WCSU presents ‘Address Earth: Art Expo 2022’ in VPAC Art Gallery

by Western Connecticut State University| October 11, 2022

Thirty-eight visual artists will present artworks in a multi-media, multi-location exhibition called “Address Earth,” including a showing at Western Connecticut State University’s The Gallery in the university’s Visual and Performing Arts Center, 43 Lake Ave. Extension, Danbury, from Thursday, Oct. 13, through Sunday, Dec. 4. The exhibition is on view during gallery hours from noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. A reception will be held on opening night, Thursday, Oct. 13, from 6-8 p.m. The event is free to the public, but registration is required at wcsuvpac.eventbrite.com.

Sponsored by WCSU’s Department of Art and curated by Bibiana Huang Matheis, founder of Inspiration Artist Group International, the exhibition focuses on a common theme as a part of the Hudson Valley-wide exhibition “Address Earth: Art Expo 2022.” The first in-person exhibition since the onset of Covid-19, “Address: Earth” features a collection of voices from artists who celebrate the planet and use art to address critical global issues that affect the environment. It also observes varied aspects of a home planet that is shared by everyone. This exhibit addresses many environmental topics, including ecology, sustainability, climate change, endangered species, clean water, deforestation and humanity. It shares the message that at this critical juncture in our history, recognizing common interests and our shared well-being is vital to the survival of planet Earth.

Participating artists include Alan Cohen, Amy R Farrell, Bibiana Huang Matheis, Brandur Patursson, Cathy Billian, Ceci Cole McInturff, Chris Combs, Corinne Lapin-Cohen, Elisa Pritzker, Elizabeth Bryan-Jacobs, Elizabeth MacDonald, Elizabeth Rundquist, George Spencer, Irene Osborn, January Yoon Cho, Jebah Baum, Jo-Ann Brody, Jeremy K. Bullis, Jenna Lash, Joy Brown, Karen LaFleur, Kiyoko Sakai, Leonie Castelino, Leslie Pelino, Linda Stillman, Liz Whitney Quisgard, Marjorie Morrow, Marlow Shami, Michael Rothman, Nancy Tucker, Naomi Teppich, Niki Ketchman, Osiris Munir, Phyllis Chadwick, Rita Leppiniemi, Riva Weinstein
Rosalind Schneider, Suprina, and Susan Obrant.

Other Art Events at WCSU:

A film screening with participating artist and filmmaker Rosalind Schneider will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 19, from 6:30 – 8 p.m. in Choir Room 108 in the WCSU Visual & Performing Arts Center. Schneider creates works that transcend their source to form a new reference to a visionary landscape. She creates layered landscape images with multiple realities that progress from the real into abstraction and a fusion of the two. Schneider’s Digital Fusion paintings result from the capture of a video frame as a starting point and are realized through hands-on manipulation. She was the first artist to show the film as an art at the Hirshhorn Museum following a solo show of her films at the Whitney Museum. Exhibitions of film, video, digital prints and paintings include the Bronx Museum of the Arts, Islip Museum, Chelsea Museum, Hudson River Museum, SculptureCenter and MOMA (Carte Blanche: Women Writing the Language of Cinema). Her 16mm films are currently being restored by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and will be part of the film archive at the Academy Museum.

An art talk with the participating artist and historian Marcy B. Freedman takes place on Wednesday, Nov. 30, from 6:30-8 p.m. in The Gallery at the Visual and Performing Arts Center. Freedman will examine the role of the natural world in works of art dating from the Renaissance to the present. She will review how the landscape was subordinate to religion, in particular the Catholic Church, in the 15th and 16th centuries and considers the impact of 17th-century pioneers who developed a tradition of landscape painting, influencing the art of 19th-century Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, while at the same time acknowledging 20th century Cubist and Expressionist artists who found radical new ways of engaging with the natural world. The talk includes an homage to several contemporary artists – such as Olafur Eliasson and Maya Lin – who are using art to alert us to the devastating effects of climate change to Earth.

Reservations to attend the “Address Earth: Art Expo 2022” opening reception and the artist talk or film screening should be made online at wcsuvpac.eventbrite.com. Admission is free and the public is invited; door donations to support the programs of the Department of Art are always appreciated.

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