Exhibition: Sugar, Sugar

November 24, 2009 – January 21, 2010, I.D.E.A. Space

Virtually unknown in Europe until the Middle Ages sugar quickly became ubiquitous in western diets. Influencing agricultural practices, global economies, dietary habits, and language, sugar holds a central place in Western culture. (Just try to imagine a world without it!) Including historical photographs, microscopic enlargements, and literary and artistic responses in a variety of media, this exhibition examines the power of the sweet stuff.  The exhibition features sugar-inspired artworks by Gypsy Ames, Christina Marsh, Karen Kunc, Kate Leonard, Tracy Linder, Meredith Nickie and poetry by Jessy Randall and Dave Mason.

On three Tuesdays during the exhibition, I.D.E.A. will host a series of Sugar Salons featuring sugar-related activities, lectures, and performances.  The final Sugar Salon will close the exhibit on Thursday, January 21, 2010.

• Tuesday, November 24, 2009, 4:30  Sugar Salon #1: Performing Sugar
Chemistry experiments with sugar & performance of Rare Sugar at 6 PM in the South Theater
The first Sugar Salon will feature chemistry experiments with sugar “performed” for the audience and gallery talks by featured artists, who will speak about how the structure and properties of sugar inspired them.  At 6 pm, I.D.E.A. and the C.C. Music Department will present a performance of Rare Sugar.  Australian composer Nigel Westlake was inspired to create the piece after watching a television program about a chemist who works on unusual forms of sugar.

• Tuesday, December 1, 2009, 4:30  Sugar Salon #2: Producing Sugar
The second Sugar Salon focuses on the historical and contemporary impact of the sugar industry, both regionally and internationally.  Featured artist and former sugar beet farmer Tracy Linder and Colorado College faculty will use the exhibition as a springboard for an informal discussion of the local and international economic, social, and political impact of producing sugar.

• Tuesday, December 8, 2009, 4:30  Sugar Salon #3: Sugar Inspirations
The third Sugar Salon celebrates sugar-inspired art and literature.  Featured artists will discuss sugar-related works, student will give a sugar-lift print demonstration, and authors will read sugar-inspired poetry and prose.  To acknowledge the importance of sugar to the holiday season, the event will also feature a sugarplum tasting and possibly an appearance from the Sugar Plum Fairy.

• Tuesday, January 21, 2010, 4:30 Sugar Salon #4: Sugar Rush
The final Sugar Salon will feature sugar sculptures and a demonstration of sculpting techniques by James Gallo, Executive Pastry Chef at the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver, Colorado, with commentary on the history of sugar sculpting and chemistry behind Gallo’s manipulation of sugar as raw material by Sally Meyer, Professor of Chemistry at Colorado College.  At the conclusion of the event, participants will help artist Julia M. Becker ritually destroy the sugar mandala created for the exhibition.

Karen Kunc, Formulae. 2009. 17x56"

Karen Kunc. Elements, Etching & Woodcut Print. 2007. 10x20

Tracy Linder, Sugar Beets. Animal collagen, artificial sinew, polyester.

Call for Submissions:  Sugar Plum Fairy Performance

Who:  The I.D.E.A. Space at Colorado College is hosting a competition to select the most creative performance of the Sugar Plum Fairy for it’s upcoming Sugar Salon as part of the Sugar, Sugar exhibit.

What:  Call for submissions for performances inspired by the “Sugar Plum Fairy”—any and all styles accepted and sought after.  The Sugar Plum Fairy is a character in Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker ballet, known as the Sovereign of Sweets and ruler of the Land of Sweets.  Participants are encouraged to be very creative in their interpretation of the Sugar Plum Fairy.

Where:  Submissisons will be judged by I.D.E.A. Space Curatorial staff for a performance at the December 8th “Sugar Salon”.

When:  Deadline for submissions:  Friday, November 20, 2009.
Performance will be Tuesday, December 8, 2009, 4:30 pm.

Why:  To explore another incarnation of sugar for the Sugar, Sugar exhibit and because it will be a unique experience for our visitors!

Submission Guidelines:  Submit proposals by emailing a url link to an uploaded YouTube video to jessica.larsen@coloradocollege.edu
Please include your full name and contact phone number, a short bio and statement about your video submission (one page or less) as an attached word document or in the body of the email.
Videos should be limited to 10 minutes in length, otherwise there are no limitations.  By submitting your video, you agree to have it screened in the gallery during the Sugar Salon.  The winning entrant will agree to perform their interpretation of the Sugar Plum Fairy in the IDEA Space on Tuesday, December 8, 2009, 4:30 p.m. There is no charge for submission.

Barbara Krueger, We Will No Longer Be Seen and Not Heard Lithograph, 1985

Exhibition: Women’s Work: Contemporary Women Printmakers
From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and his family foundation

October 6 – November 12, 2009, I.D.E.A. Space

Wednesday, October 7, 4:30 pm:
Opening Reception and Salon Conversation with Tomi-Ann Roberts, Professor of Psychology and Director of Feminist & Gender Studies at Colorado College, and Elissa Auther, Associate Professor of Art History at UCCS

Featuring a broad range of prints by some of the foremost contemporary women printmakers at work in the United States, Africa, Europe, and Asia, this comprehensive exhibition calls attention to the innovative breadth of themes and variety of printmaking approaches taken by women artists since the early 1970’s.

Artists featured include Anni Albers, Louise Bourgeois, Squeak Carnwaith, Helen Frankenthaler, Fay Jones, Barbara Krueger, Wangechi Mutu, Kiki Smith, and Kara Walker.  A number of themes are explored in the exhibition, including the overlapping issues of gender, the body, and personal fantasies, as well as recent themes of identity, politics, and the environment.  Often laced with humor and a sense of playfulness, the works in the exhibition share a personal vision deeply integrated with references to larger historical themes and conceptual motifs.  At the same time, the works demonstrate a wide variety of traditional as well as contemporary printmaking techniques, from woodcut to etching to offset lithography and digital prints.

