by others”

The author reviews For All the World to See by speaking about the exhibition’s impact on him personally, and discussing the ability certain objects have to captivate its audiences. He also notes the way in which the exhibition’s curator, CADVC Research Professor and Chief Curator Maurice Berger, is particularly successful in presenting a powerful story.

For All the World to See is on display in the CADVC until March 10.

For All the World to Hear Featured in Baltimore Beacon

The Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture’s oral history project, For All the World to Hear: Stories of the Struggle for Civil Rights, is featured on the front page of this month’s Beacon.

The article explores the nature of the project and features interviews with its coordinator and CADVC Curator of Collections and Outreach, Sandra Abbott, and two speakers, Shirley and John Billy, whose harrowing story is detailed within the piece. The related gallery exhibition currently on display in the CADVC, For All The World to See: Visual Culture and the Struggle for Civil Rights, is also mentioned. Read the article, “Civil Rights Stories Finally Heard“.

For All the World to Hear premiered with a preview of the event at UMBC on November 15, and will continue it’s tour, performing at museums, parks, libraries and college campuses through February. For All the World to Hear returns to UMBC Friday, February 15. Learn more about the project at foralltheworldtohear.org.