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If You Give Someone a Glue Stick…

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If you give someone a glue stick, they’re going to want some cool tissue paper to go with it. From there, things will get nifty. 

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Something that I have really enjoyed about Maya Freelon Asante’s exhibition, Volume, is witnessing the creativity that the interactive show pulls from its gallery visitors. Many times, as soon as I tell people what the exhibition is about – that is, a kind of community artwork that involves piecing together bits of colorful tissue paper to create an extended work – they get very excited and rush toward the back of the gallery to start crafting.

There have been several times where a person or a group of people have continued to work for well over half an hour. Some people seem to find a groove in the process of gluing the different pieces of tissue paper together. They have a precise idea of the types of colors they want, the colors they don’t want, and the size or shape of the paper they want to use. Other people decide to just wing it and see how it turns out in the end. Either way, it is exciting for me to see people so interested in contributing their individual ideas to the artwork as a whole. I like looking at the diversity of what people come up with.

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When walking along the forming wall of tissue paper, you will notice unique nuances throughout. In a few places, there are little paper flowers of various shapes. Some are small and neat, while others seem to be in the process of blossoming. In another area, someone shaped the tissue paper into the form of a butterfly. Up against the light, the wings seem to be made up of many different shades due to the transparency of the paper. Other people have chosen to create less specified objects, such as a braid or a hanging trail of smaller pieces of tissue paper. One person even made a heart in honor of Valentine’s Day.

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The thing that strikes me the most when I observe these designs is that not everyone’s idea necessarily fits into a common theme. There is no consensus that you can’t choose a brooding shade of dark brown for a flower and then stick it onto a bright pink background. Somehow, the different designs that people have glued together don’t clash. On the contrary, they merge together in a way that works very well for the mission of this exhibition – to encourage a sense of community. I am eager to see what visitors will bring to the artwork during the final two weeks of the show. 

 

Written by Carmen Dodl

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Connection to Homage

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Queer Objectivity has been up for about a week now and without a doubt it has been my favorite exhibit in the Gallery. It pushes boundaries, makes the audience interact with “taboo” viewpoints, gets in your face, and it does so unapologetically. All of the art speaks to me in different ways and it has been hard to decide which one I wanted to write about. But I’ve noticed myself always coming back to the piece that entranced me and grabbed my attention when the exhibit was first being put together.

Homage by performance artist Kris Grey/Justin Credible is spectacular. It is broken up into four photographs and one preservation of materials used from a 45 minute performance piece done in 2013. The performance is one of strength and resilience of someone sharing a moment of emotional and physical change. Kris shared with us, that this was directly related to the weeks after his top surgery when he was unable to see his chest. It is hard to imagine what it must feel like going through an important surgery and the possible feelings of excitement, anticipation, fear and confusion of not being able to see the end result. Yet, Kris took control of such an emotional experience. In his performance, he took ten medical grade needles, put them through his scars and released them in front of an audience as the blood dripped down his bare torso and onto the ground.

Kris’s art is my favorite not only for the personal connection he has in his art, but for his strength and openness as he stands in front of his audience. He bares not only his body, but his soul to perfect strangers and I admire his braveness more than anything else. After speaking with him during the reception, it made me love his art even more. Even though he shared with me how frightening it can be to be so vulnerable, none of that shows in the photographs. He is a person who knows what he wants of himself and of others as he shows the world his identity.

The middle portion of Kris’s piece in the gallery is a glass box that holds the ten needles that were once in his body. Behind the needles, the box holds a mirror. During an artist talk the Gallery held, Kris admitted that the mirror was purposefully used in order for the viewer to see themselves in his art and to find their own link to his message. For me, when I see myself behind the needles, I think of my own experience of body modification. As someone with twelve piercings, three others that have been taken out, I’ve had my fair share with needles being shoved into my own body. But, when I look at the size and length of the needles Kris used, I’m amazed that he had the power to have ten of them put into his body, held in there for three hours before his performance, and then slowly removed them. It brought me back to the importance of my body modification and how my piercings are now a part of me and my identity. I know how difficult it is for me when I have to remove piercings for whatever reason, and how I feel like I’m losing a piece of myself. I can’t image the emotional experience Kris had when he removed his needles. I can see it being a moment of pure control and power over his own body. A moment of reclaiming himself and his identity. 

