Themed Exhibitions
I find myself these days entering more juried shows, especially out-of-state. Probably because my husband and art partner started a site for Michigan artists listing shows both locally and nationally (see http://www.calltoenter.info/).
The most recent one I entered was intriguing because artists were asked to look back to their experiences and find the roots or inspiration of their current work. How cool! I wish more shows challenged us like that and really did jury on a theme. The following are the images (all photography related) and statement I submitted. We’ll see if I caught the juror’s eye.
Artist Statement for “Sources – Origins”
Much of my artwork, especially my photography, comes from driving around the streets of Detroit, and the outer industrial areas of the suburbs.
I am a native of Detroit, coming into its environment long after the heyday of lumber barons and other wealthy, cultural patrons of this city. Instead, my world was laced with racial tensions even before the riots of 1967, and mounting unemployment among the lower and middle classes. The despair and decay was present on the faces of those left in the City, and left indelibly on the physical structure of Detroit. And after the riots, nothing could ever be the same.
What my experiences have given me, however, is an eye for looking at the decline without judgment and seeing an underlying beauty appear. In the shapes and forms that arrange themselves, in the visual memory that lingers just beyond our grasp, in the appreciation of the one constant of our lives—change—is the invitation to begin new narratives.
The most recent one I entered was intriguing because artists were asked to look back to their experiences and find the roots or inspiration of their current work. How cool! I wish more shows challenged us like that and really did jury on a theme. The following are the images (all photography related) and statement I submitted. We’ll see if I caught the juror’s eye.
Artist Statement for “Sources – Origins”
Much of my artwork, especially my photography, comes from driving around the streets of Detroit, and the outer industrial areas of the suburbs.
I am a native of Detroit, coming into its environment long after the heyday of lumber barons and other wealthy, cultural patrons of this city. Instead, my world was laced with racial tensions even before the riots of 1967, and mounting unemployment among the lower and middle classes. The despair and decay was present on the faces of those left in the City, and left indelibly on the physical structure of Detroit. And after the riots, nothing could ever be the same.
What my experiences have given me, however, is an eye for looking at the decline without judgment and seeing an underlying beauty appear. In the shapes and forms that arrange themselves, in the visual memory that lingers just beyond our grasp, in the appreciation of the one constant of our lives—change—is the invitation to begin new narratives.
posted by Candy at 1:24 PM
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