Julie Mehretu

Wangechi Mutu

This exhibition was organized by John Olbrantz, the Maribeth Collins Director of the Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University, and Terri Hopkins, Director and Curator at the Art Gym at Marylhurst University.  Support for the exhibition and related outreach programs is made possible by a grant from the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation.  The exhibition at Colorado College is supported by the Robert & Ruby Priddy Charitable Trust and the Colorado College Art Department.

FutureSelf

In collaboration with I.D.E.A., Future Self students participated in a two-week stop motion animation class taught by C.C. grad and I.D.E.A. assistant Danielle Dubler.  Students produced multiple short videos using software such as iMovie and Final Cut Pro in the media labs at the Cornerstone Arts Center.  View some of the videos produced here: http://www.youtube.com/user/FutureSelfStopMotion

About Future Self:

FutureSelf’s goal is to offer arts based classes, workshops, on going programs peer mentoring,
opportunities to use skills developed and public and private recognition of achievements
to this end.  Despite mounting evidence that immersion in the arts is the most effective means of reaching at-risk youth, FutureSelf is the only program of its kind in the Pikes Peak Region.  The enthusiasm with which administrators, therapists, and staff working with at-risk youth have greeted
FutureSelf speaks volumes about the need we address.
Visit their website to learn more: www.futureself.org

Site Specific Sculpture
In front of Armstrong Hall, intersection of Cache La Poudre & Cascade

From October 27 to November 14, 2008, internationally renowned sculptor Patrick Dougherty will create a site-specific, temporary sculpture on the Colorado College campus. The sculpture will remain for two years.

In the last twenty years, Patrick Dougherty has created over 150 sculptures in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Comprised of hundreds of woven tree saplings and twigs, Dougherty’s unique, site-specific sculptures integrate natural and man-made environments. Simultaneously intricate and effortless, the sculptures seem almost to have been made through a force of nature, swirled together by prairie winds, or constructed by birds.

Here is the future site of the sculpture:

Patrick Dougherty Sculpture Site

**UPDATE**

The sculpture is in progress on the west side of Armstrong Hall (NE corner of Cascade Ave and Cache La Poudre St).  Here are some pictures from the first week of the project, which involved gathering the willow and saplings for the structure and beginning construction.  Note that all materials involved are sustainably harvested, ie they all grow back very quickly as the plants are not killed but rather trimmed.  These sticks came from an area that must be maintained regularly per mandates by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Avis Urbanus

Sunday, September 20, 4:30 p.m., I.D.E.A. Space, Edith Kinney Gaylord Cornerstone Arts Center

Join us for a reception in the I.D.E.A. Space with Claudia Esslinger. Esslinger will discuss her video installation The Synergy Project.

The public is then invited to the Film Screening Room for a screening and live performance of Avis Urbanus, a collaborative video/music project Esslinger created with Colorado College Music Professor Ofer Ben-Amots.  Paul Nagem will provide amplified flute accompaniment.  Free and open to all; refreshments provided.

Sponsored by The Robert & Ruby Priddy Charitable Trust, Colorado College Music Department.

Strength, Digital Photograph by Craig Jenkins

Exhibition: Impermanence: A Cancer Journey by Craig Jenkins

September 8 – October 10, 2009, Coburn Gallery

Friday, October 9, 4:30 PM Reception with Amy Jenkins, Coburn Gallery
A successful painter and photographer, Craig Jenkins (Class of 1984) used his creativity to help deal with his cancer. His series of collage works entitled Impermanence, A Cancer Journey comments upon his three-year-long experience with illness.

Impermanence Exhibit Statement by Craig Jenkins

Craig Jenkins Biography

http://www.craigjenkins.artspan.com/

The Warrior, Digital Photograph by Craig Jenkins

Performance artist, “electroacoustic sculptor”, punk musician, and choreographer Benoit Maubrey will perform one of his signature pieces, Electronic Guy which features an electroacoustic tuxedo that shapes feedback and movement into sound sculpture. Following the performance, Maubrey will talk about his other sound and movement based projects.

Reception and Artist’s Talk:
Friday, April 3rd, 4:30 P.M.
I.D.E.A. Space, EKG Cornerstone Arts Center

Exhibit Dates:  April 3-May 20, 2009

Fashionably Late for the Relationship is a three-day long public performance by Lian Amaris that was filmed and compressed into a feature-length video work by R. Luke Dubois.  As Amaris prepares for a night out, three days pass in the city around her.  In the live performance, her slow, nuanced actions become a counterpoint to, and critique of, the rapid and unyielding pace of the public environment which she redefines as the private feminine ritual of a boudoir.

Sponsored by the Robert & Ruby Priddy Charitable Trust.

The Synergy Project

August 21 – September 23, 2009, I.D.E.A. Space

Reception & Gallery Talk with Claudia Esslinger: Sunday, September 20, 4:30-6pm, I.D.E.A. Space
Performance and Screening of Avis Urbanus: Sunday, September 20, 6 pm, Film Screening Room, CAC
With live amplified flute accompaniment by Paul Nagem.

This collaborative video piece explores the changing meaning of narratives  through their juxtaposition. Combinations of images and sounds, explore dualities of nature and technology, culture and politics, and strangeness and humor.

Avis Urbanus is a collaborative project featuring music composed by Colorado College Music Professor Ofer Ben-Amots and video by Claudia Esslinger.