Written by Ashlyn

Check out these pages to learn more about Kris Grey/Justin Credible

Look out for Kris giving another talk in the near future on our Facebook page!

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Here is me loving this piece so incredibly much.
At the opening reception taken by GG

 

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A Meditation on Jiha Moon’s “Kudzu”

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Each time that I look at this piece, I catch something that I didn’t see before. There are so many layers to take in and conceptualize, which I think is very fitting for the theme of the piece – the globalization of news and social media. As I continued to discover new aspects within Kudzu, I became inspired to write a poem as a kind of “meditation” on the work. The aspect of the piece that I find to be the most compelling is that everything seems to be connected in some way. I decided to incorporate this idea of connection into my poem, as it relates to the way that social media is spreading and forming connections throughout the world.  

 

A Meditation on Jiha Moon’s Kudzu

 

From anticipating hands bursts

the plumage of a new species of bird –

the tips of its feathers wetted with

the beginnings of a metamorphosis.

 

In one fluid motion

its wings draw back,  

sending an aura of innovation –  

to bathe the world between its wings.

 

And the world awakens 

as leaves become messengers,

with blueprints embedded

into young skin;

as clouds acquire the means

to program new pathways,

to engage with the mountains;

as sky at last discovers a route

to make contact with the ocean.

 

As if urged by a memo,

the trees create new roots –

with searching fingers,

and pioneering limbs that wrap

across near and distant spaces,

asserting an omnipresence;

lending worldly hands, and –

– connecting.

 

Carmen Dodl

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Kudzu, Jiha Moon, 2012. 24″ x 24″, Ink and acrylic on Hanji paper mounted on canvas

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Kudzu, Jiha Moon, 2012. 24

The Stamp Gallery is proud to present the Adele H. Stamp Student Union Contemporary Art Collection – Acquisitions 2013

SEPTEMBER 9 – OCTOBER 12, 2013

OPENING RECEPTION SEPTEMBER 12, 2013 5-8PM

http://www.thestamp.umd.edu/gallery

Last year, six students participated in the Contemporary Art Purchase Program. The objective of this program is to put the process of collecting art for our public collection into the hands of our students. The student committee participate in a year long process, including: taking a class on art markets and public art collection; researching galleries and artists; visiting galleries and artist studios; managing a purchase budget and finally presenting their selections to an Advisory Board made up of arts professionals.

The committee made some impressive choices this year and we hope you will join us in celebrating their achievement! After the exhibition closes, the artwork will be displayed throughout the hallways of the Stamp Student Union.

Featured in this acquisition include works by artists: Alice Attie, Selin Balci, Jeremy Dean, Hedieh Javanshir Ilchi, Nate Larson & Marni Shindelman, Jiha Moon and Hunter Reynolds.

2012-2013 Student Committee Members include: Sarah Buchanan, Jennifer Clifford, Nathalia Gabriel, Hannah Kelly, Alex McCormick, and Zulekha Sayyed.
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ALSO: Don’t miss out on our UMD Gallery Hop September 12th!! Besides our reception on September 12th 5-7PM, the Driskell Center is also hosting an opening. This will be a fantastic art-filled evening! Information below:

ALISON SAAR: STILL…, a collection of 11 large sculptures created by artist Alison Saar, includes works from 2010 to 2012 and combines the ruggedness of nature with solid structure. The exhibition will open at the David C. Driskell Center at Cole Student Activities Bldg., University of Maryland, College Park, on Thursday, September 12, 2013 with an opening reception, featuring a gallery tour by the artist, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. and will stay on display through Friday, December 13, 2013.