Category: Visual Arts

PREVIEW: UMMA AFTER HOURS

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UMMA AFTER HOURS

Twice a year, the UMMA stays open late for visitors to explore the artwork After Hours. On Thursday March 14th, the spring celebration of the late night event will take place in the museum. There are a number of exquisite permanent collection pieces, as well as a series of visiting exhibits that are worth checking out by night. If you can’t find time during regular hours, this a great opportunity to get your art fix. In addition to the usual artwork, there will be live music performed by the Ingrid Racine Quartet, playing Jazz and Afro Pop tunes. From the UMMA’s site, After Hours is about:

Standing before the shimmering fields of color created by West African artist El Anatsui in the career retrospective El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You About Africa, taking a walk around London with the Queen of England’s guards in Francis Alÿs’s video work Guards, traveling to the Himalayas with Buddhist Thangkas and Treasures: The Walter Koelz Collection, Museum of Anthropology, and finding out what an architect does with Alice in Wonderland and Andy Warhol’s dessert recipes in Florencia Pita/FP mod. The

After Hours runs from 7-10 pm. Click here for more info. And for more updates about happenings at UMMA and around campus, check out the blog The Annex. See you there!

PREVIEW: PRISON CREATIVE ARTS 18th ANNUAL EXHIBITION OF ART BY MICHIGAN PRISONERS

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PRISON CREATIVE ARTS 18th ANNUAL EXHIBITION OF ART BY MICHIGAN PRISONERS

Every year for nearly two decades, the Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP) holds an exhibition of artwork by Michigan Prisoners. The gallery features paintings, drawings, sculptures, collages, and more by incarcerated men and women across the state. Whether or not these artists have participated in PCAP creative workshops, they are eligible to submit their creations to be hung in the show. The curation process is very extensive; it involves trips across the Mitten to all of the correctional facilities where artists are incarcerated. After reviewing and collecting work for the show, PCAP members organize the gallery, hanging the art in honor of the voices who created such striking beauty.

The pieces are absolutely breathtaking. From past years, I recall images of anguish, longing, joy, desire, remorse, and forgiveness; of families torn apart, of the struggle to move forward, and of troubles forgetting the unforgettable. The artwork is so skillfully created that the technicality alone is impressive. But the images are powerful and memorable. They will move you in unforgettable ways.

In addition to the visual art show, PCAP will host several other events throughout the duration of the exhibit. These include a Keynote Address by Hasan Davis in The League, a discussion about incarcerated youth with juvenile correctional facility staff, a reading and release party of the Michigan Review of Prisoner Creative Writing, and panels featuring both the artists and the family members of those who are still incarcerated. These discussions, events, and forums are most important for bearing witness to the experiences of those who are imprisoned. For more details on all of the events listed above, click here.

The art exhibit runs from March 19th to April 3rd, 2013. An opening reception will be held in the Duderstadt Center Gallery on North Campus at 5:30 pm. Thereafter, gallery hours will be 10:00am to 7:00 pm. See you there!

PREVIEW: Crush, Crumple, Fold: The Art of El Anatsui

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Crush, Crumple, Fold: The Art of El Anatsui

As a part of the “EL Anatsui: When I Last Wrote To You About Africa” exhibit, UMMA will be hosting a film screening of a documentary on the artists work. This film will discus the process, inspirations, and challenges of the world renowned artist. Tuesday, February 19th at 7 pm in the Helmut Stern auditorium.  Read more information about the making of the film and its connection to the exhibit on UMMA’s website. Click here for a quick clip about the film and here to read a review. See you there!

PREVIEW: Dobet Gnahoré and Acoustic Africa

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Dobet Gnahoré and Acoustic Africa

On Thursday February 21st, Hill Auditorium will present Dobet Gnahoré an Acoustic Africa. An array of musicians from all over Africa, the group will perform rhythms and dance inspired by their native countries. Dobe Gnahoré,  a vocalist, dancer, and percussionist, will be accompanied by bassist/singer Manou Gallo from the Sierra Leone, guitarist/singer/dancer Kareyce Fotso from Cameroon. In addition, the performances will feature Aly Keita on Balafon (from the Ivy Coast),  Wendlavim Zabrone on percussion (from Burkina Faso) and Zoumann Diarra on guitar (from Mali).  The performance will be eclectic and powerful.

In conjunction with the UMMA’s El Anatsui Exhibit, the Center for World Performance Studies is sponsoring the visit of these gorgeous African artists to celebrate their culture and their art. On Wednesday February 20th, there will be a roundtable discussion in 2435 North Quad. My Thesis Advisor Frieda Ekotto will be moderating in both French and Engish. The title of the round table is Music and the Experience of Female Performance. The discussion will be  a great prelude to the fantastic show.

7 pm at Hill. Click here to check out the flier for more details. And click here to watch  a video preview of the kind of performance you will see at Hill.

PREVIEW: Ecstasy and Fantasy

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Ecstasy and Fantasy

On Friday, February 15th, the School of Music, UM Chamber Choir,  and UMMA collaborate to create an evening of sounds inspired by Alice in Wonderland. Faculty from the school will perform a selection from Iriving Fine’s “Alice in Wonderland” as well as several other composers from the same era as well as a contemporary, visiting composer. The music will be performed alongside Florencia Pita’s “Alice” inspired artwork. The dual representation of imagination, fantasy, mystery, and magic will surely create a dynamic and intriguing performance. 7 pm at the UMMA.

REVIEW: Florencia Pita

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Florencia Pita

If you’ve passed by the UMMA in the past month, you’ve probably noticed an incredibly curious landscape looking out at you from the windowed, first floor  gallery. Bright reds, spinning blues, swirling shapes and swirling constructions fill the space, drawing the eye in, maintaing mysterious and fantasy  no matter how long the viewer looks. Florencia Pita’s designs are all about organic exaggerations and whimsical, barely  recognizable figures. The Argentine-born artist is trained as an architect but works with furniture, jewelry, graphic design, sculpture, and more. Many of her foliage-like  configurations are inspired by the feminine form. Yet these representations are complex: both her  large scale architecture installations  and her minute scrupulous  jewelry designs often represen the same, flowery  forms. In this way, her work confounds scales and draws the viewer in infinitely.

In an interview with UMMA Academic Coordinator  David Choberka, I learned more about Florencia Pita’s inspirations and styles:

“She makes these cool, whimsical, conceptual, digital designs that are really interesting because of how she plays with scale—her flowery, colorful treelike structures could be anything from buildings to vases, furniture, jewelry or tableware. She makes these large-scale wall hanging appliqués based on children’s stories—one is inspired by Alice in Wonderland. The exhibition features a couple of her installation pieces, as well as models and digital representations of her work. She is developed an original piece for this exhibition, which is exciting. She has won a ton of awards and been featured in exhibitions all over the world. Her work really blurs the boundaries between visual art, architecture, and design, and is definitely worth checking out.”

Click here for more about Florencia Pita and her studio FP/Mod. To read about the exhibit, look at UMMA’s website. The exhibit is open during museum hours until the middle of June.